Last weekend’s summer weather left me dreaming of beach days, sandals, and popsicles, but the clouds have rolled back in. I guess it’s still spring after all! It’s been another week of applying for jobs I’m probably not going to get, but hey, it’s good to throw myself into the ring (croiser les doigts!). I met a new French gal gang for an apéro in the 17th arrondissement. I made it through four hours of casual drinking and chatting in French without coming off as an unintelligible child (I think), but was unable to muster up a quick dégage! when passing the idiot men lingering outside the bars on my way home. Languages are such a trip! Two leaps forward, and three steps back. Here’s fodder for your nice long weekend, si tu habite en France:
Sylvia Plath’s Letters
Sylvia Plath‘s private correspondence with her therapist Dr. Ruth Beuscher has recently been discovered at an antiquarian book fair in New York. You know how I feel about letters. I know that letters were the norm in the 50s, but I still feel like it’s one of the most intimate modes of communication—save whispered confidences by candlelight. These 14 letters are said to convey accounts of physical and emotional abuse leading up to Plath’s miscarriage. Considering Ted Hughes burned her journals, the discovery of these letters provide rare insight into Plath’s private thoughts in the last years of her life. However, do we have a right to read them? Her daughter Frieda Hughes would likely say no.
Sweatpants, Always Sweatpants
Getting gussied up is fun, but there are few moments as joyful as changing back into sweatpants. Racked knows.
French Elections: The Videogame
When I read about Fiscal Kombat, the retro-style game featuring Jean-Luc Mélenchon fighting off other French politicos, I had a chuckle. After I played the game, I knew I had to share. If you’ve been following the French Presidential Elections, you’ve probably been focused on Marine Le Pen vs François Fillion, but now that Mélenchon has entered the ring, things are starting to get interesting. While I can’t claim to understand the intricacies of French politics, I think we can all say that Mélenchon’s down with the kids. However, I must give credit where credit is due! This gem comes courtesy of Content Coopérative’s Weekly Digest series.Content Coopérative is the brainchild of New York writer Erin Dahl and Parisian ad man: an English creative content agency linking writers to French companies. I dig.
Stine Goya, Copenhagen Queen
I stumbled upon Freunde von Freunden‘s look at Stine Goya’s workshop, and I’m obsessed. You should be too.
Body Positivity & The Dating Pool
An honest look at body positivity never goes out of style. I appreciated Ashley C. Ford’s essay on dating a man who weighs less than she does. It’s something I struggle with myself. As someone who’s always loathed “working out”—I’ll skate, I’ll hike, I’ll walk my legs off, but please don’t put me in a workout class—I’ve always landed on the curvier side of the spectrum. When you involve potential love interests, all levels of zen fly out the window. Am I actually content with my body or am I just lazy? Do I see rail thin Parisiennes and consider a cigarette/cocaine/apéricube diet? Only briefly…(I jest!) But at the end of the day, Ford’s approach is key. Love yourself. Be kind to yourself.
Sound the Alarms: Fitzgerald First Edition with Dust Jacket
Another installment of the Maurice F. Neville Collection of modern literature is up for auction with Sotheby’s next week. With Hammett, Chandler, Bukowski, Hemingway, and Fitzgerald—to name a few—the gang’s all here!
Kate Bush, Coachella Goddess?
Confession: I’ve been living in France long enough that I forgot that Coachella is imminent. I’m not kidding. I think I’ve lost a few of my Socal stripes! Anyway…I know California gals are busy putting together their festival looks, and may I suggest channeling our Patron Saint Kate Bush? Even Vogue agrees Bush is a Coachella style icon waiting to happen. Besides, “Wuthering Heights” embodies a certaine je ne sais quoi…you know, that “I don’t give a fuck—I’m poetic and I’m weird and I’m gonna dance” vibe we’re all aiming for on a night out/every day of our goddamn lives.
Bon week-end à tous!
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