Timbaland defined the Millennial sound (5.8.25)
and also, how the most remote US community gets their mail (mules!), an illustrator shows the diversity of Muslim women's clothing, your greatest love might be someone you don't expect, and more
Hi everyone! Thanks to the new subscribers who came from my post about quitting my job. I’m really inspired by how many of us are thinking deeply about those topics (more on that below). This is the once a month free newsletter for all subscribers. If you’d like this once a week, you can upgrade to paid (you’ll also get access to our bookclub, next one happening in June.)
Thanks for being here! Please let me know if any of these things catch your attention and/or if you have recs for me to read and listen to.
Now onto the good stuff…
from reading 📖
I learned that the most remote community in the US (Supai, Arizona) get its mail from mules, the last USPS route to deliver in this way. The mule train is a 16 mile, 6 hour loop up and down a switchbacking trail carved into the cliffside. Such an interesting read (especially in light of Trump’s threat to privatize the post office institution). Look how wild and beautiful the mail trail is:
I am obsessed with the illustrator Mona Chalabi, and this latest behind the scenes on her work is so good. She explains in the Guardian how she animated different Muslim women characters in the animated show #1 Happy Family USA (co-created by Ramy Youssef). One of the characters in the family is a hijabi, one a niqabi, and one doesn’t wear any covering. Within one family, as in Muslim families around the world, each person has their own relationship to hijab and religious expression. I really love the way she explains her illustrative choices. One of my faves is putting the phone in the hijab.
Only one of my favorite topics: taking a “mini-retirement” as this NYTimes article calls it. I wrote about this in my post last week, about my own experience taking this time off from full-time work and how I’m continuing to investigate my relationship to work, money, productivity, success. There are some super interesting comments on my piece if you want more stories from people about this. Essentially, it’s clear the culture is definitely moving in this direction and I think we’re going to be all the better for it. As for the NYTimes article, there were a few quotes that stood out for me from one person who took that break:
After paying about six months’ worth of her student loans in advance, she went to Peru to see her relatives for a month and then hopped around hostels in South America.
“There’s been a few times in my life that I felt that happy,” Ms. De La Cruz, now 35, said. “You don’t dread waking up and having to go to work. You just wake up and see where the day takes you.”
“I have less fear of change because I know that there are just so many other possibilities,” she said. “That was life-defining.”
What is the role of an intimacy coordinator on a film/movie set? And why do some celebrities find them so confounding (so much so that they are often rejecting their support on set)? This Washington Post article gets into some of the heated conversation around their role in the industry. At their best, they’re there to promote consent and safe environments during nude/sex scenes, so how can they be better understood as valuable to an actor’s creative practice, instead of what many see as a hindrance? As a culture, I think we all agree with this sort of thing in theory (I would hope so…), but it seems much trickier in practice to actually implement this (doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try though. I think this gray area is part of the process towards change in general!)
from listening 🎧
Knowing (and loving) Timbaland’s music is one of the most defining traits of the Millennial generation, no? He has produced some of the most recognizable and beloved musical hits in our lifetime. How did he do it? Where did he come from? What makes his sound so obviously HIM (like nothing else we’d heard before)? One of my fave podcasts Switched on Pop did a great episode called How Missy Elliot and Timbaland Freaked the World.
This episode of Maintenance Phase catches us up on the first 90 days of the Make American Healthy Again RFK Jr. health administration. Specifically, what has RFK Jr. actually done so far and how worried should we be. Whenever I listen to this podcast (or ones like it) and they’re talking about this current US administration, I’m reminded that normal, smart people who believe in science and fact and truth VERY MUCH STILL EXIST, THANK GOD (although they are rapidly dwindling from the government…..). So listen to this if you want good, informed takes.
They work full-time jobs. Why are they homeless? This is a pretty heart-wrenching podcast episode from Apple News in Conversation. The title pretty much explains it all. It’s a heavy listen but so incredibly important.
from anywhere else📱
Such a beautiful short piece from
about how maybe our greatest loves aren’t always our romantic partners. Maybe they’re a parent, a dog, a sibling, a friend. Highly recommend reading this. Have you met your greatest love yet? What form do they take for you? There are some really great comments on the piece too. Here are just a few
‘Bring your own reason to celebrate’ party:
If you attended this party, what would be the thing you’d want to celebrate about your life today? Comment below!!!
Thanks everyone! See you next week.
Miriam