Welcome or welcome back! I hope you’re managing to stay calm in the chaos, and fingers crossed any potential holiday season scaries are being kept at bay… or unleashed in full fury if that’s more your speed.
I know this time of the year can be difficult for a lot of people (and to top things off, Mercury is also in retrograde), so today we’re focusing on stories about celebrating the underdog and nourishment in all of its forms.
It’s had me thinking. From self-care to restoring your faith in humanity, good food can really go a long way.
That may sound like a tall order, and the food part might sound especially dramatic… but can you blame me? I’m a Taurus.
Let’s dig in. 🍽️
Laughing at Your Haters, One Cackle at a Time
Have you ever felt like your very existence or way of being pisses people off?
Meet Annie, a recently broken up with teacher who just moved to a small town in hopes of a new start. She’s witty, interesting, and powerful. She just doesn’t seem to know it yet.
Meet Sophie, a captivating local who has more than just a few tricks up her sleeve. Although she’s bold and otherworldly, she’s more lonely and misunderstood than she may let on.
Rachel Harrison’s novel Cackle follows the budding friendship between the two women, culminating in an ending that prompts readers to question their own self-beliefs and sovereignty. Speaking of friendship, shoutout to my friend Michelle over at Scare Me for recommending and sending me this book (sign up for her newsletter if you haven’t already).
Throughout the novel, Harrison’s fresh and engaging prose leaps off the page. She manages to broach heart-wrenching topics in a way that makes you laugh and feel like you’re hanging out with a good friend. I even felt a little sad that the book had to come to an end!
She takes you through the ups and downs along the journey to self-actualization, cultural taboos around the “other,” and the real reason why the world seems to be terrified of women—or anyone else who deviates outside the norm—who truly love and accept themselves.
As someone who is no stranger to phrases like “you should smile more” or “you should watch your tone,” the passage below made me grin from ear to ear. And if you’ve ever experienced something similar (woman or not), I’m sure you can relate.
“I don’t smile when I don’t feel like smiling. I don’t pretend. I’m entirely honest about who I am. Is that my great offense?… That I’ve made these choices, that I have these gifts, and I embrace them? I’m not ashamed of who I am. Of what I am. What is it about a woman in full control of herself that is so utterly frightening?”
Maybe you’re bracing yourself for some awkward gatherings this season with people who may not totally get or appreciate you. Maybe you’re dealing with someone who most definitely peaked in high school. Maybe you turned on the news and felt scared.
Regardless of the situation, I hope you remember that you have full permission to let your freak flag fly. And it doesn’t hurt to cackle right in the face of it all while you’re at it.
Sensual Sandwiches and the Art of Self-Care
@alissasmagic Autumn crunch sandwich ✨ #sandwich #sandwiches #sandwichrecipe #fallrecipe
At a basic level, we all have to eat. Even those of us who don’t proclaim to be foodies have favorite meals and flavors. When you add cool women with culinary skills and artisanal ingredients to the mix, it makes for a winning combination.
That being said, it’s probably no surprise that I’ve been noticing the rise of sensual cooking videos on platforms like Instagram and TikTok lately. I should also preface this by saying that by “sensual” I simply mean “of the senses” (get your head out of the gutter!).
This cooking video format isn’t necessarily new. Remember when Gabriette started going viral several years back with her elaborate food videos? Now, she’s a certified it girl and a household name.
While I’m sure I’m walking myself into a joke about women being in the kitchen (haha so funny), there’s a level of self-care that comes with taking the time to make yourself a nice meal that I’ve found inspiring. Hear me out.
Not everyone has the means to buy organic produce or speciality foods to make a Michelin star sandwich, but there are techniques and ideas I’ve taken with me from these videos to elevate otherwise mundane meals. If I really think about it, it’s also played a role in elevating my everyday life.
A few days ago, I found myself concocting a decadent sauce with random ingredients I had in my fridge, inspired by one of these cooking videos. Even just taking one extra minute to do that was an act of self-care I may not have otherwise engaged in. It also made my ordinary turkey sandwich taste a hell of a lot better, which therefore made my day that much brighter.
So go on, make yourself a delicious meal, and feel free to get a little fancy with it. Life is short!
