A red and white shoofly quilt for my valentine

red and white shoofly quilt on a couch in front of a window showing the New York City skyline

I finished my first full-sized quilt earlier this month! I made this one as a (belated) Valentineā€™s Day gift for Kiyana; she asked if Iā€™d make her a red and white quilt (a very common combination, historically!), and shoofly quilts are supposed to be fairly easy and beginner-friendly.

Pattern: Penelope Handmade (though this one is no longer available)

Fabric: Kona cotton in tomato, AGF Studio in creme de la creme, and starfall satellite tan yardage (for the backing)

To be honest, this particular quilt felt a little cursedā€”a bunch of things went wrong/were annoying, but in the end, it was all fine! Iā€™m happy with how it turned out, and I learned a ton when working on it, which Iā€™m currently applying to my second go-round with this pattern.

red and white shoofly quilt squares stacked on an ironing board on a butcher block kitchen counter
unfinished shoofly quilt laid out on the floor ready to be basted

One of my biggest takeaways was that I should put on music if Iā€™m struggling with a particular step. I generally donā€™t have music on when Iā€™m doing stuff around the house (I kind of justā€¦forget that itā€™s an option?) but I was fighting for my goddamn life when I was quilting this. (The difference between quilting something small and something large isā€¦significant!) Then I remembered that there was music playing when I went to ā€œsocial sewingā€ hours at my local quilt storeā€”a fun mix of ā€˜50s, ā€˜60s, ā€˜70s, and ā€˜80s. With that in mind, I started blasting oldies (beginning with the Now & Then soundtrackā€¦perfect, honestly) and it helped so much! My lines still came out pretty wobbly, but I felt much less stressed the entire time. Iā€™ve since made a full playlist that I will be utilizing when I quilt my second shoofly this weekend.

red and white shoofly quilt draped over living room couch
red and white shoofly quilt

Kiyana loves the quilt, which is all that mattersā€¦but no one loves it more than Valentina.

Valentina the dog on couch next to red and white shoofly quilt
Valentina the dog on red and white shoofly quilt on couch
Valentina the dog curled up on red and white shoofly quilt
Valentina the dog curled up on red and white quilt

I actually ended up teaching Kiyana to sew a couple weeks ago, and she used the leftovers from this quilt to make some shoofly blocks of her own, which she then turned into a dog coatā€”her first project.

So now Valentina has a quilt of her own to wear (but still prefers ours, naturally). šŸ§µ

Letā€™s yap!

Comments are officially ON on Just Good Shit (for all posts starting today, that is)!  


This was actually my plan from the get-go, but when I made the move to Squarespace and Kiyana was customizing this template for me (no small job!), we both kind of lost steam when it came to designing the comments. I was planning to look into a third-party system (like Disqus) and then I justā€¦never got around to it. We still havenā€™t gotten around to it in the sense that, for now, Iā€™m just toggling on the Squarespace option and not doing anything special to them, but I think thatā€™s fine for now! You guys are smart and thoughtful and I like hearing from smart and thoughtful people, so I think it will be nice to have them on. 


I want my blog to be a nice place to hang out and yap, so here are my ground rules to foster good conversation: 

  • Donā€™t be racist, sexist, anti-fat, anti-trans, ableist, or otherwise bigoted. 

  • No body shaming or diet talk. 

  • Donā€™t be a dick. 

  • Donā€™t be weird. 

  • Any criticism/pushback/etc. needs to be sincere and offered in good faith. 

  • Justā€¦be cool, guys! 


Iā€™ll add more rules to this list if necessary, but I feel like this kind of covers how we should all act in public spaces! 

Any comments that break the above rules will be removed. Iā€™ve also turned on the option to flag comments; if any comment gets flagged twice (by other people reading), itā€™ll get sent to moderation automatically and then I can deal with it from there! If comments are getting out of control on a particular post, Iā€™ll shut them off on that post. Iā€™m also setting it up so that comments on each post will automatically close after two weeks to help cut back on spam.

