Midweek Recs! Misc. Sizes & Colors!
A veritable cornucopia of music and words and thoughts.
Dear fam,
I’m writing this from a hotel room on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where my day job has congregated the entire staff for the first ever all-staff retreat. By the time you get it, on Wednesday morning, I will have done something unheard of at the Chaos Palace: spent the night away from home.
We’re a very entangled bunch of cutie-pies at the Palace, and leaving for the night is a Big Deal. Not just because of the entanglement, but because of Big Kid’s special emotional landscape. Until very recently, we wouldn’t have even considered this as an option. As it is, multiple babysitters were hired to bolster my wife’s ability to wrangle the two kids. But now we’ve brought the temperature of Big Kid’s meltdowns from a raging boil to a simmer POP simmer, a world has opened up for us.
We’ve been experimenting with this lately. I’ve been taking both girls to the park on my own, for example. This was once an unthinkable activity. Unless you know how to watch Toddler while also making sure a Big Kid avoids dire injury at all times. If so, please let me know.
I’m excited, apprehensive, and curious about what this new era may hold. What next? A night away the two of us? A solo vacation? Time away, just the two of us, with couple friends?
It all seems too fantastical to imagine. And yet, here we are. On the cusp, perhaps, of rediscovering ourselves. Have you crossed this bridge, or a similar one, in life? If so, how did you navigate these waters? What was great or scary? Drop me a note in the comments.
Sending you love and light,
Mikhal
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And now for some links…
A disclaimer: These works are not necessarily things I endorse (although some are, have fun guessing!) — but they are all things that made me think and expand my mind. Some I had to come to with more compassion and deep breaths than others. All were worth the listen or read.
Substack Reading:
Lyz Lenz (
) doesn’t believe in the male loneliness epidemic and makes some thought-provoking arguments on the topic. She also wrote about why running for office and losing is still damn powerful.According to
, Elon Musk cannot for the life of him figure out why folks might be mad at him. Robyn actually can think of some reasons.My new favorite Substack follow is
by . She writes here about why the big ol’ Executive Order dissolving the Department of Ed is actually some smoke and mirrors — and where we should be looking.- explains why transphobia is a soul illness that can be cured.
Are we having a constitutional crisis?
thinks we’re hella close to one, and explains the ins and outs of it all.- , ever a beacon of how to being real in a plastic world, talks about her complicated experience of weighing herself for the first time in seven years.
Also!
had a conversation with wherein I learned about the concept of body grief — thus finally putting words to something almost everyone I know experiences to some degree.- reports that Texas A&M must comply with first amendment rights, even if it means letting LGBTQ+ people exist.
Non-Substack Reading:
Fully 20 states are suing the administration over the Department of Education debacle. When nearly half the union is suing you, maybe take a hint.
The administration continues to lie about judges having jurisdiction, because what are laws.
Vivian Wilson, online trans rights warrior and daughter of Elon Musk, is on the cover of Teen Vogue. And let me tell you, she is freaking fantastic.
Listening Recommendations:
Ear Hustle is a podcast made in collaboration with incarcerated folks at San Quentin who are telling stories about their lives and experiences. They recently released this conversation about what it means to celebrate a birthday in prison, and what birthdays mean at all.
Unholy: Two Jew on the News is a podcast by Israeli newscaster Yonit Levy and Guardian journalist Jonathan Freedland. In this conversation, they interview top military analyst Amos Harel about what’s happening and how it fits into the international big picture.
Book Case is a book podcast featuring stories of authors and their path to writing books! This episode showcases award-winning authors Tommy Orange and Kaveh Akbar, and how their friendship led to two wonderful new books.
Cod Switch is a podcast that explore how race intersects with every (and they do mean every) inch of society. In this episode, they speak to legal experts about what the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil means — and may yet mean.