What the “AI Bubble Burst” Reveals About Corporate Culture and the Collective
I’ve been seeing a lot of social media content around the “AI bubble burst.” I’ll start by acknowledging the following realities: the negative effects of AI currently harm the environment and most vulnerable populations, and in the event of an AI bubble burst, those who caused it to happen will do everything in their power to deflect responsibility and retain as much capital as possible.
Now that we have that covered, this is a topic I have a lot of thoughts on. As someone who spent several years working in tech (albeit in marketing), I’ve been around my fair share of tech bros who totally drank the AI Kool-Aid. And each time the sycophants around them would ooh and aah at their every word, they went back for another helping. Eventually this meant that I had to start using AI often, too.
Was it helpful in streamlining some tedious processes? Sure. But shocker, as a writer with a creative background, I quickly realized it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. It’s almost as if the human mind and its ability to create is actually quite powerful on its own. Who would have thought!
Now the news is out. Despite all the hype, AI is not nearly as profitable as companies have deluded themselves into thinking. In fact, 95% of organizations in a recent MIT study saw zero return on their AI investment.
It’s been both scary and validating. How does something like this happen? This satirical tidbit from a recent Hard Times article sums it up:
“Let me contextualize this for you: What we are offering is the ability to make any cartoon character fart and say bad things, and all we’re asking in return is the surrender of your career, dignity, and sense of worth in those most human of endeavors, such as art. Sounds like a big ole win to me, a guy whose wealth and power are now full dependent on you willingly doing that!”
- The Hard Times, “Opinion: You Might as Well Get Used to AI, Because if You Don’t, I’m Ruined” by Dan Rice
I’m not here to shame the average person who uses AI, and I’m someone who generally appreciates technological advancements. However, I do think we should think critically about what we use technology for, its role in our lives, and who actually benefits from it. Is AI inherently evil? No. Is it being weaponized, and does it come with very real consequences ranging from the loss of people’s livelihoods to major environmental damage? Yes.
To put it simply: what skills of yours are you willing to outsource to AI? And at what cost?
There’s no doubt that there’s a massive power imbalance between the companies pushing AI and the average consumer. Despite this imbalance, we must collectively hold companies and irresponsible tech bros accountable. When so much is at stake, accountability really isn’t too much to ask.
The more they live in an echo chamber with their motives unquestioned, the more they get rewarded for causing harm—and that’s a recipe for disaster.
If you want to get involved, you can sign this letter in solidarity with Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ). I found out about it through Gen -Z for Change, an org created and run by an all Gen-Z team!
Weird Girl of the Week: Ecca Vandal
The internet can be good, bad, and sometimes glorious. I recently discovered Ecca Vandal’s music as I was scrolling on Instagram, and it led me to the music video above for her song “CRUISING TO SELF SOOTHE.”
While Ecca Vandal is no stranger to the music scene, her singles released in the past year have put her on the map and garnered high praises from a wide range of industry veterans—and for good reason.
Aside from her catchy lyrics and commanding punk vocals, her music reminds us that sometimes the very things that make us different can be the same source of our confidence. She reflected on this in an interview with Alternative Press:
“I think I worked out really early on that people look at me sideways all the time. ‘What are you wearing?’ That happened to me as a teenager, but I realized that that's OK. I'm cool with that. I was always the only Brown kid in school or the only girl at a punk-rock show or whatever. That confidence, being the only one, makes me just show up exactly how I want to show up and not care.”
- Ecca Vandal, Alternative Press: “Ecca Vandal finds her flow” by Anna Zanes
Speaking of what she’s wearing, she has fantastic taste, blending feminine and punk elements in her outfits and music videos. By juxtaposing harsh and playful imagery, we’re transported into a world uniquely her own that feels familiar yet liminal. Check out some of my favorite stills below from her most recent music video, MOLLY!
The Chopova Lowena carabiner skirt? Yes, please.
Fishing in a bathtub while wearing over-the-knee striped boots is giving me life.
The nautical top while she holds a cake in an inflatable pool filled with tinsel? Everything.
Ecca Vandal shows us that if you’re going to stand out anyway, you might as well do so as loudly, authentically, and fabulously as possible.
That’s all for this week. If you’ve read all the way through, thank you. 🫡
Stay weird.
Pssst…if you haven’t already…follow me on Instagram.👇