Looking forward to chatting with you guys again! šŸ“£

Just a really good Bolognese recipe (+ a weeknight red sauce!)

bowl of linguine with Bolognese sauce on a green and white checkered tablecloth

For the past several years, Kiyana and I have been making the pinwheel lasagna from Don Angie to celebrate various holidays. (Our tradition is to have it on Christmas Eve, New Yearā€™s Eve, and Valentineā€™s Day.) Itā€™s a time-intensive but very special recipe that is totally worth the effort.

To make it, you have to make three separate sauces, one of which is a Bolognese. And because you end up with a lot more of this than you need, weā€™d freeze the extra portion to eat with pasta a month or two laterā€¦and thatā€™s how we realized itā€™s totally worth making on its own, separate from the lasagna entirely!

This Bolognese is really rich and hearty, and kind of a showstopperā€”Kiyanaā€™s been making it whenever we have friends over for dinner (with the Via Carota house salad as a side) and itā€™s been a huge hit. It feels fancy but itā€™s not overly fussy, which is ideal for guests.


The recipe is available for free on Cherry Bombe, and itā€™s in the Don Angie cookbook (which is great and I also recommend!).

Some additional notes if youā€™re thinking of making it:

  • We use beef instead of veal because itā€™s easier to find

  • We donā€™t prepare the Bolognese in a single day anymoreā€”Kiyana usually combines the meat and makes the mirepoix a day or two in advance, just to break things up a bit

  • If you have a tea ball, put the star anise in that when the sauce is simmering so itā€™ll be easier to fish out at the end

  • This recipe makes a ton of Bolognese; weā€™ve been sending friends home with a portion and we still have plenty left over for ourselves. It also freezes/reheats very well!

Also! While youā€™re getting the Bolognese recipe, itā€™s also worth grabbing the one for red sauce thatā€™s also prepared as part of the pinwheel lasagna. This has become our go-to weeknight pasta sauce; itā€™s ridiculously fast and easy to make and really upgrades a bowl of plain spaghetti! šŸ

If you'd like to have a cozy and pleasant afternoon, consider the New York Historical

photo of original Tiffany lamp on display at New York Historical; the lampshade has a white, orange, and green daffodil pattern and a metal base

After I got laid off in December, Terri texted me to check in, and then mentioned that if I needed some good cheer, I should visit the New York Historical. It was actually already on my radar thanks to the ā€œPets and the Cityā€ exhibit Iā€™d been getting ads for, and Terriā€™s rec gave me a little extra motivation to check it out.

Honestly, I donā€™t know what took me so longā€”this museum feels made for me personally! I really like looking at history through the lens of ā€œsmallā€ thingsā€”household objects, cookbooks, cards and stationery, Christmas decorations, beauty products, clothes, etc.ā€”and I love learning about New York City, and NY Historical does both of those things very well.

While the ā€œPets and the Cityā€ exhibit was solid (I did not know that actual pigs used to roam the streets and serve as NYCā€™s sanitation department!), I thought the best part of our visit was the permanent collection of Tiffany lamps. Because inexpensive reproductions are readily available these days, Iā€™d never given much thought to how we got here. But the originals are genuinely incredible. The lamps are largely the work of one womanā€”Clara Driscollā€”and her team of ā€œTiffany girls.ā€ (The women were employed both because Louis Comfort Tiffany believed their smaller hands were better for the delicate, nature-inspired patterns, and, essentially, to thwart a union strike. Oh and every single woman quit as a matter of course after she got married. Isnā€™t history fun?) The exhibit is just really well doneā€”Terri was totally right that it makes for a cozy, cheery timeā€”and I think it would be a huge hit with kids too.

photo of original Tiffany lamp on display at New York Historical

The lamps alone make NY Historical worth the trip, but there were a lot of other highlights, including John James Audubonā€™s original watercolors (you know the ones!); real clothes from working women over the past 200 years; and ā€œPride and Protest,ā€ which features the photography of Fred W. McDarrah of the Village Voice. And I feel like we barely scratched the surface on this visit; the museum is a lot bigger than we realized, so we ended up buying a membership so we can go back whenever the mood strikes! šŸ—½

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Something delightful: The Thursday Murder Club

In the fall of 2023, I started getting into reading ā€œcozy mysteriesā€ā€”basically, mystery novels that donā€™t have any gore/graphic violence, and that feature an amateur detective in a small town. (Think the vibe of Murder She Wrote as opposed to Law and Order: SVU.) After reading a couple of real duds, I eventually found my way Richard Osmanā€™s The Thursday Murder Club, a four-book series (with more coming!) that I love so, so much. 


