Hi! You're reading a monthly newsletter in which I, perpetual opinion-haver Laura Reineke, share with you some Stuff that I endorse. Got stuff you think *I* Should? Reply to this email or holler at me on Twitter @ohonestly. Thx for reading. Love u.
👋 Know About Me
New year, new me! Well. Same me, but with renewed commitments to concepts like "not biting my nails" and "cutting back on refined carbohydrates." So far 2018 has felt just as dull and mired in Trumpian nonsense as 2017, but I've been good about making small changes to improve my attitude. I'm nothing if not hopeful that I can wrestle this calendar year into something that at least vaguely resembles a good time. Let's give it a try together, k?
Your girl in 2017.
🔗 Read Online
Pop Culture's Great Awokening - What happens to culture in an era of identity politics? A chronicle of how we reached this period of "woke"-ness and a thorough exploration of the push-pull between our capitalism, our expectations for accountability, and our appetite for what might end up being "complacent correctness." The thinkpiece I've been waiting for. (Molly Fischer/The Cut)
You Are Nowhere - A reality TV show, a relationship, and an inescapable loneliness. (Emily Lackey/The Rumpus)
And Your Little Dog, Too - Maybe it's because I'm a pet mom now, but this cartoonist's illustrated guide to the pups he's known and loved socked me right in the gut. (Jeremy Sorese/Medium)
How I Learned to Look Believable - What does a woman possibly wear to a sexual harassment hearing? Sometimes all you can control is what’s on the outside. (Eva Hagberg Fisher/NYT)
The Last of the Iron Lungs - Iron lungs are a medical treatment of the past - except for the patients for whom they're still a complicated but reassuring part of daily life. (As an '80s baby I am continually AGHAST that iron lungs were EVER real and not just a figment of Margaret Atwood's imagination.) (Jennings Brown/Gizmodo)
"Winter at Woodstock, NY," by Emile Gruppe. Oil paint, c. 1920.
🗣️ Quote
“In [fairy tales], power is rarely the right tool for survival anyway. Rather the powerless thrive on alliances, often in the form of reciprocated acts of kindness - from beehives that were not raided, birds that were not killed but set free or fed, old women who were saluted with respect. Kindness sown among the meek is harvested in crisis.” — Rebecca Solnit, "The Faraway Nearby"
💰 Buy
I buy a lot of products because podcasts tell me to! My latest "Huh, this is actually as good as advertised" purchases: Bombas knee-high socks, which after weeks of wear still haven't lost elasticity, and Boll & Branch flannel sheets, which are stupid soft and an ideal weight for morning burrowing while phone scrolling.
The Ordinary's Hyaluronic Acid 2% and Niacinamide 10% - This skincare brand might be my new religion?? A few drops from each of these bottles twice a day has essentially deleted every issue my face has ever had, from a chronically oily T-zone to stubborn blemishes. It's wild. I feel drunk with power about it. Each one is < $10 and you can snag them at Sephora now, too.
Health-Ade Kombucha (Blood Orange, Carrot, Ginger)- If you wanna try kombucha but you're scared because it sounds gross and bad, take a sip of this one on its own or mixed w alcohol. It's like a slightly tart, kicky ginger ale. I promise it's a million times better than whatever you imagine kombucha tastes like.
🎧 Listen To
Slow Burn: A Podcast About Watergate - Slate's Leon Neyfakh narrates this series examining what it was like to actually live through Watergate and, in so doing proves that in many ways, we've been through all of this before. An especially instructive listen if your understanding of Watergate was shaped entirely by All The President's Men like mine was.
The 21 songs that defined my 2017 - I make mixtapes of my most-played songs each month, and then at the end of the year I sort the tunes I loved best into an extra-special compilation. (Here's 2016 and 2015, if u wanna time travel.)
🗣️ Quote
“Finally, in a low whisper, he said, ‘I think I might be a terrible person.’ For a split second I believed him - I thought he was about to confess a crime, maybe a murder. Then I realized that we all think we might be terrible people. But we only reveal this before asking someone to love us. It is a kind of undressing.” — Miranda July, "The First Bad Man"
Still life with moms @ Toledo Museum of Art
☀️ My Forecast
No nail-biting! No carbs! Lots of coffee, though. God yes.
xo,
Laura