december 2024

less reading. went home for the holidays, j's brother visited for about a week. 

the boy and the heron [2023], goodfellas [1990], Martha

eater - Fun by Design
eater - We Deserve Free Sparkling Water
taste - The War Against the War on Plates
taste - Big Chicken’s Drumstick Dilemma
time - What Competitive Eating Does to the Body
sf gate - America's obsession with California failing
slate - How the Original Twister Changed Storm Chasing Forever
nbc - Why top internet sleuths say they won't help find the UnitedHealthcare CEO killer
usa today - Welcome to lonely Point Nemo, Earth's dumping ground for derelict space junk
live science - Orcas start wearing dead salmon hats again after ditching the trend for 37 years
collider - How Does ‘Family Feud’ Conduct Its Hundred-Person Surveys?
the guardian - Hiding in plain sight: Americans’ obsession with camouflage is a sign of paranoid times
ifl science - Do Donor Organs Transfer Memory? Heart Transplant Patients Report Strange Personality Changes

the atlantic - Misogyny Comes Roaring Back|
"In the U.S., 63 percent of men under 30 are currently single, compared with 34 percent of women in the same age group, according to the Pew Research Center. "

to me, this says one or more of the following four things:
1. there are way more men than women
2. there are a lot of women dating women
3. there are a lot of women under 30 dating men older than 30
4. there are a lot of women dating the same man

november 2024

more reading this month, did a week-long road trip from boston back home, then spent another few days in norcal in a hotel room while trying to find housing.

his three daughters, memoir of a snail, the whale (2022), half of her (2013) - i started then put it down, then it went away from hbo max :(

taste - Kimbap, Never “Korean Sushi”
vox - How Big Toilet Paper dupes us all
marie claire - Fashion Is Losing the Middle Ground
BBC future - The Reasons Humans Started Kissing
wired - The US Has a Cloned Sheep Contraband Problem
taste - How America Warmed Up to Cold Grocery-Store Sushi
hakai news - Weather Forecasting Is Deadly for Marine Wildlife
serious eats - Cherry vs. Grape Tomatoes: What's the Difference?
garden & gun - She’s One of Florida’s Most Lethal Python Hunters
BBC - These beaches are among LA's favourites. But they're fake
npr - When her key broke in the ignition, a car thief saved the day
sky news - Vatican unveils new cartoon mascot for Catholic Church
afar - This Is Where Cruise Ships Go to Die. Meet the Man Saving Them
pocket - Letters of the Damned: Exorcising the Curse of the Petrified Forest
BBC news - Cold Weather: What Does an Unheated Room Do to Your Body?
mental floss - How Uncrustables Reinvented the Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
vox - 43 lab monkeys escaped in South Carolina. They have a legal claim to freedom.
wired - California Is Flooding School Cafeterias With Vegan Meals—and Kids Like It
Bloomberg Business - How Bogg Bags, the Crocs of Totes, Won Over America’s Moms
wired - Thousands of People Are Cloning Their Dead Pets. This Is the Woman They Call First.
la times - L.A. isn’t a walking city? The man behind Great Los Angeles Walk would like a word
boston magazine - Inside the New World of Luxury Kids’ Parties, Where Parents Are Plus-Ones
fortune - Gen Z and millennials proudly wear ‘lab-grown’ diamonds, oblivious to the fact they’re made from burning coal in China and India

the hustle - The economics of free lunch

vox - The astonishing rise of gray divorce

19th news - Pay first, deliver later: Some pregnant people are being asked to prepay for their baby
"Of the 100 million U.S. people with health care debt, 12 percent attribute at least some of it to maternity care, according to a 2022 KFF poll." 

BBC - The language that doesn't use 'no'
"There is a growing body of research that has found indigenous language revitalisation associated with higher indicators of physical and mental wellbeing. Studies have found indigenous language use in North America to correlate with lower rates of cigarette use in the population, higher levels of physical and mental wellness indicators and lower levels of diabetes, for example.
"Meanwhile, a study in British Columbia, Canada found that youth suicide was six times higher in indigenous communities where less than 50% of the members were conversationally fluent in their native language. In aboriginal and Torres Strait communities of Australia, indigenous language speakers exhibit lower rates of binge drinking and illegal drug use. "Language shift is often associated with historical trauma from colonisation or oppression, and with loss of self-worth," says Julia Sallabank, professor of language policy and revitalisation at University of London. "So we can try to turn this round: reclaiming one's language and cultural identity can be empowering, at both personal and community level."