The books are centered on a British retirement village, and the amateur detectives are four septuagenarians who live there. Richard Osmanā€™s writing is really clever and truly laugh-out-loud funny, but the books are also surprisingly beautiful and tender. (I should warn you that as the books go on and you get to know the fantastic cast of characters better, you will cry.)


I initially bought the books for my Kindle, and then went ahead bought physical copies because I liked them so much that I wanted to be able to see them on my shelf, and then I also bought the audiobook for the first one because I wanted someone with a British accent to read me a story. Iā€™ve already re-read the entire series once, and I will probably read them again right before the fifth book arrives this fall. 

If you need a nice little pick-me-up as we enter the muddy part of winter, Iā€™d highly recommend the whole series!

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Where Iā€™m getting my news these days

The political situation in the US right now is Not Great, and itā€™s getting worse by the day. But if youā€™re reading some of our most vaunted institutions, you could be forgiven for thinking itā€™s business as usual here, which isā€¦fucking wild! I would personally prefer to get information from media outlets and journalists that are accurately characterizing the current threats to democracy and to the American people versus treating this situation like itā€™s goddamn fantasy football. Like, why are we credulously trying to figure out how flatly illegal actions will ā€œplayā€ with voters instead of calling these things what they are? Why are we referring to disastrous cuts to federal agencies as ā€œsavingsā€ in headlines? Why are we acting like the dead whale guy has some valid points and thus is somehow qualified to take away millions of peopleā€™s SSRIs? AHHHHHHHH!!!! I find it all disgraceful, particularly in a moment when trust in media institutions is already so low and our industry is collapsing! 


Anyway. Rather than piss myself off every single day, Iā€™ve been sticking to outlets and journalists that arenā€™t acting like they are brand new here. Below is a list of where Iā€™m going for news and analysis these days. (I also pay for a lot of these, and would encourage you to do the same with the outlets you love and want to see stick around, to the extent that you can afford to!) 


New York Magazineā€™s Intelligencer. This is where Iā€™m going if I just want to see the news of the day from a major media outlet. The difference in their headlines compared to their competitors is noticeable and extremely refreshing!  


The City. This is an independent, non-profit newsroom with good values covering NYC. We love to see it! 


5-4. This is one of my favorite discoveries from the past couple years; the tagline is ā€œa podcast about how much the Supreme Court sucks.ā€ Itā€™s a super cathartic listen, while also being very informative. If you want a good, not-timely-but-also-very-relevant episode to start with, ā€œSierra Club v. Mortonā€ is one of my personal favorites.


404 Media. A lot of journalists are real dopes when it comes to tech coverage. (If youā€™re drooling over the promises of generative AI, Iā€™ve got a bridge to sell you!!!) 404 is independentā€”run by a bunch of my former VICE coworkers, who are very smart!ā€”and covers the tech industry critically, as it should be covered. 


Wired. Similarly to 404, Wired has some VICE in its DNA and currently has its eye trained on Elon Musk/DOGE. 

Taylor Lorenz. Another very good follow with regard to tech coverage (she unmasked Libs of TikTok), and one of the only journalists Iā€™m aware of who still gives a shit about covid and the way our current approach to public health is affecting people with disabilities! 

Hamilton Nolan / How Things Work. Hamilton is a former Gawker writer who now covers unions and labor issues. ā€œThey Are a Minorityā€ and ā€œDemocracy and Powerā€ are two good recent installments to check out. 

Your Local Epidemiologist. If you want a clear picture of whatā€™s going on with public health in a given moment, YLE is a good Substack to add to your list.

Defector. While this is technically a sports outlet, they cover politics too, and pretty much every post is a banger. The Old Rules Are for Losers by Kelsey McKinney (also a good follow!) is a nice one to start with. In it, she writes of Democrats: ā€œI want a party that understands that morality is not the same as following a list of rules that the opponent declines to follow. And I want a party with a fucking strategy. I want candidates with actual beliefs, and policies that actually matter, and plans on how to achieve them. I want a party that views the Golden Rule as something that no longer applies when the other side opts out. I want a party that will keep the Earth from burning and take care of the stacks of healthcare bills on everyone's tables and make sure that every kid has food and an education, and I want that party to put the ends before the means. I want a party that fucking cares.ā€ PLEASE!! 


