Where I’m getting my news these days

The political situation in the US right now is Not Great, and it’s getting worse by the day. But if you’re reading some of our most vaunted institutions, you could be forgiven for thinking it’s business as usual here, which is…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 it’s goddamn fantasy football. Like, why are we credulously trying to figure out how flatly illegal actions will “play” with voters instead of calling these things what they are? Why are we referring to disastrous cuts to federal agencies as “savings” 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 people’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, I’ve been sticking to outlets and journalists that aren’t acting like they are brand new here. Below is a list of where I’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 Magazine’s Intelligencer. This is where I’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 “a podcast about how much the Supreme Court sucks.” It’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, “Sierra Club v. Morton” is one of my personal favorites.

404 Media. A lot of journalists are real dopes when it comes to tech coverage. (If you’re drooling over the promises of generative AI, I’ve got a bridge to sell you!!!) 404 is independent—run by a bunch of my former VICE coworkers, who are very smart!—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 I’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. “They Are a Minority” and “Democracy and Power” are two good recent installments to check out.

Your Local Epidemiologist. If you want a clear picture of what’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: “I 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.” 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; she’s written several books—including Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care, which I’d definitely recommend right now—and has a monthly Substack.

Rebecca Traister. Another person who I turn to when I’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. Here’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

It’s no secret that I love having a hobby; over the years, I’ve taken up knitting, embroidery, journaling, cross stitch, scrapbooking, photography, and birding, just to name a few. Now I’m adding sewing to the list—finally.

I say finally because I really should have done this years ago—my mom and grandma are both extremely competent sewists. It’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; she’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 mom’s area of expertise is kids’ clothes. When I was in kindergarten, she’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 children’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 epic—she’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. I’ve actually had my mom teach me twice—once when I was 18, and again in 2021—but for whatever reason, it just never really stuck. The learning curve with sewing is quite high, and the first two steps—making a bobbin and threading your machine—are arguably the two hardest ones. Doing either thing wrong will typically result in a big mess, which means there’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. I’m happy to say that this approach worked, and I’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 I’d gotten off the subway, I’d decided that would be the route I’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 I’m not terribly interested in making clothes for myself. I’m not saying I’ll never do it, but it’s just not something that really inspires me—because I don’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. adult—she always said she likes “short seams.” And honestly…yes! And it turns out that smaller pieces that don’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 you’ve make a mistake, and b) can undo said mistake faster. Put another way: It’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 I’d struggled in the past, and also extremely accurate to my experience this time around. Sewing machines are intimidating; there’s no other home appliance that makes me feel like I’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.

I’m currently using the Brother CS7000i sewing machine at home. I bought it for $185 in 2021 but it’s now retailing for $349, which I think is maybe because it’s an older model that’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 don’t think my machine’s computerized features are really adding much, this particular Brother model has a couple features that I love: One of the most difficult steps—putting the bobbin in correctly, and then picking up the bobbin thread with the top needle—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 “throat” (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) isn’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 I’m totally committed first.

A lot of people online will tell you to try to get an older/used Singer model—essentially, what my mom and grandma still sew on—because machines were better made 20 years ago, and are true workhorses. While I don’t disagree, and I think it’s reasonable to use one of those if you inherit it or come across one that’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, you’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 don’t live somewhere with a good sewing shop where you can easily get help (or don’t have a family member who can help you who lives nearby), you’re going to be very reliant on YouTube for troubleshooting…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 similar—I recently watched a video of a rusted Singer from 1894 being restored and was genuinely shocked by how similar it was to modern ones—so you might be able to figure out the issue even if you can’t, say, find your model’s manual online.

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

Helpful resources

When it comes to getting started with quilting, Reddit swears by Melanie Ham’s “Your First Quilt” series on YouTube, so that is what I used and I would wholeheartedly recommend it. She’s a great teacher and I think the project is perfectly sized—it’s big enough that you’ll learn all the important steps (and do them at scale) and will feel extremely accomplished when you’re done, but it’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 helpful—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. “here’s how to make a quilt from start to finish.” These are the three I’d recommend/that I wish I’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 it’s just a very solid foundational reference that I’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.) That’s actually one of the reasons I’m enjoying quilts—generally, I think the patterns are just a lot easier to work through. In any case, here are the ones I’ve used thus far…

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!); it’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. It’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. It’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. I’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 didn’t trust myself to sew the seams straight and I knew they’d be really visible since I didn’t have a matching thread color, and c) I didn’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 I’m pretty sure I’ll be making it several more times in the coming months.

