Cruel Compendium #15 🌇
What I'm reading and thinking about as I'm saying goodbye (for now) to NYC
On Tuesday, I wrote about the experience of being home during a shooting on my corner. I shared my thoughts about gun violence, police violence, and the failures of my government.
It’s been another impossibly heavy week. Take care of yourself today.
I’m reading
The unexpected joys of the worst summer of our lives. A comic by Christine Mi
On creating anchors over routines by Madeleine Dore, who has a great newsletter. If you have a tough time sticking to a schedule, try adding a mix of anchors to your day—such as writing, reading, exercising and meditating—and see how it changes your productivity (or your idea of what that means).
Alicia Garza, cofounder of Black Lives Matter, on what it’s like to be proven right by Jenny Singer
Boubacar Wann Diallo, once a migrant to Morocco himself, has made it his personal mission to identify and bury the bodies of migrants who died at sea. By Aida Alami
Will they see me as a son, a daughter, or a stranger? by Les Tyler Johnson. A transgender writer explores the core of identity as their parents simultaneously struggle with Alzheimer’s.
It’s hard to make dignity interesting. Chadwick Boseman found a way. By Wesley Morris. I was shocked and gutted at the news of Boseman’s passing along with so many of you this week. It’s been a gift to see how one man’s genuine goodness and dedication to his craft has inspired so, so many.
Questionable self-care advice
Support I got that you might need to hear
Vision board
You should know about
Excellent newsletter advice from Jedd Legum, who authors the politics newsletter Popular Information, in Edith Zimmerman’s newsletter, Drawing Links. Zimmerman is one of the Substack fellows and was kind enough to share the wealth of newsletter-related info she’s taking in right now.
More important, informative reading about gun violence and police violence. I learned so much from this article by William Finnegan about the immense power of police unions and why they’ve made reform impossible to come by for over 100 years. And this episode of The Daily further explores the explosion of shootings in cities across the country, and the complicated feelings of community members who want to be safe, but don’t trust the police.
How decades of racist housing policy left neighborhoods sweltering by Brad Plumer and Nadja Popovich. Redlining means poorer neighborhoods with more people of color are 5 to 20 degrees hotter than wealthier, whiter parts of the city. The maps in this piece are so damning.
IMPORTANT:
Hi I hope this will make your life better: Type doc.new into your search bar to open a new Google Doc.
Minerva moment
Confused and forlorn in my empty Brooklyn bedroom.
Anthem of the week
“My Way” by Ava Max. This Selling Sunset find is perfect for my current state of mind.
This cheered me up
Celebrating almost nine years living in New York City with my friends in Prospect Park last weekend. Everyone stayed through a twenty-minute downpour and sang “Rain On Me.” I feel very full.
Mood
Cruel compliments
Thanks for the shoutout in Juju Kennedy’s newsletter, Congrats, You Played Yourself:
On wake up and dump him, Jillian Anthony interviews @imdatfeminist for her newsletter, Cruel Summer Book Club. So. Many. Gems. Like this one: “When you take responsibility you grow, and you don’t do the same things again because you remember how shameful it felt.”
Rough translation: Every month in my newsletter #SognaAmericano I in turn recommend an American newsletter that I follow and I find interesting. Today’s from @jillathrilla is simply a punch to the heart. It explains so many things, including emotional ones. It’s called: Guns in America.
Cruel Summer Book Club is heading west. Keep in touch by subscribing and sharing this newsletter with friends.
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You are not alone!
So glad I could share some of the wisdom from your newsletter on mine!