Gregg Gonsalves. Gregg is an epidemiologist and longtime AIDS activitist who also happens to have a strong moral compass. 

Mariame Kaba. Whenever I feel despair, I turn to Mariame Kaba; sheā€™s written several booksā€”including Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care, which Iā€™d definitely recommend right nowā€”and has a monthly Substack.

Rebecca Traister. Another person who I turn to when Iā€™m feeling abject despair! Her NY Mag archive is definitely worth a read.

Melissa Gira Grant. Melissa writes for The New Republic and has been particularly good on the onslaught of attacks on trans people. Hereā€™s her archive.

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Adventures in sewing and quilting

white brother sewing machine with blue accents on top of a lavender Fiskars cutting mat in a New York City apartment living room

Itā€™s no secret that I love having a hobby; over the years, Iā€™ve taken up knitting, embroidery, journaling, cross stitch, scrapbooking, photography, and birding, just to name a few. Now Iā€™m adding sewing to the listā€”finally


I say finally because I really should have done this years agoā€”my mom and grandma are both extremely competent sewists. Itā€™s not an exaggeration to say that I grew up in fabric stores; we spent hours in them when I was a kid. My grandma excels at formalwear; sheā€™s made several wedding dresses for family and friends over the years (and she once outfitted an entire bridal party of Barbie and Ken dolls in tiny tuxedos and gowns). Meanwhile, my momā€™s area of expertise is kidsā€™ clothes. When I was in kindergarten, sheā€™d sometimes get up in the morning and make me a whole new outfit before I went to school in the afternoon, and she had her own business making childrenā€™s clothes for bougie families in Chicago and Evanston that grew out of other parents in public asking her where she got my clothes. Her Halloween costumes are also epicā€”sheā€™s literally won the national contests put on by big pattern brands several times in the past 30 years. 


But for whatever reason, sewing never really clicked for me. Iā€™ve actually had my mom teach me twiceā€”once when I was 18, and again in 2021ā€”but for whatever reason, it just never really stuck. The learning curve with sewing is quite high, and the first two stepsā€”making a bobbin and threading your machineā€”are arguably the two hardest ones. Doing either thing wrong will typically result in a big mess, which means thereā€™s a huge barrier to overcome right at the outset. So both times my mom taught me, I completed one project successfully with her help and then kind of abandoned the whole endeavor. 


But I found myself thinking about sewing again after moving into a new apartment and wanting to be able to make simple home goods, like pillows and curtains. I decided 2025 was going to be the year. At the beginning of January, I signed up for a four-week course at the New York Sewing Center; my hope was that going to an in-person class regularly would help me build enough momentum to actually stick with it this time. Iā€™m happy to say that this approach worked, and Iā€™ve been on a roll for the past month. 


While I was taking the train home from my first class, I had the sudden realization that I would love to learn to make quilts, and I wondered if perhaps making squares would be a good way to practice sewing straight lines. After poking around a bit on Reddit, I discovered that quilting is definitely a feasible option for beginners. By the time Iā€™d gotten off the subway, Iā€™d decided that would be the route Iā€™d take outside of class. I started working on my first quilt a week later, and seven days after that, it was done. Is it perfect? Of course not. But it showed me that I could do this, and it got me fully hooked. 

Quilting also unlocked something for me: I think part of the reason I had trouble sticking with sewing in the past is because Iā€™m not terribly interested in making clothes for myself. Iā€™m not saying Iā€™ll never do it, but itā€™s just not something that really inspires meā€”because I donā€™t personally care about clothes that much. While making the pair of pants that we worked on in my class, I began to understand why my mom prefers sewing for kids vs. adultā€”she always said she likes ā€œshort seams.ā€ And honestlyā€¦yes! And it turns out that smaller pieces that donā€™t have to fit on a human body are great for beginners: Taking a project from start to finish takes a lot less time (and requires less fabric!), which means the stakes are lower overall. And because the seams are shorter, you a) realize quickly when youā€™ve make a mistake, and b) can undo said mistake faster. Put another way: Itā€™s a lot easier to rip out a short seam than a long one. 