October 2024

movies on the flight back to flew back to Boston. i'd forgotten what it's like to fly on a non-discount airline that actually has "perks" like entertainment, and free drinks and snacks, and a pocket in the seat back!

babes, madame clicquot [2024], holy frit [2021]

taste - The Tasting Menu Gets a Trim
the baffler - How Covid Changed Nursing
the atlantic - Who Should Get to Have Kids?
vox - Why do divorced guys dress like that?
taste - The Secrets of California’s Oldest Recipes
nyt - The Strange Case of Anna Stubblefield, Revisited
the atlantic - What Is America’s Gender War Actually About?
atlas obscura - How Chain Restaurants Use Smells to Entice Us
the atlantic - America Is Lying to Itself About the Cost of Disasters
nyt - Inside the Colorful and Cultish World of Nerds Gummy Clusters
rolling stone - Inside the Secretly Lucrative World of Solo Piano Music
the atlantic - Yes, Third-Trimester Abortions Are Happening in America
thrillist - Please Stop Pretending You're on an Episode of 'Bizarre Foods'
vox - The US doesn’t have universal health care — but these states (almost) do
huff post - Gen Z Is Particularly Weird About Relationship Age Gaps. Here's Why.
the guardian - The Horror of Cow Attacks: ‘I Told My Husband to Leave Me to Die’
vanity fair - Playing It Straight: For Queer Roles, Should an Actor’s Sexuality Matter?
the guardian - ‘To the train lady with dark brown hair … ’: extraordinary stories of four couples who found love via small ads 

the atlantic - Not All Men, but Any Man 

the cut - Divorced Men Are Falling for Trump 

curbed - What Ever Happened to the Three-Bedroom?

the republic - How the Republican War on Women Extends to Voting Rights

ny times - In a First Among Christians, Young Men Are More Religious Than Young Women 

cnn -  Black-colored plastic used for kitchen utensils and toys linked to banned toxic flame retardants

September 2024

too hot to leave the house and no TV in my room so am reading more, much more. also! i started a new quilt, and had pocket read aloud my articles since i ran out of new podcast episodes. it's actually really great when i tend to prefer to read articles less than 8 minutes long (i dunno why such a specific number), but now i can get thru my really long articles!

movie: beetlejuice beetlejuice

books: Elizabeth Kolbert - the sixth extinction, Kurt vonnegut - slaughterhouse five, General Smedley D Butler - War Is a Racket, Jonah berger - contagious, why things catch on

eater - Field of Dreams
the atlantic - The Crybaby Olympics
eater - Restaurant Math Isn’t Working
taste - Bring Back Those Pumped Italian Sodas
fatherly - The Paternal Urge To Toss Your Baby
time - The Parents Who Regret Having Children
mental floss - Why Are Airplane Windows Round?
the atlantic - How Snacks Took Over American Life
vox - How the seasons screw with your moral compass
wapo - Opinion Why not pay teachers $100,000 a year?
the atlantic - A Food-Allergy Fix Hiding in Plain Sight
vox - How Did Home Cooking Become a Moral Issue?
nyt - Parents Should Ignore Their Children More Often
vox - Pregnancy in America is starting to feel like a crime
the atlantic - The Real Reason People Aren’t Having Kids
dwell - Are White Fridges Really Coming Back Into Style?
atlas obscura - When Every Ketchup But One Went Extinct
michigan department of state -  2024 "I voted" sticker contest
the new yorker - Why You Can't Get a Restaurant Reservation
vox - The case against otters: necrophiliac, serial-killing fur monsters of the sea
bbc - How the American war on porn could change the way you use the internet
fast company - How the pineapple became an icon of hookup culture everywhere
npr - Eating less beef is a climate solution. Here's why that's hard for some American men
the drive - Swiss BMW Driver Slammed With $116,000 Tailgating Fine Because He’s Rich
thrillist - Nothing Could Prepare Me for the Bizarre 'Live Birth' Experience at Babyland Hospital
the smithsonian - The Rebellious History of Mooncakes, the Note-Passing Dessert That Liberated China

