Take Time To Take Care
Leftovers from the week of May 2
Hi Dear Readers,
There is, frankly, TOO MUCH going on. I don’t know about you, but the broader collective issues we are all facing have stymied my desire to do much of anything. I have been in a sort of freeze state for the past week or more, and I’ve been doing all that I can to move through it.
Please remember to breathe, do some somatic exercises if that speaks to you, go outside, eat, sleep, hydrate, etc.
Enjoy this week’s Leftovers,
xL<3
Reading List 🔖
Poor Sleep - Jonathan White
When sleep is lacking or disrupted, and especially when these problems are unevenly spread, questions of justice arise. Harmful, undeserved and avoidable forms of inequality emerge, as people find themselves living at odds with the demands of their body and the norms of a wider society. A range of physical, material and social hardships kick in, often paired with political handicaps to do with the exercise of rights. To be deprived of sleep is to be deprived of much more than one’s hours of rest.
Fashion Is Co-Opting the Ballet Aesthetic While Ignoring the Artform’s Ugly Self-Reckoning - Emily Leibert
Amidst well-meaning but incomplete TikToks of the history of balletcore, and elegant photo shoots featuring celebrities and fashion models in pointe shoes, the ballet aesthetic revival tells only the palatable parts of the story. Conveniently, it leaves out the systemic sexual assault, grooming, and harassment allegations that have cropped up across the ballet world over the past several years, and ignores ballet’s institutional inability to reckon with its self-perpetuated racism and fat-phobia.
Surviving The End Of Roe - Jessica Valenti
Take a moment for your sadness and pessimism—we all need to sit with the soul-sickening knowledge of what this country really thinks of women. And then remember that we are in the right. That we have the moral high ground and the political will to stop these motherfuckers, or at least to make their jobs as difficult and unpleasant as possible.
Abortion Funds For Every State - @helmsinki
Excellent list of abortion funds in each and every state!
Substack Posts I’ve Been Reading:
Librarianship 🌻
The Most Popular YA Books On TikTok - Emily Martin
Books of Note 📚
I'll Show Myself Out: Essays on Midlife and Motherhood - Jessi Klein (nonfiction)
Post-Traumatic - Chantal V. Johnson (fiction)
The Sun Is Also A Star - Nicola Yoon (young adult)
The Magical Yet - Angela Diterlizzi (children’s book)
The Kissing of Kissing - Hannah Emerson (poetry)
The Modern Loss Handbook: An Interactive Guide to Moving Through Grief and Building Your Resilience - Rebecca Soffer (self-help)
[If you order any of the books above or any listed on my Bookshop site, a percentage goes to local bookstores and I get a small commission. Thank you for not ordering from Amazon!]
Be Witchy 🔮
TikTok Witches Are Accusing Each Other of Being Toxic, Gatekeepers, and Misinformation Spreaders - Lindsay Dodgson
Playlist 🎵
“Baby When I Close My Eyes” - Sweet Spirit
”Go Easy, Kid” - Monica Martin
”3AM” - HAIM
”Take” - BRUX ft. Kimbra
”That’s Where I Am” - Maggie Rogers
Mood Board 💓
Self-Care + Good Things ☕
Going to SF (although I’m terrified of getting Covid, so this is a mixed bag). Taking my iron supplements. Taking my vitamin D supplements (and working my way up to 10,000 ius a day). Painting my nails. Coloring. Watching “Somebody Somewhere.”
Awesome stuff as always, LG! Thanks for the link to Jessica Valenti's column, and I too am watching Somebody, Somewhere...