My sewing machine 

On the first day of my sewing class, the instructor said it takes about three weeks to stop being afraid of the machine, which was both super validating in terms of why Iā€™d struggled in the past, and also extremely accurate to my experience this time around. Sewing machines are intimidating; thereā€™s no other home appliance that makes me feel like Iā€™m using machinery in quite the same way. The sooner you start, though, and the more regularly you use it, the faster those three weeks will go by.

Iā€™m currently using the Brother CS7000i sewing machine at home. I bought it for $185 in 2021 but itā€™s now retailing for $349, which I think is maybe because itā€™s an older model thatā€™s being phased out. The newer version is the Brother CS7000X, which is currently $239 on Amazon. In class, we used basic Janome machines (similar to this one in terms of the features) that worked perfectly well. While I donā€™t think my machineā€™s computerized features are really adding much, this particular Brother model has a couple features that I love: One of the most difficult stepsā€”putting the bobbin in correctly, and then picking up the bobbin thread with the top needleā€”is essentially done for you, without any guesswork. It eliminates a ton of the problems that beleaguer beginners, and to me, that is deeply, deeply worth it. 


One downside of my machine is that the ā€œthroatā€ (the open space between the top and bottom of the machine, between the needle on the left and the body of the machine on the right) isnā€™t very big. This is likely going to be a problem when I start making bigger quilts, because you need to be able to pass a lot of thick fabric through that area as you sew. Assuming I stick with this hobby, I will probably eventually upgrade my machine to one that is really well-suited for quilting, but I want to make sure Iā€™m totally committed first. 

A lot of people online will tell you to try to get an older/used Singer modelā€”essentially, what my mom and grandma still sew onā€”because machines were better made 20 years ago, and are true workhorses. While I donā€™t disagree, and I think itā€™s reasonable to use one of those if you inherit it or come across one thatā€™s super cheap on Facebook Marketplace, I do think buying a used machine has a couple of downsides.


First, if the used one breaks early on or needs servicing, youā€™re probably going to end up paying a good amount to have it fixed. (Also, there are apparently only two authorized Singer repair shops in the entire state of Michigan?) And if you donā€™t live somewhere with a good sewing shop where you can easily get help (or donā€™t have a family member who can help you who lives nearby), youā€™re going to be very reliant on YouTube for troubleshootingā€¦and videos showing you exactly how to use these older machines just might not be as present there. The flip side of this is that all sewing machines are very similarā€”I recently watched a video of a rusted Singer from 1894 being restored and was genuinely shocked by how similar it was to modern onesā€”so you might be able to figure out the issue even if you canā€™t, say, find your modelā€™s manual online. 


All this to say: Buying a used machine is ideal from a sustainability POV, but I do think itā€™s worth being aware of the potential downsides and costs if youā€™re going this route to save money. 

Helpful resources

When it comes to getting started with quilting, Reddit swears by Melanie Hamā€™s ā€œYour First Quiltā€ series on YouTube, so that is what I used and I would wholeheartedly recommend it. Sheā€™s a great teacher and I think the project is perfectly sizedā€”itā€™s big enough that youā€™ll learn all the important steps (and do them at scale) and will feel extremely accomplished when youā€™re done, but itā€™s still small enough to be manageable. I watched all six videos in the series from start to finish before I started working, which I think was helpfulā€”it meant nothing was a surprise once I got going, and I better understood why we were doing things a certain way at each step. 


Reddit also recommend the Just Get It Done Quilts channel on YouTube, which I have found to be great. I turn to these videos more for support/supplemental material vs. ā€œhereā€™s how to make a quilt from start to finish.ā€ These are the three Iā€™d recommend/that I wish Iā€™d watched before I started making my first quilt:

I also picked up a bunch of quilting books from the library, and I bought a few. The one I think is really worth owning is Quilter's Complete Guide: The definitive how-to manual by two of America's most trusted quilters. You know I love an encyclopedic resource written by a woman who knows her shit (see also: Home Comforts), and this book is very much that. It was originally published in 1993 and re-released in 2019, and itā€™s just a very solid foundational reference that Iā€™ve gone back to repeatedly for both inspiration and guidance. 

