Better Living Through Literature
Words + Projects + Stuff I Like
1. The Junior League here has a program to help women get professional clothing, but I hadn’t really heard of Dress for Success, a national company that does that and more. This is a heartwarming write up at Racked.
2. I just realized I still use this song for counting small things, like how many desserts to make or how many people at a table in a restaurant. I am 36.
With all the bad news, the political circus, and the dregs of Facebook, I almost missed this: Tuesday, SpaceX announced its plan to put humans on Mars in the next 15 years. And not just humans to visit and come back–humans to build a settlement and ultimately become self-sustaining.
Tim Urban at Wait But Why, my favorite explainer of hard things (where did ISIS come from? should I get married?) has a whole post up that explains the rockets and plan, and includes background info from his interview with Elon Musk. Go read it and feel better about humanity.
(Even better? The first transport to Mars might be named after Zaphod Beeblebrox’s ship in Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.)
Like most of the country, I watched the debate (“Are you not entertained?“) but I’m living for the commentary after. This headline sums it up: “Clinton’s debate performance spoke to every woman who has had to humor an incompetent man.”
As the Belladonna editor quoted in the article puts it, “This election has reinforced that a guy’s ignorance will still be given the same weight as a woman’s experience. He can have emotional outbursts that she would be crucified for having.”
It makes my feminist killjoy heart so happy that people are picking up on this, while at the same time making me want to be more of a feminist killjoy because how is this still happening and she’s really being criticized for smiling too much? and The Economist ran a poll asking if her looking “smug” was worse than a racist lie perpetuated by a power-mad con artist?!”
Hillary’s used to the double standard, though. She’s not getting mad, she’s going to be president.
Nothing like finishing your summer caftan just in time for the first frost, huh?
After learning my lesson with The Coat sitting in pieces for a season and mentally nagging me, I thought I’d better just get this done so I can move on cleanly. And I do love it. I mean, LOOK AT IT. It’s like an elegant tent.
Details: 4 yards of discount designer rayon from Jo-Ann; vintage Simplicity pattern. I had a hell of a time getting the inset under the bust to have nice corners (you can see the detail in the pattern line drawing below):
But at the end of the day, I don’t think you notice the fudged corners in all that fabric and print.
Maybe I can sew caftans all winter, preparing to fully embrace my Auntie Mame in 2017.
The weekend included showing Doc the alpaca ranch, aspens at their peak, and some seasonal dessert. Good weekend.
1. It is in the 40s and rainy this morning and I think the highest elevations are getting snow. Wait for it…
2. These are seven wonders indeed and I have attempted to perform many of them, but lo–I am still un-supreme:
We’ve reached the fall equinox already and darkness is creeping in. As I get older (and more aware of SAD) I try to embrace this half of the year and not fight it–think candles, yarn, a car that can drive in the snow like a boss, a giant mood-lifting sun lamp at work, etc.
I think of this quote from Cold Mountain, too:
“Over time, watching [seasons change] again and again might make the years seem not such an awful linear progress but instead a looping and a return.”
Maybe I should call it, “Is This Really Happening? Wednesday,” because I can’t believe that in the last week Trump not only said, after five years arguing Obama wasn’t born in the US, that he was indeed born here and Trump was the one to prove it–and that the Clinton campaign started the rumor in the first place.
I can’t even.
As the WaPo says:
…it is hard to seriously argue that a man who would lead a racist conspiracy theory and then try to blame his opponent is fit to be president. Drumpf, like a small child caught misbehaving, simply denies the evidence or blames someone else or lashes out in anger. (He also this weekend called former defense secretary Robert Gates a “clown” in response to Gates’s well-reasoned argument that Drumpf is unfit to serve as commander in chief.) Again and again he’s proven his views so extreme (e.g., rounding up 11 million people), his judgement so egregious (e.g., embracing Vladimir Putin) and his character so twisted that only someone in deep denial or blinded by partisanship could defend him and insist he is worthy of the office.
YET PEOPLE ARE. Jesus. The debate Monday night is going to be something…
My big brother is the big 4-0 today and I think we are all a little shocked. He’s a responsible adult (with a lot of motor toys), a devoted dad and husband, and imaginative, artistic, impulsive, generous, curious, mechanical, and loyal to boot. Happy birthday!
If you can arrange it, you should always have people who like to offroad and people who are serious nature photographers and explorers in your group of friends, because that means you get to know about the best places to camp, the best places to shoot sunset, and you have a built-in convoy for learning how to hit the back roads, where the secret arches and dinosaur bones are.
I took the “Roo” off road for the first time and surprised myself with how much fun I had. She did great, too–just stepped up over rocks, straddled ruts, and even made it through some sand that gave a Land Cruiser some trouble (!).
Moab may be my favorite place on earth. It was good to be back with my favorite people and be able to see even more now.
