Happy birthday to me! I’m 26 now, and tomorrow I’m marrying my silly, kind, very tall best friend. It’s such a tender time, and I can’t stop smiling. Our readings this week were:

1. “Kids are Gross”: On Feminists and Agency, Caitlin McGregor.

   “For my friends without children (which is most of my friends), parenting is very ‘other’ as an idea and an experience, and Oscar can consequently become a phenomenon to observe and comment on and laugh at, rather than an individual person with feelings.” I’ve learned a lot about small humans in the past few years, but the biggest thing to remember is that they are humans – with dignity and boundaries to respect. 

2. A Visual History of Lunchboxes, Design Observer. Delightful!
3. Wear Whatever the Hell You Want, Jennifer Romolini. “Go to a store, find a thing you like and can afford that fits the body you have right now, pair it with another thing you like, and whatever the hell it is, start wearing it. Strut around in it. Dance in it, work in it, hug the people you love while wearing it. Don’t stress out about it….As women, we need to set new style rules for ourselves, ones that have nothing to do with age, body types, colors or shapes: Trust yourself, trust your instincts, trust what you love. Those are the only rules you need.” YES
4. Good News For Young Strivers: Networking is Overrated, NYT. “My students often believe that if they simply meet more important people, their work will improve. But it’s remarkably hard to engage with those people unless you’ve already put something valuable out into the world.” Reassuring read to inspire you to Do the Work.
5. The Ugliness Behind HGTV: A Never-Ending Fantasy Loop, Vulture. Long read. “The first thing counselors tell sex addicts is to stop watching porn, and we really shouldn’t be watching this much HGTV during our rehab [from the housing bubble burst]. Although it’s a soothing experience, it is also a fomenter of deep feelings of discontent about one’s living arrangements, which began to hit me hard around week two…

   HGTV makes big, expensive, time-consuming remodels look like two weeks’ work and a modest amount of money well spent. Moreover, it links these changes so definitively to personal and family happiness that you begin to wonder what, exactly, is wrong with you that you haven’t made some of them.”

Bonus Features:

• What You’ve Learned, the Awl. This article has been passed around a bit this week but it’s a great place for wisdom. Plus I learned that the shape of a running track can be called a discorectangle.
• Forever Gay pin Cute!