Patterns

In general, I find reading patterns to be one of the hardest parts of sewing! (I feel this way about knitting too.) Thatā€™s actually one of the reasons Iā€™m enjoying quiltsā€”generally, I think the patterns are just a lot easier to work through. In any case, here are the ones Iā€™ve used thus farā€¦


Simplicity 8299. This is the pattern I used in my sewing class to make a simple pair of pants. It has pockets, which makes it harder, but it was definitely helpful to work on pockets for the first time when I had an instructor who could check my work each step of the way. I made these out of corn fabric that I bought with the idea of making masks from it several years ago and then never used (waste not, want not!); itā€™s honestly so stupid (in a good way!) and made the project feel a lot less serious and more fun. The pants also ended up being surprisingly comfortable, which was a nice surprise! (And they have pockets!!)   


Scrappy sawtooth star coaster. This is how I learned that while short seams are good for beginners, tiny seams might not be. It was ultimately fine; I finished the coaster quickly and it turned out reasonably well. But I realized that something this small can actually be more fiddly than you might think, and that medium-sized projects might be a better move for me right now. 

Soup cozy. This was a fun little project that took around an hour and 15 minutes to make, if that. Itā€™s super practical if you eat a lot of leftover soup or otherwise reheat things in bowls in your microwave regularly. (I also got more use out of the corn fabric!) 


Simplicity 9426. This dog jacket, to me, is the Platonic ideal of a practice sewing project. Itā€™s easy enough (though, again, I found the pattern very confusing in a few spots); it comes together quickly; and the finished item is genuinely practical. It also lends itself well to cute fabric combinations. Iā€™ve made it twice already! 

The first time, I used a Joz Makes Quilts tutorial to make four blocks made up of 16 small squares each, which I then sewed together and used as the top piece of the jacket. (I used an extra quilted square to make the collar.) I did this mostly because I wanted to practice cutting and piecing a quilt, and because it made the coat project feel more interesting and fun.

The second time I made the jacket, I basically did a speed run and completed it in just a couple hours on a Saturday afternoon. I decided not to quilt it this time because a) I thought the stiched lines would take away from the cute print, b) I didnā€™t trust myself to sew the seams straight and I knew theyā€™d be really visible since I didnā€™t have a matching thread color, and c) I didnā€™t think there was enough batting for this to be totally necessary, especially since it was already top-stitched. (Also, I can always go back and quilt it later if I change my mind.) 


Overall, I really like this pattern, and Iā€™m pretty sure Iā€™ll be making it several more times in the coming months. 

At the moment, Iā€™m currently waiting on the fabric I need to get to work on a Shoofly quilt from Penelope Handmade (weirdly, it looks like the specific pattern is no longer online).  

Final thoughts

As I worked on my first couple of sewing projects, my thoughts regularly returned to my friend Alannaā€™s book, Knit a Hat. In the intro, she makes the case for starting with a hat over a scarf, even though a scarf is a common beginner project because itā€™s so simple. You only need to learn a couple of techniques to make a scarf, but, she argues, that repetition can get really boringā€”which makes it very easy to give up on after you inevitably make a mistake or two. A hat, though, requires you to learn several new skills at once, which keeps you engaged and also sets you up for something a lot more fun for your second project. So as Iā€™ve been going about this, Iā€™ve been trying to avoid metaphorical scarves in favor of hatsā€”because if something isnā€™t fun to make, youā€™re justā€¦not going to have fun making it! 


Thereā€™s also a section in Alannaā€™s book titled ā€œIt Will Be Wonkyā€ā€”and this is the other thing that has been top of mind for me as I practice. If youā€™re not good at the beginning, she writes, it doesnā€™t mean youā€™re not crafty or youā€™ll never get it: ā€œIn fact, it can be good to surrender to the process, to not feel like you have to be totally in control at any given moment. And if your first couple of rows, or even your first couple of projects, turn out a little wonky, itā€™s not the end of the world.ā€ 


Iā€™ve really tried to embrace this approach as Iā€™ve worked on my first projects, and I think itā€™s making a difference. Success, to me, right now, is simply finishing. Iā€™m fighting the urge to give up just because something isnā€™t going perfectly, andā€”surprise!ā€”I havenā€™t died as a result. Sure, some of my seams are crooked or wobbly or donā€™t line up perfectlyā€¦itā€™s fine. Itā€™s a coat for a dog. (Also, for what itā€™s worth, a lot of little mistakes are way less noticeable than you might think when all is said and done and youā€™re observing your project from three feet away instead of six inches.) No one likes being bad at things, of course, but alsoā€¦I keep reminding myself to get a grip. Itā€™s a pair of corn pants! Itā€™s a coat for a dog! 

