Of the moment // 11.9.18
One of my pet peeves is when people (ESPECIALLY politicians) send prayers after a mass shooting: truly, any mention of #prayfor[insert tragedy here] infuriates me. Prayers do not bring people back after they’ve been murdered just by the misfortune of living in this ridiculously gun-loving nation. What we need is policy change: sensible gun control laws that restrict access to things like machine guns and weapons of mass violence.
I’m grateful for the privilege my American passport confers on me and proud of so much of what is accomplished in this country, but also horrified that our political rhetoric has gotten in the way of us following the lead of so many (all?!) highly developed countries in enacting sensible gun control. That said, I am a monthly donor to The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, an organization that advocates for universal background checks, prohibiting assault weapons and disarming domestic abusers (as well as taking on the NRA!). If you are also outraged by the never-ending cycle of gun violence and mass shootings in this country, I recommend helping this organization continue their very hard work to come up with innovative policy change.
Eats & Drinks
Better Buzz Coffee is one of my favorite San Diego chains: every time I check out a new location (there are eight total), I’m more impressed! I had a couple of pressing things to get done last Friday, and sometimes the best way to push myself out of a procrastination slump is to head to a coffee shop: I got so much done at a sun-soaked window seat looking out onto the Encinitas main drag. Also: the best drink ever is truly the best, and I was pleasantly surprised by how substantial and delicious the avocado toast was.
Podcasts
Have you heard of By The Book? It’s a podcast where two girlfriends read a self-help book, and then live “by the book” for two weeks, and report back on whether it works or not. When my husband’s sister first recommended it to me, I was kind of like “self-help books?!” buuuut it’s actually a bunch of recognizable titles (like The Secret, Men are from Mars, The 5 Love Languages). It’s a pretty fun dive into the books and has some interesting takeaways (aka makes it so that you don’t necessarily have to read the book unless you’re super into it). I’m also definitely going to pick up The Secret after listening to that episode: are there any devotees to the law of attraction here?!
Reads
I popped by Verbatim Books, my favorite used bookstore in San Diego when I was in the area last week, and picked up a few copies of books I hadn’t read by my favorite authors (aka I have a large bookshelf to fill in my office, ha!). One was The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America by Bill Bryson: even though it’s from the early 1990s and thus pretty outdated in a manner of ways, I’m still really enjoying it. I think Bryson is such a hoot, and it’s interesting to see the things that haven’t really changed in the last 30 years (gun violence in America, racism in America, etc.) and what has changed (Google Maps has basically rendered all of his chapters on getting lost in back roads obsolete).
Words
“But that’s the glory of foreign travel, as far as I am concerned. I don’t want to know what people are talking about. I can’t think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again. You can’t read anything, you have only the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can’t even reliably cross a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses.” -Bill Bryson
This weekend, we’re going to Joshua Tree! I’m really excited to hike, unplug, drink wine under the stars and lean into the whole Joshua Tree experience for my very first sound bath.
