On the last Friday of each month I send out a list of the month’s Specials, or 15 things I’m buying, reading, watching, thinking about, eating, etc. The first few things on the list are available for everyone to read and the last 12 things on the list are for paid subscribers only.
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This month’s specials:
I stumbled on this article about Victorian-era “flirtation cards” that made me laugh. Men would slip these little cards into a woman’s palm or pocket if he wanted to meet her—it was *scandalous* to initiate contact without being formally introduced, so this was the workaround. Some were spicier than others, but this is my favorite:
Three newsletters in and I’m hooked: writer
launched her newsletter Ridiculous Little Things a few weeks ago and it’s already a favorite read of mine. Her first newsletter questions the idea of “taste” and what the term implies; she makes the salient point that that things like the “old money aesthetic” and “stealth wealth” invite consumers to blindly participate in these trends without considering the cultural, socioeconomic, and historical contexts from which they originated. This quote from Hairston’s piece stuck out:“Which is why it’s important to examine the why in our preferences and not just succumb to our unchecked desires and beliefs around class and wealth. If not, we’ll just continue into the void of cosplaying “having taste” based on a rubric of outdated ideals, Tiktok micro-trends, and spending money. Approaching taste as something you can buy into or project negates what I think it really means to have it: curiosity about the world around you, an eye and desire for beauty and congruence, and an interest in cultivating your personhood as you present yourself to the world.”
Her latest newsletter, an interview with stylist Dione Davis, went out this week and is equally as interesting—I’m excited to keep reading.
I made you a playlist: it’s called ROM COM and it’ll give you instant main character energy.
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