DISTRACTIONS
-If you are new to this, thank you for subscribing. About four years ago I realized that I would never read everything I would need to because I was so distracted by the world and how I needed to live in it. I had a goal of reading a book a week, and in the pandemic, where distractions were minimal (except for the threat of death<3) that was almost possible. I don’t really remember a single book I read, which is why I’m glad I started this substack. Memories, baby!
-I put down The Savage Detectives a few months ago because I realized I was just trying to be a completionist bitch and not someone who was taking it all in. Miguel has picked it up and has an entire notes app dedicated to reoccurring characters, themes, authors mentioned, and historical events. I deeply, deeply wish I could text Ryan about this and receive a “hell yeah, brother” about it, but I cannot. Anyway, I think Miguel is getting way more out of it than me, a little lady who likes to read about little ladies falling down holes.
-Convinced myself I had a tick bite and sent everyone a photo of the back of my neck. It’s not a tick bite, but you probably already knew that.
-Flew on a Boeing 737 Max from California with only one working headphone and survived, but barely.
-Found Sylvie coffee training at a local place and hung out with her instead of reading or writing. We talked about learning to shoot guns in a joking way but also not a joking way.
-In San Fransisco, I washed my underwear in Paola’s tub. Do you ever do that and underestimate how long it takes things to dry when they’re not outside and how amazing it is that we invented dryers?
-A middle-aged woman with a plastic crown on her head at a sushi restaurant. Who was it for?
-Like many others, I’m determined to find out what happened to Kate Middleton, even though knowing takes away the greater pleasure of theorizing. Did Prince William cheat or does she need a colostomy bag? Like the Queen dying, this is the ultimate moment of punching up— not at the expense of Kate Middleton, but the institution of the Royal Family and their sinister use of AI. I really hope she is okay and that the Crown is abolished.
-In this week’s Say More, Olivia and I talked about food and writing about food. We realized that even if we don’t intentionally write about food, it’s always present. I love recording weekly episodes with my best friend! Please support our patreon so that we can get haircuts and go to the dentist.
-Aye, Miguel and I went to a reading for Through the Night Like a Snake, a Latin-American horror anthology at Books Are Magick. I don’t usually ask questions at readings because it makes me feel abnormally embarrassed but this time I did because they were all talking about things that I’m really interested in, like horror and the metaphors of horror. I asked the translators what scared them. One said “How much time do we have? Planes…” The other said, “The idea of forever, or never being able to stop one thing.” And the last one said, “My twin sister dying and centipedes.” Would it be helpful to you if I remembered all their names? Sorry, but I’m not doing all of that.
-I learned that I’m going to be in conversation with Julia Alvarez this April 16th at the Harvard Book Store. I nearly shat myself when I found this out, because Julia Alvarez is one of the greatest living Latin-American writers alive who is living right now in this life we are living. If you’re in Boston, come find me. I will probably also ask her what she’s afraid of.
-I finished the Love is Blind Reunion episode, and when I say finished I mean I truly felt unshackled once it was over. I was really distracted by the feast in the middle of the stage that Nick Lachey enthusiastically said “Let’s dig in!” about, as if this were a weird company party everyone was lured to go to because of the promise of food. Which in a way, it was. I had to know: were there cured meats there? And for how long? Don’t those lights get really hot? Alas, the true Love is Blind Sweating Christmas Ham was Cheating Trevor, who was excused from the stage by Nick Lachey after he was told he was here “for the wrong reasons,” one of my favorite phrases!! Clay’s posture really was outside of any laws of physics.
-I went down a hole about the Lindenburgh baby and sent voice memos to four of my friends about it. The gist is that the toddler was most likely not killed by the German Immigrant who was executed for the crime, but rather died on an operating room table as his father conducted eugenic experiments on him.
-My TikTok continues to show me women who are preparing for death or were saved from death by removing their asshole. I pray for them and for myself.
-Today is officially spring and I can feel everyone around me suddenly remember what it’s like to not feel sad. Since 2020, I’ve biked to Prospect Park and watched the buds turn from virgins to full sluts in full bloom whose life only lasts a matter of weeks and reminds us that beauty isn’t forever.
What I Read
Freedom of Sex by Andrea Long Chu
In this brilliant essay, Andrea Long Chu argues that trans children should be allowed to change their biological sex. She makes the case that the world creates rings of power with biological sex, weaponizing it against people with ovaries, or assuming certain roles for people with penises. Because of this, she argues that biological sex is just as important as gender, and even pushes against Judith Butler’s abstract philosophy of gender. A common argument against kids transitioning is that they’ll regret it later: what do they know about who they want to be? Long Chu argues that that regret itself is freedom, because it means that at one point in your life, you had the agency to make a choice. If you don’t subscribe to New York mag I will once again recommend the pocket app, where you can read articles for free (for now).
That Summer in the Dark by Mariana Enriquez (translated by Meghan Mcdowell)
-This is from that anthology of Latin-American horror called Through the Night Like a Snake. In this story, two teenagers in the 80s get through the day by being obsessed with serial killers. It’s extremely hot and because of the dictatorship, it feels like the world is ending. One day, a man in their building kills his wife and daughter, and the two are left haunted by how close horror is to them, even though they fantasize about having sex with some of the serial killers. I love Mariana Enriquez and her poetics of body horror; the things she can make flesh do and the strangers she can make you be afraid of.
I also started reading Whoever You Are, Honey by Olivia Gatwood and Attachments by Lucas Mann, both set to come out later this year. See you next week xoxoo