Honestly, I'm just so thrilled to be making things again! I really missed it. šŸŖ”

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Oh hello!

Fire Island dock

Hi! Itā€™s been a minute!


I found out in early December that my role as editor-in-chief of SELF was being eliminated. I stayed on to help with the transition (Allureā€™s EIC is now running both brands, overseeing a much smaller SELF team) and wrapped things up last week, and now Iā€™m here!


A lot has happened in the past two-and-a-half-years, but also, not that much has changed. The biggest thing is that a few months after I started at SELF, in August 2022, I got mononucleosis and it justā€¦never really went away. (I literally am still testing positive for an active Epstein-Barr infection.) Eventually, I was diagnosed with ME/CFS, which, for me, manifests as extreme fatigue, poor sleep quality, an elevated heart rate (especially when standing), brain fog, and body aches. Iā€™m also immunocompromised now, so I remain COVID-conscious (though thatā€™s not the only reason).

On a much happier note, Kiyana and I got engaged in August, which is exciting, and we left Brooklyn last year and officially put down roots in Manhattan with our dog Valentina.

Black and white photobooth engagement photo

I donā€™t know what my next career move will be, but until I figure it out, Iā€™m looking forward to resting, getting back into creative hobbies, and doing more blogging.


More to come! šŸ‘‹šŸ½

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Just Good Shit: 05.22.22

Top down photo of a bouquet of flowers and two polaroid pictures: Rachel Miller sitting on a rooftop at a table, and a bunch of pink and peach balloons

Hello! The big news this week is that I have a new job: Iā€™m starting as Editor-in-Chief of SELF tomorrow! Iā€™m so, so excited for this new chapter in my life, and I had the loveliest weekend celebrating with friends.


Hereā€™s what else I was up toā€¦

Reading

Living With The Far-Right Insurgency In Idaho, HuffPost.
This was a tough read, but I really think itā€™s worth your time.

The Long Game of White-Power Activists Isnā€™t Just About Violence, NYT. (gift link)

The Promising Treatment for Long COVID Weā€™re Not Even Trying, The Atlantic.

The COVID Testing Company That Missed 96% of Cases, ProPublica.

A Birder Is Back in the Public Eye, Now on His Own Terms, NYT. (gift link)

The Unlikely Ascent of New Yorkā€™s Compost Champion, NYT. (gift link)

Let Me Save You Some Time: A Field Guide To Avoiding Transition By Family Committee, The Chatner.

Watching & listening to

I loved Heartstopper on Netflix! The new season of Drag Race: All Stars is amazing. This song is so good. And I saw two beautiful double-crested cormorants diving for fish in Central Park on Tuesday.

Have a good one! āœØ

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Just Good Shit: 05.15.22

non-alcoholic rosemary paloma while dining al fresco

Hello! Hereā€™s what Iā€™ve got for you this weekā€¦

Reading

The Sinister Connection Between Abortion Rights, White Supremacy, and Covid, Jezebel.
Really worth a read, especially given the reports out of Buffalo.

A Grandmother Needed Paperwork For A Glucose Monitor. The NYPD Broke Her Arm., Hellgate.

The Woman Who Killed Roe, The Cut.

The Horrifying Implications of Alitoā€™s Most Alarming Footnote, Slate.

3 Test Cases Progressives Should Bring in a Post-ā€œRoeā€ World, The Nation.

Indignity Vol. 2, No. 38: Fury road., Indignity.

Watching

10 Things I Hate About You (it had been literal decades), Crush on Hulu, and Senior Year on Netflix, which was so much funnier and weirder than I expected!

Have a good one! šŸŒæ

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