vox - The moral case for paying kidney donors
npr - There’s a severe kidney shortage. Should donors be compensated?
the guardian - ‘For me, there was no other choice’: inside the global illegal organ trade

slate - The Parents Who Want Daughters—and Daughters Only

cosmo - Inside the Conservative-Backed Movement to Make Divorce Almost Impossible for Young Women

august 2024

breezed thru my first book in YEARS! and so for fun, finished a serving as well! also spent more time reading my longer saved articles on pocket. also watched a few movies :) this is what happens, I guess, when I have no craft materials? also, j had surgery this month and also focused on reading which meant i did more of it as well.

Atul Gawande - complications, Lauren Slayer - Opening Skunner's Box

american society of magical negros, didi, Deadpool and wolverine, afterlife [1998], little buddha [1993]

the hustle - Who are fossils for?
the atlantic - The New Age of Endless Parenting
smithsonian magazine - A Brief History of Peanut Butter
the atlantic - Why Parents Don’t Mind If Their Kids Don’t Marry
the guardian - Why do stars like Adele keep losing their voice?
wired - I Called Off My Wedding. The Internet Will Never Forget.
nyt - In the Fierce Lobster Roll Rivalry, There Are Only Winners
bbc - Japan is recycling food waste back into food with fermentation
the romper - The Couple Who Run Their Relationships Like A Corporation
texas monthly - A New Vending Machine Sells Bullets Next Door to a Middle School
wapo - How ‘Skibidi Toilet’ became one of the most valuable franchises in Hollywood
npr - Disney backtracks on request to toss wrongful death suit over Disney+ agreement
thrillist - How to Appreciate, and Then Eradicate, California’s Least Favorite Wildflower
wired - I Spent a Week Eating Discarded Restaurant Food. But Was It Really Going to Waste?
the outline - How brands secretly buy their way into Forbes, Fast Company, and HuffPost stories
popular science - Why Do Cats—and So Many Other Animals—Look Like They’re Wearing Socks?
mental floss - When a Captive Shark Vomited Up a Human Arm—and Sparked a Murder Investigation
screenshot - Skibidi Toilet: Exploring the dystopian Gen Alpha trend, from brain rot to Michael Bay movies

the atlantic - The MAGA Plan to End Free Weather Reports

the atlantic - A Shocking Number of Killers Murder Their Co-workers 

3 quarks daily - Lessons From Singapore – The Power Of Homeownership

wapo - The One Thing You Should Look for on Clothing Labels When You Go Shopping

cbs news - Americans say money can buy happiness. Here's their price tag.
"Median household income in the U.S. stands at about $74,000 annually, but respondents told Empower that they'd need to earn roughly $284,000 each year to achieve happiness. And as for wealth, Americans said they'd need even more in the bank to feel content: $1.2 million..."

July 2024

a lot of reading this month! i got a new phone and haven't installed instagram on it, so instead read from pocket instead when i'm out and get bored. at least for now, i don't intend to re-install insta.

high life [2018], men [2022], midsommar [2019]

songs of the moment: myles smith - solo, morgan wallen - wasted on you

romper - Folding Clothes Is A Scam
grist - Why can't we just quit cows?
taste - Can Dried Fruit Get a Facelift?
bbc - The rise of the ‘no-wash’ movement
business insider - The rise of 'friendly' fraud
economist - Generation Z is unprecedentedly rich
taste - The Nail Art Restaurant Will Seat You Now
outside - This Is How Your Backpacking Meals Are Really Made
mental floss - 10 Inventors Who Came to Regret Their Creations
the hustle - The wild tale of the man who founded Rainforest Cafe
the hustle - The one person in America happy about tipping fatigue
bbc news - The Joy and the Trauma of Carrying a Celebrity’s Baby
nyt - The Mixed Martial Artist Who Became the King of Tidy Eating
business insider - Why so many men in the US have stopped working
nyt - He’s Baseball’s Only Mud Supplier. It’s a Job He May Soon Lose.
the cut - Why Would Anyone Look for a Sperm Donor on Facebook?
nyt - The Youngest Pandemic Children Are Now in School, and Struggling
inverse - America's Favorite Fruit Reveals The Hidden Truth About Food Waste
wapo - Road Rage Is Up. How to Deal With an Angry Driver — Even if It’s You.
cnbc - ‘NEETS’ and ‘new unemployables’ — why some young adults aren’t working
wfae - RNC represents culmination of a decades-old movement in the Republican Party
life hacker - Dating Profiles, Bakeries, and Other Unexpected Places With Secret Codes
refinery29 - We Aren’t Leaving It Too Late To Have Children, We’re Being Screwed Over
npr - How ob-gyns are handling more requests for sterilization after ‘Roe’ was overturned
mental floss - King of Quarters: The ‘Pay Phone Bandit’ Who Baffled the FBI in the ’80s
la times - People are obsessed with this weird pizza box. The company behind it won’t discuss it
the guardian - ‘Clearly, I have no rizz’: can a 60-year-old misanthrope polish up his pulling power?
business insider - Turbulence is getting more frequent and more severe. An aviation and climate expert explains why. 

