Weekender 01
Edith Wharton summer, shitposting as strategy, and some recs!
Happy Sunday! I lost the concept of weekends when I began freelancing last year. I worked maniacally Fri/Sat/Sun and spent a lot of time dawdling on weekdays (going to matinees, napping) so I guess it evened out in the end. I recently started a full-time gig, which prompted me to reassess my leisure to labor ratio of work, and in an effort to make this newsletter more leisurely, I’m launching a casual weekend recommendations/catch-up column about what I’m reading, watching, wearing, thinking, etc. This weekend’s features thoughts on shit-posting as strategy; Edith Wharton is Bridgerton for intellectuals; red ballet flats as the shoe of the summer; and supplements!!!
When Substack Notes first launched, I had no interest in posting or scrolling on another Twitter-like feed. I already have Twitter for that! Recently, I figured that since the barrier to posting on Substack Notes is relatively low (compared to TikTok) I gave it a try and published some pretty anodyne Notes. The stuff I was seeing on my Notes feed was pretty boring and kind of consciously self-promotional, so I wanted to spice stuff up a bit. To be honest, I don’t even think it even qualifies as shitposting. Maybe it’s just who I follow (smart, sometimes serious writers and thinkers) but I rarely encounter Notes that are informal, zany, random, etc. An interesting data point is that these “shitposts” have quickly garnered way more traction than most of the newsletters I’ve written…
That being said, shitposting as an engagement strategy doesn’t really work for writers. Sure it’s a visibility strategy, but ultimately, the kind of engagement that writers (i.e. me) want is sustained, meaningful engagement with their work. That’s why people write books. Visibility doesn’t directly translate to that level of sustained engagement, although it certainly helps put your work before those who might be willing to extend that attention.
I did not anticipate watching the third season of Bridgerton, but I put on the first two episodes while getting my nails done last week and I’m close to ambiently finishing the season. Also, shout out to my nail tech Josephine for literally changing my life. She’s helped me grow back my nails (the latest set is with my real nails!!) under two previously INSANE Gel-X sets. This cottagecore set will live in my dreams forever.
I don’t have much to say about Bridgerton except that it scratches my itch for smooth brain content. My former colleague & friend Rebecca Jennings got some online flack for saying Bridgerton is Cocomelon for adult women but she’s kind of right… although I want to be hypnotized, enraptured and Bridgerton is too boring for that? The social stakes feel significantly lower this season, probably because the main characters and the show’s formula have become so familiar.
I picked up Edith Wharton’s Age of Innocence at the library this week. The only copy available features the two girls on the cover, their features fully YAssified. My guess is that it’s some sort of Trojan Horse strategy by Penguin to get YA readers to pick up Edith Wharton, but the Instagram face is throwing me off. Age of Innocence and House of Mirth have long been on my to-read list, and I was craving something classic and propulsive along the lines of Madame Bovary or Mrs. Dalloway. Basically, a society novel! I’m halfway through W.G. Sebald’s The Rings of Saturn and had to put it down for Wharton. Admittedly, I was reading Saturn to fall asleep.
Age of Innocence has been fun so far. I’m learning a lot of things about late 19th century New York society; the most interesting tidbit is that Washington Square (NYU area) was once home to the “old line aristocracy,” and Madison Square was where the nouveau riche settled and eventually moved northward. Anything above 59th St. used to be a considered a “wilderness.” Wharton should be required reading for any person who casually uses the phrase “old money.”
I got these red Steve Madden flats about two weeks ago, and have been wearing them non-stop because my three-month-old pedicure was in shambles. I just got my summer pedicure so my feet are freshly presentable, but the red shoe look is so Dorothy adorable that I’m tempted to wear them all summer. I wore them to the Secrets reading, and they paired wonderfully with Elizabeth Shevelev’s Honeymoon Skirt.
I take a lot of supplements. I am not ashamed to admit that I am this Bella Hadid meme. I was about to blog about it for Flaming Hydra, but when I began writing, it felt so deeply unserious, lol. The long story short is that I have PMDD, pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder (severe PMS/increased sensitivity to hormonal changes), that worsened in the year or so after I got off the pill. I’ve tried a lot of stuff to regulate my hormones and help me feel normal for half of the month. I don’t know how well the supplements work, relative to cutting out coffee or alcohol (I drink decaf and definitely still drink), but I’m not going to stop now that my skin looks good…
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
This is my supplement regimen. I know it looks crazy and I sound like a “Clean Girl” or whatever but I have my reasons:
Morning: Magnesium, Vitamin D3, Evening Primrose Oil. When I’m lazy, this is all that I get to, and maybe pop in a multivitamin once I have some food in me. I’m also very picky about where I get my supplements from. None of that DTC shit; I’m not taking poorly-formulated stuff. My hormone doctor recommended this brand called MD Prescriptives, and I haven’t looked back.
Afternoon (post-lunch): Multivitamin, Inositol mixed with B12, Spironolactone (technically an acne medication, but I think of it as a supplement)
Evening: Ashwagandha or Magnesium if I’m super stressed, usually during the latter half of my cycle. Turmeric capsules when my herniated discs are flaring up.
The Hit List
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966): Two couples getting progressively drunker as the night wears on. A horrifying, funny and bleak look at the married life of academics.
Kimsooja’s (now-closed) show “Meta-Painting” at Tanya Bonakdar felt a bit like a James Turrell rip-off. I don’t often have a visceral reaction with art, but Deductive Object, seen from afar, initially shocked me with its presence.
I don’t normally follow influencers but @natgawd’s TikTok presence is so vibrant and joyful… and she looks like Audrey Hepburn!
Ms. Alison Roman sent out this pork chop, cabbage, and capers recipe at ~2pm and I made it at ~6pm. I substituted cabbage for fennel and added some corn in the mix *chef’s kiss*
Friendship over with WG Sebald, now I am friends with Ashuwugunda, Yassified Edith Wharton, and drunk Elizabeth Taylor
to truly have an Edith Wharton summer, read her novella summer. it's sooo good, multiple times I had to flipped to the front to be like she was writing this when, cuz of the issues it covers