At the moment, I’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 Alanna’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 it’s so simple. You only need to learn a couple of techniques to make a scarf, but, she argues, that repetition can get really boring—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 I’ve been going about this, I’ve been trying to avoid metaphorical scarves in favor of hats—because if something isn’t fun to make, you’re just…not going to have fun making it!

There’s also a section in Alanna’s book titled “It Will Be Wonky”—and this is the other thing that has been top of mind for me as I practice. If you’re not good at the beginning, she writes, it doesn’t mean you’re not crafty or you’ll never get it: “In 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, it’s not the end of the world.”

I’ve really tried to embrace this approach as I’ve worked on my first projects, and I think it’s making a difference. Success, to me, right now, is simply finishing. I’m fighting the urge to give up just because something isn’t going perfectly, and—surprise!—I haven’t died as a result. Sure, some of my seams are crooked or wobbly or don’t line up perfectly…it’s fine. It’s a coat for a dog. (Also, for what it’s worth, a lot of little mistakes are way less noticeable than you might think when all is said and done and you’re observing your project from three feet away instead of six inches.) No one likes being bad at things, of course, but also…I keep reminding myself to get a grip. It’s a pair of corn pants! It’s a coat for a dog!

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

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Oh hello!

Hi! It’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 (Allure’s EIC is now running both brands, overseeing a much smaller SELF team) and wrapped things up last week, and now I’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 just…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. I’m also immunocompromised now, so I remain COVID-conscious (though that’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 don’t know what my next career move will be, but until I figure it out, I’m looking forward to resting, getting back into creative hobbies, and doing more blogging.

More to come! 👋🏽

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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: I’m starting as Editor-in-Chief of SELF tomorrow! I’m so, so excited for this new chapter in my life, and I had the loveliest weekend celebrating with friends.

Here’s what else I was up to…

Reading

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

The Long Game of White-Power Activists Isn’t Just About Violence, NYT. (gift link)

The Promising Treatment for Long COVID We’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 York’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! ✨

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Just Good Shit: 05.15.22

non-alcoholic rosemary paloma while dining al fresco

Hello! Here’s what I’ve got for you this week…

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 Alito’s Most Alarming Footnote, Slate.

3 Test Cases Progressives Should Bring in a Post-“Roe” 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! 🌿

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Just Good Shit: 05.08.22

"what the fuck" on a yellow background — Image: Sarah Epperson

It’s been a tough week for bodily autonomy. On top of Monday’s horrible Roe news, gender-affirming healthcare for minors is a felony in Alabama as of today. It’s hard not to feel abject dread and deep despair right now, but I’m trying to focus on pulling on my little threads, and I hope you’re doing the same.

Here’s what I have for you tonight…

My shit

Reading list: Why safe abortion access matters

And there’s a new episode of the podcast out!

Reading

Alito’s Plan to Repeal the 20th Century, The Atlantic.

The Limits of Privilege, The Cut.
“As we teeter on the threshold of the post-Roe world, it’s worth considering that the message that privileged women will be just fine is inaccurate and that its repetition, while well meaning, is counterproductive to the task of readying an unprepared public for massive and terrifying shifts on the horizon. It’s worth pointing out that it is simply not true that the reproductive options of white, middle-class, and even wealthy people are going to remain the same. Because while circumstances will certainly be graver and more perilous for the already vulnerable, the reality is that everything is about to change, for everyone, in one way or another, and to muffle that alarm is an error, factually, practically, and politically.”

God Damn America, Discourse Blog.
“Here is a brief and incomplete list of the people and institutions that can go fuck themselves this morning.”

Democratic Leaders Are Getting the Abortion Story Wrong — Again, The Cut.

A Q&A With Jessica Cisneros, the Pro-Choice Democrat Pelosi Isn’t Supporting, VICE.

The Wackadoodle Wave, The Atlantic.
This is a bad hed, but I think this article does a good job of explaining why, in a practical and logistical sense, increasingly extreme people are taking over the GOP.

Indignity Vol. 2, No. 37: Rights are for everyone., Indignity.

The Institutionalist's Dilemma, Alex Pareene.

“The legitimacy crisis is that our institutions are illegitimate. For my entire adult life, beginning with Bush v. Gore, our governing institutions have been avowedly antidemocratic and the left-of-center party has had no answer for that plain fact; no strategy, no plan, except to beg the electorate to give them governing majorities, which they then fail to use to reform the antidemocratic governing institutions.”

If Roe v. Wade falls, are LGBTQ rights next?, Vox.

Meet Abortion Bans’ New Best Friend—Your Phone, Mother Jones.

