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Cruel compendium #8 🍦

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Cruel compendium #8 🍦

Living in the now, debating the worst places in New York, and eating homemade ice cream

Jillian Anthony
Jul 10, 2020
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Cruel compendium #8 🍦

cruelsummerbookclub.substack.com
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My advice column, Dear Jilla, is coming soon. Don’t forget to submit your questions on heartbreak, hardship, and healing here.

Submit your question

Subscribe to Cruel Summer Book Club


I’m reading

  • Sit with negative emotions, don’t push them away by Arthur C. Brooks. The perennial lesson!

  • Your happily ever after begins right now by Francesca Specter, author of the Alonement newsletter. Francesca hits on two of my personal truths. 1. Life is not on pause. Life does not wait for the right circumstances. This, right now, is your life, and it’s all you have. 2. If you’re single, your next relationship is already on the way, so you’d better enjoy your freedom while you can.

  • In the Covid economy, you can have a kid or a job. You can’t have both. by Deb Perelman. Especially if you’re a woman.

  • More women like me are choosing to be childfree. Is this the age of opting out? by R. O. Kwon. This article comes from a Guardian series exploring women who are childfree called “Isn’t that selfish?” that I have a loooooot of thoughts on.

  • You want a Confederate monument? My body is a Confederate monument. by Caroline Randall Williams. This powerful piece opens with the line “I have rape-colored skin.” Williams’ point of view is a crucial one.

  • Anything you say in this Trader Joe’s line may be used against you by Judith Newman. I love nothing more than effective pettiness.


Questionable self-care advice

davidshrigley
Drawing I made for Grayson’s Art Club @alanmeasles
May 25, 2020

Support I got that you might need to hear

thepouf
this is what I say to myself every time I don’t feel like putting dishes away (which is always) and it’s useful for many of life’s scenarios so here you go 😅
July 1, 2020

You should know about

  1. Last night I attended a digital orientation for Showing Up for Racial Justice NYC, which uses community organization and education to move white people to act for racial justice. They talked through the organization’s mission, paired us up with someone who can be a support system, and gave us immediate ways to get involved with important antiracism causes in our communities this week. If you’re in NYC, here’s the next orientations, and if you’re not, here’s how you can find a chapter near you.

  2. Jeremy Caplan of the Wonder Tools newsletter suggested I try Focusmate, a service that matches you up with a digital accountability partner to help you work on the task at hand for 50 minutes at a time. You tell each other what you’re working on, then basically have someone sitting in the corner of your screen putting that extra pressure on you to get shit done; at the end of the session you shared what you achieved. You get three free sessions a week. This has been helpful for my productivity! (PS: If you subscribe to Jeremy’s newsletter about tips for getting more done and email him to let him know what kind of projects you’re working on, he’ll send you personalized tools! The ones he gave me were great.)

  3. I signed up for writer Rachel Syme’s quarantine pen pal matchup, and you can too through this weekend! Send some extra love into the world:

Twitter avatar for @rachsyme
rachel syme @rachsyme
so the quar pen pal exchange has hilariously swelled to about 1300 people; but i'm still making matches, so you know, sign up. i'll keep it open for the week just because people keep wanting in...
elfster.comRachel’s PenPal Palooza | Elfster
3:35 PM ∙ Jul 6, 2020
131Likes17Retweets
  1. My friend Louie made us this homemade ice cream on the Fourth of July and it was some of the best I’ve ever tasted in my life. He added strawberries!

    nytcooking
    Weekend plans: Making ice cream at home. Really. Get some flavor and mix-in ideas from @amelia.nierenberg at the link in bio. (Illustration: @instakasia)
    July 2, 2020
  2. I’m curious: If you’re a New Yorker, what do you think the three worst places here are? What about the best?

Twitter avatar for @jillathrilla
jillathrilla @jillathrilla
TERMINAL 5!!!! And most of Williamsburg (Union Pool is a top contender), and Port Authority. Why would anyone hate Grand Army??
Twitter avatar for @MosesNYC
Moses Gates @MosesNYC
Currently in a heated debate about top three worst places in NYC. My answers are Columbus Circle Whole Foods, Union Pool & Grand Army Plaza (Brooklyn). I am countered with the 86th st. 4/5/6 station, the Port Authority Bus Terminal & the NY Aquarium.
10:26 PM ∙ Jul 6, 2020

Minerva moment

She looks like her namesake more every day.


Anthem of the week

“Los Angeles” by Haim. New album has been on repeat all week.


This cheered me up

Prospect Park, and summer in New York, is more magical than ever.

Twitter avatar for @jillathrilla
jillathrilla @jillathrilla
I walked from Park Slope to Flatbush through the park tonight and it was empty and quiet and the air was heavy and smelled like sweet moss. When I got to the boathouse a jazz band played as people swayed. I’m grateful to be here to experience these exceptional New York nights.
3:20 AM ∙ Jul 9, 2020
16Likes1Retweet

Mood


Cruel compliments

Thanks so much Nisha (who has her own great newsletter) for recommending CSBC!

Twitter avatar for @NishaChittal
Nisha Chittal @NishaChittal
@svanglofille I have so many I couldn't fit them all in a tweet. Kelsey Keith's new one Ground Condition, Cruel Summer Book Club, Foreign Bodies, My Sweet Dumb Brain, Alicia Kennedy, In Digestion, Anne Helen Petersen's, Discourse Blog, Sam Koppelman's Quarantine Cooking... I could go on!
5:32 PM ∙ May 16, 2020
Twitter avatar for @MariaAme_Gonzal
Maria A. Gonzalez @MariaAme_Gonzal
@jillathrilla #CruelSummerBookClub is currently one of my favorite newsletters! A quarantine gem! ❤️
7:32 PM ∙ Jul 3, 2020
Twitter avatar for @tiffphilippou
Tiffany Philippou @tiffphilippou
Beyond excited for this! Introducing my advice column: Dear Jilla by @jillathrilla
cruelsummerbookclub.substack.comIntroducing my advice column: Dear JillaSubmit your questions on change, heartbreak and the hard stuff in life
11:21 AM ∙ Jun 30, 2020
Twitter avatar for @fizapirani
Fiza Pirani ✍🏽 @fizapirani
hi hello, sharing some highlights from this week's roundup! first, thanks so much to @jillathrilla for featuring @4nbodies in a recent issue of #CruelSummerBookClub! totally made my day.
cruelsummerbookclub.substack.comCruel compendium #4 ✊🏾Everything I’m reading, listening to, and thinking about this week
10:55 PM ∙ Jul 9, 2020
2Likes1Retweet

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Cruel compendium #8 🍦

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