vox - The Christian right is coming for divorce next

the marshall project -  The New Battle Over an Old Institution: Forced Prison Labor

june 2024

friends and then j's brother visited this month, so less tv, but much more reading since i spent less time in the living room (which has the tv) where j's brother n was sleeping. altho, homie LOVES tiktok so i had a lot of my own internet time.

trainwreck [2015], binging all the seasons of Girls from HBO [i love how fearless lena dunham is!]

taste - to eat a dairy cow
vulture - The Love Machine
vox - Rent control for child care?
nyt - The Lost Art of the Negative
taste - the secret lives of private chefs
the dial - Who’s Afraid of Mickey Mouse?
the atlantic - The Hidden Cost of Cheap TVs
vogue - What Is the Right Price for Fashion?
the atlantic - Surprise! You Work for Amazon.
eater - How Cookie Jars Capture American Kitsch
taste - Order Your Next Mac and Cheese From…Etsy?
gq - Spouse Out of Town? It’s Time For ‘Husband Meal’
the atlantic - Dog Food Is So Fancy Now That I Ate Some
wired - Can’t Afford a House? Buy a Piece of One Instead
the cut - What It’s Like to Not Buy New Clothes for 7 Years
scientific american - Why Do People in Relationships Cheat?
hakai - Iceland’s Quest to Use 100 Percent of Its Fish Waste
mental floss - Why Do People Toss Shoes Over Power Lines?
eater - The Very Capitalist History of the American Coffee Break
business insider - Your complete guide to America's weird new tribes.
wired - Potatoes Are the Perfect Vegetable - But You're Eating Them Wrong
slash film - Only One of the Simpsons' Catchphrases was Actually Created by the Show
the guardian - Misophonia: how ‘sound rage’ destroys relationships and forces people to move home

the atlantic - Why Do So Many Parents Think Kids Need Their Own Bedroom?

may 2024

lots of movies this month, with the driving up to boston, settling in, and trip planning

a single man [2009], Amadeus [1984], dark waters [2019], rather [2023], butterfly in the sky [2023], downtown abbey: the movie [2019], civil war, enders game [2013], 15 minutes of shame [2021]

nyt - Can This Man Stop Lying?
mental floss - What Do A.M. and P.M. Stand For?
kcrw - Is Trader Joe’s stealing food ideas from small producers?
npr - These identical twins both grew up with autism, but took very different paths
npr - A year later, Florida businesses say the state's immigration law dealt a huge blow
sf gate - One of the most unusual heists in America seems to be unfolding at Taco Bell
cbs news - Americans think they pay too much in taxes. Here's who pays the most and least to the IRS.
la times - The shocking state of the restaurant industry: ‘We can’t afford to be open. We can’t afford to be closed.’
cnn - She set out to find a husband in a year. Then she matched with a guy on a dating app on the other side of the world

the atlantic - Welcome to Kidulthood
"Surveys have found that four in 10 American adults sleep with stuffed animals."

the atlantic - Will Americans Ever Get Sick of Cheap Junk?
"Shein shoppers are considerably more likely to express concern about the environment and sustainability than shoppers overall."

