November 10, 2017

When do you start listening to Christmas music? I’m not strict about waiting till after Thanksgiving, and it’s already beginning to creep into my house-cleaning soundtrack…

1. Women Aren’t Ruining Food, Taste. “But the central critique of women-driven food trends is that women are getting food wrong. Things that are supposed to be complex, like wine, are vilified for being simple (never mind that the majority of wine drinkers are women), while foods like cupcakes and froyo pander to people who have no taste. And let’s not forget that women also needlessly complicate food that is “supposed” to be simple—why drink coffee when you can have a half-caf double caramel soy macchiato instead? Men can obsess over every aspect of procuring, drying, and grilling a steak, but women are the high-maintenance ones for arranging a beautiful smoothie bowl.” WOW
2. Why Don’t Pants Go All the Way Down to the Floor Anymore? An Investigation, The Hairpin. “At some point between skinny jeans and now, it’s like we all had a middle-school growth spurt combined with our dad accidentally tumble-drying the jeans we expressly said must be line dried so that they would drape just so over our Adidas shell-toes, and now all of our inseams have shrunk and we look stupid. It’s just enough to look accidental. It almost looks right, but is definitely wrong. We’re in an uncanny valley of inseam lengths, and you have to wonder if you’re being short-changed on fabric for cost-cutting purposes.” tbh I’m kind of glad, because there’s always 4-6 inches of extra fabric on my pants so this saves me a tuck-n-roll or hemming.
3. Modest Dressing, as a Virtue, NYT. “Modest fashion might come across as a humblebrag: You have to be a pretty stylish, pretty good-looking woman to claim ownership of such radical dowdiness.” This article comes at the idea of concealing our bodies in drab colors and shapeless garments from a few different angles, including conservatism, rejection of body-politics, and not dressing for anyone but yourself. I think of this article in conjunction with last week’s about not wearing a bra…and I ponder what level of commitment to this aesthetic of liberation I can handle at this time in my life.
4. How to Read Nancy. This was so cool, a frame and even element-by-element look at why Nancy comics work. These authors are coming out with a book on the subject, which I think I’ll check out!
5. A Secret to a Happy Marriage, Cup of Jo. “What I didn’t realize was that the longer you’re together, the more you have to talk about. You have more friends in common, more experiences. You have these stories about your lives, these stories about other people’s lives.”