The Holocaust Started With My Great-Uncle’s Murder, The Atlantic.

I Saw a Cool Truck Today, Alex Pareene.
Great blog about safety, public policy, and semis.

She Invented Adulting. Her Life Fell Apart. She Wants You to Know That’s Okay., Vanity Fair.

Jane Fonda, Then and Now, Glamour.

“I made this so you can turn your anger into action. We all can do something, here's how.” —Alison Turkos

Take care. 💛

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Reading list: Why safe abortion access matters

Person holding a black "Abortion is Healthcare" sign decorated with butterflies at a protest — Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash

I compiled this list a few years ago on Twitter, but I wanted to make it available here too.

If there are people in your life who don't understand the urgency or importance of abortion (or you yourself don't), here are some of the most compelling, moving, and informative things I've read on the topic of abortion over the years:

Stop It With The Fucking Coat Hangers, Andrea Grimes.

The Betrayal of Roe, The Cut.

Volunteering At An Abortion Clinic Made Me Lose Patience With The Abortion Debate, BuzzFeed.

The Abortion That Let Me Be a Mother, BuzzFeed News.

What Having An Abortion In 1959 Was Like, BuzzFeed News.

Interview With a Woman Who Recently Had an Abortion at 32 Weeks, Jezebel.

Interview with Dr., The Hairpin.

The Abortion Ministry of Dr. Willie Parker, GQ.

This Is How Judges Humiliate Pregnant Teens Who Want Abortions, Mother Jones.

How Abortion Law in New York Will Change, and How It Won’t, The New Yorker.

Stop Telling People in Red States to Move When They're Faced With Devastating Bans, Jezebel.

And the six-part Ordeal of the Bitter Waters, which is a firsthand account of how a religious woman went from anti-choice to pro-choice — in part via a close read of biblical texts.

If you or someone you know needs abortion pills, Plan C has up-to-date information to help you access them in the U.S. online.

Finally, if you’re able, please consider donating to or volunteering with a state-level abortion org; The Cut and Defector have round-ups of organizations that could use your support. 🤍

Just Good Shit: 05.01.22

two baby ducklings on pond with mother duck in background

Hello and happy May! Here’s what I was up to this week…

Reading

School Boards Are No Match for America’s Political Dysfunction, The Atlantic.
I…did not expect this story to center on my hometown/the district my mom teaches in!!!

A Cage by Another Name, Failed Architecture.

How Tucker Carlson Stoked White Fear to Conquer Cable, NYT. (gift link)

You know it’s bad when NYT is flat-out calling someone racist. Also, here's a gift link for Part 2.

This Startup Wants to Get in Your Ears and Watch Your Brain, Wired.

How conspiracy theories went mainstream, Vox.

Turns Out You Could Have a TV Show That Doesn’t Tear Fat People Down, Discourse Blog.

Reconsidering the Spice Girls: How Manufactured Girl Power Became Real, NYT. (gift link)

Have a good one! 🐥

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Just Good Shit: 04.24.22

Good evening, friends! Here’s what I’ve got for you this week…

Writing

How to think about masking on planes, trains, and buses right now

And a new episode of the podcast is out!

Reading

We Could Be in the Middle of a Major Covid Spike and Not Even Know It, The New Republic.

Singal and the Noise, Protean.
“Love is perhaps more of an action than a feeling. That belief of mine is informed by my experiences as a person with multiple marginalizations, as well as my personal ethics. Hate works the same way. There are a lot of bigots who think that if their mistreatment is unemotional, based on ‘facts,’ then it’s not bigoted, and so work very hard at convincing themselves and others they have no feelings about the objects of their hate.”

When Doctors Cite 'Regret' to Deny Care, Who Is Really Protected?, Wired.

Stop calling them “accidents”, Vox.

Google’s AI-Powered “Inclusive Warnings” Feature Is Very Broken, VICE.

Netflix’s Bad Habits Have Caught Up With It, Vulture.

Other recs

We watched all of Severance this week and I fully loved it! But this felt made for me; I love sci-fi + grief/sadness + memory stuff + winter. We also watched a few episodes of Our National Parks (the Obama doc on Netflix) and I found it more moving than I would have expected (and that’s coming from someone who watches a lot of nature docs). There’s just something about seeing baby animals take their first steps or first flight that is genuinely awe-inspiring.

On a different note, I have NYT Cooking’s oven-roasted chicken shawarma in the oven right now and I’m really excited; the prep was ridiculously easy, and I think it’s going to be really good.

Have a great week! 🌱

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