79 Comments

Can you recommend some poems that could be fun to recite after dinner? I really like this idea. For now I think The Summer Day by Mary Oliver could be nice

Expand full comment

That's a good one. It depends on what you like and what tone you're trying to strike after dinner... but I (Erin) think poems with first-person speakers can work well, like "The Day Lady Died" by Frank O'Hara, "The Last Time" by Marie Howe, "I, being born a woman and distressed" by Edna St. Vincent Millay or something funny by Dorothy Parker

Expand full comment

If you are angry about noise pollution, aim that anger elsewhere: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/02/city-noise-might-be-making-you-sick/553385/

"The noise that does the most harm doesn’t come from clubs and house parties—the causes of many garden-variety noise complaints and violations....The two largest sources of environmental noise are transportation and industrial activity....Targeting the noise of individuals is ineffective, antisocial, and fails to eradicate the noise that really hurts people: environmental noise.... urban residents must understand that noise is first—and worst—produced by those with the most power. That means industry and infrastructure, not individuals. The only way to save our ears is to start talking to our neighbors about noise instead of policing them for it."

Seriously, all of the clearly white people disagreeing with the music part, please just grit your teeth and shove some foam into your ears or you are never beating the gentrifier allegations, I fear.... (I say this to help.)

Expand full comment

Shout out to the guy who rides a cargo bike and blasts Gregorian chants round Prospect Park way in the mornings. Fundamentally changed my attitude towards Weird Bike Music Guys and now I consider myself one too (I am a woman.)

Expand full comment

need this guy to spin past me some time !

Expand full comment

This should be mandatory reading in grade school imho

Expand full comment

Haha

Expand full comment

I get the slander about no show socks, but for me I wear it because I have a sweaty feet and I don't want my shoes to become stinky and cooked inside. I care about my hygiene papa plane!

Expand full comment

my favorite remedy for this problem is regular socks ; )

Expand full comment

I agree. But sometimes I want to have the style/look that my pants having a break just right above the ankle while wearing my derby shoes without the visuals of wearing socks.

Expand full comment

rule that I would like to submit for consideration: no car a/c unless it’s literally over 102 degrees!! roll your windows down. it feels nice to have the wind on your skin and allows you to have some fraction of engagement with your environment. you should not be whipping around in a sensory deprivation chamber; let the world bleed in

Expand full comment

Wow this is the kind of unconventional thinking we like to see … will contemplate this one

Expand full comment

I'm with you on almost all this - just not the blasting music out on the Underground. Mainly because it's almost always tinny-sounding, and we're cooped up all together, and we all have different tastes in music. Worst is in the morning, when a number of people are chilling before the onslaught of the office day. Rant over, thanks!

Expand full comment

I love that S.A.C.R.E.D. mindset! I’m glad there are more of us out there. Also, pro tip for moving snails off paths if you live in a wet and rainy locale: give the little fellas a gentle tap on top of their shells before picking them up and moving them to safer ground. They’ll retract into their shells a little, ease off on their suction to the ground and you’ll be far less likely to hurt them!

Expand full comment

great tip

Expand full comment

On the point of solely interacting with people through “ID on pants?” It reminded of this incredibly cursed G**gle ad that’s been going around for a few months where someone is seemingly watching video of an influencer who says you’ll never find this jacket and then the person watching uses Google’s AI (🤮) to ID the jacket. We are barreling toward an even more antisocial version of ID culture where you don’t even have to ask someone. You just take a picture of them and have your phone find it for you. I really hope people’s natural desire for interaction curbs the use of that, but they’re pushing it really hard in the ads as this revolutionary way to shop that makes my stomach churn.

Expand full comment

yeah obvious benefits to that but also immense downsides !

Expand full comment

On the one hand it makes navigation online easier especially with how unhelpful search functions are now. On the other hand, even less friction when it comes to finding clothes online takes so much of the interesting part out of that process. Searching for something online can lead to learning so much about an article of clothing or any other crafted item out there as you weave through forums and websites related to that thing. It can be fun seeing a cool shirt then stumbling into way more knowledge about the history behind it than I bargained for just by trying to find it online. That same experience is even better in person, but plenty of friction online can produce some cool results.

Expand full comment

Well put

Expand full comment

“gentlemen and gentlewomen never wear a timepiece to a party”... Wait I must say I rather like this idea!

Expand full comment

there *is* something nice at its core, to do with "time melting away as you link with friends in a state of social abandon" -- but deeming it rude / uncouth? going too far !

Expand full comment

Yes yes - rather than censure, would lean into the timelessness effect - no clocks no watches no phones - could be something!

Expand full comment

i love throwing somebody a "great song!" as they walk past ("ID on the pants"-adjacent). hadn't heard the classic Everyone Nose (All the Girls Standing in the Line for the Bathroom) for a couple years until last night, and i brightened up, and the guy brightened up, and i think we both walked at least a couple more blocks feeling better than we otherwise would've

Expand full comment

Suggested caveat for "no-show" socks: exercise. While BBSP finally broke me of my habit of occasionally wearing no-show socks with sneakers in my day-to-day summer life - for which, blessings upon you, it looks terrible - I run in a place where it is hot and humid and so (1) socks are a necessity and (2) my legs gotta be free, I don't want sopping wet sock a quarter of the way up my calves. Running socks ftw. ETA: And, unlike in any other context, I don't think it looks bad on me or anyone else. Similar to heather tees in the gym, I suppose.

Expand full comment

Plenty of great running and cycling socks that are a nice height. Defeet is great, but lots of other brands which don’t hold sweat. Great for tanlines too.

Expand full comment

I'm so happy to hear I'm not the only one completely irritated by people blasting their music! There's a water access only beach that I go to every summer, but I'm not going to go anymore. There's always at least one idiot blasting his music on the boat radio, ruining the scene for everyone else. I give up.

Expand full comment

Truly a a hot-take-dilemma for the ages, Jonah: would you rather live in a city where everyone wears headphones or backpacks?

Expand full comment

Hahaha 😂

Expand full comment

My thoughts on another very well-reasoned, thoughtful 'sletter essay (one reason why I'm more than happy to be one of your patrons), as the Old Broad in the room (celebrating my big Dragon year six-o this year) . . .

1. As a community radio DJ, but someone who also values quiet (which is the aural negative space that makes the positive space of ambient sound pop . . . balance, don'cha know) - I have mixed feelings on the concept you have presented in the 'sletter. I see both sides. I think it might be something that is context/situation-dependent.

2. My mom raised us to be practitioners of S.A.C.R.E.D. - she's escaped spiders and insects back to the wild all my life, and I do the same whenever possible. I think it does indeed make a huge difference in how we human beings respect and appreciate the other beings with whom we share the planet.

Haven't tried giving peanuts to our crows though - will look into the best way to do that!

3. As a former theatrical costume designer, I have been and will always be a steadfast supporter of getting clothing via second-hand, IRL methods. We are lucky enough to have excellent second-hand stores up here in Nevada Country (lots of Bay Area "refugees" up here) - and the cycle of second-hand clothing life is strong . . . but I find great things on Etsy and eBay also.

Expand full comment

Well put across the board !

Expand full comment

My grandpa in a way implemented S.A.C.R.E.D when I was kid. He stopped me from killing a slug

Expand full comment

good on grandpa

Expand full comment