April 2024

very busy month! but i'm still being mindful about reading rather than scrolling on instagram. but we packed up to leave slidell, flew home for a few days, went to japan for two weeks, came home for another week, and on the 1st, we fly out to atlanta to start a week-long road trip for boston. also, very few movies this month since none of our flights had tvs! i was quite disappointed, actually. i realized that i depend on long flights to catch up on movies, lol.

yesterday [2019]

taste - Elegy of a Tsukiji Tour Guide
consumer reports - Nude Gets a Makeover
the hustle - Why thieves love to steal razors
the atlantic - Can You Ever Really Escape Your Ex?
the atlantic - The End of Foreign-Language Education
the atlantic - The Coming Birth-Control Revolution
the atlantic - The IRS Finally Has an Answer to TurboTax
trillist - Inside the Pineapple Pizza Scandal Dividing Italy
the atlantic - Middle Names Reveal More Than You Think
the atlantic - Why Rich Shoppers Get So Angry About Hermès
takeout - How Girl Scout Cookies Are Born—And How They Die
inverse - Your dirty laundry is the next big thing in sustainable fashion
the atlantic - You Can’t Even Rescue a Dog Without Being Bullied Online
popoular science - The Insides of Pro Bowling Balls Will Make Your Head Spin
npr - How anti-vaccine activists and the far right are trying to build a parallel economy
nbc - Sacre bleu! Camembert and brie 'on the verge of extinction,' French scientists warn
romper - in a world of limitless media options, why are our kids watching dumb youtube videos?
south china morning post - Virtual cashier ‘zooming in’ from Philippines at New York City restaurant sparks debate about remote-work ethics

the atlantic - What Would Society Look Like if Extreme Wealth Were Impossible?

march 2024

more tv this month since i was planning for japan and our roadtrip. did manage some reading tho. I'm trying to be a bit more mindful about spending less time on instagram tho i have A LOT of room for improvement there...

dune: part 2, oscar nominated short: live action, to kill a tiger [2022], race to the summit [2023], nowhere [2023]

the atlantic - The People Rooting for the End of IVF
the atlantic - A Subtle Shift Shaking Up Sibling Relationships

the atlantic - ‘Some Damn Fine Shoes’
taste - I Guess Mukbang Is My Plan B
taste - You’re Wrong About White Chocolate
elle - The Secret Lives of Adjunct Professors
the atlantic - Sonia Sotomayor Should Retire Now
mental floss - What Ever Happened To Waterbeds?
the atlantic - The Eternal Scrutiny of Kate Middleton
the atlantic - Don't Tell America the Babysitter's Dead
mental floss - How Do Generations Get Their Names?
the atlantic - The Problem With ‘Affordable’ Child Care
atlas obscura - Why Clouds Vanish During Solar Eclipses
the atlantic - Dad Culture Has Nothing to Do With Parenting
taste - The Fluidity and Fun of Chino Latino Cuisine Reaches New Fandoms
fast company - Why Google, General Mills and other companies are ending on-site childcare
ap news - Consumers are increasingly pushing back against price increases — and winning
the guardian - ‘She’s my sacred other’: is friendship, not romance, the key to a happy and fulfilled life?

february 2024

not much reading, surprisingly, i guess, tho most of my "free time" is on weekends, and j's family was in town, and also mardi gras.

fair play (2023), american fiction (2023), holdovers (2023), zone of interest (2023)

eater - The King Cake Tradition, Explained
yahoo news - How North Korean eyelashes make their way to the West
nyt - San Francisco Tried to Build a $1.7 Million Toilet. It’s Still Not Done.
mental floss - Known Alias: How Stephen King Was Outed as Richard Bachman
wapo - The Chicago Rat Hole Has Charmed Thousands. Neighbors Have Had Enough.
the guardian - ‘People Eat Two or Three Packets a Day’: How Instant Noodles Took Over the World

january 2024

lots of movies this month (what with j gone for two weeks ahead of me to Louisiana) and basically no reading. my eyes have been more tired than usual at night, and also, with the moving, personal and parental breakup, i've been kind of emotionally exhausted. now that i'm finally in louisiana, i'll hopefully be reading a bit more.

...well, instead of reading i ended up watching a ton of movies.

leave the world behind [2023], may December [2023],  minari [2020], the farewell [2019], oldboy [2013], queenpins [2021], the nest [2020], open wide (2023)