DAY 75: 2FISH

Since reading Howl and Picnic, Lightning, I’ve been in the mood for poetry. Jhené Aiko is one of my favorite artists and although her lines more lyrical than literary-with-a-capital-L, this little collection was a lovely read.

DAY 76: LETTERS TO MILENA

To this day, diaries and personal letters are my favorite genres to read; they’re a literal peek into the writer’s innermost workings, an intimate unveiling of their stream of consciousness. Franz Kafka’s letters to his translator Milena Jesenská, are said to expose his truest self. They begin as business communications but quickly evolve into a “passionate but doomed epistolary love affair”—and what is more revealing than the dogged pursuit of an impossible love?

DAY 77: I FEEL BAD ABOUT MY NECK (AND OTHER THOUGHTS ON BEING A WOMAN)

Like most millennial women, I adore Nora Ephron (but somehow believe that my relationship with her is special—unique, even—which I know is a figment of ego and imagination). I Feel Bad About My Neck is just as cheeky as it is honest. A favorite passage had uncanny foresight to the first two months of quarantine:

“Meanwhile, we all began to cook in a wildly neurotic and competitive way. We were looking for applause, we were constantly performing, we were desperate to be all things to all people. Was this the grand climax of the post-World War II domestic counterrevolution or the beginning of a pathological strain of feminist overreaching? No one knew. We were too busy slicing and dicing.”

I can’t be the only one who’s happy about a feed flooded with news, enlightenment, and pursuit of justice instead of needless (knead-less?) documentation of sourdough adventures. (Though it’s not to say that I’m above posting a beautiful latte in the future. I’m no different.)

DAY 78: WOMEN AND MEN, A PHILOSOPHICAL CONVERSATION

Women and Men: A Philosophical Conversation (between Bernard-Henri Lévy and Françoise Giroud) was purchased moments after seeing its title referenced in Forever Barbie. According to the dust jacket, these ten conversations of love and relationship between the sexes takes place “during the course of a single summer in Paris, in the shade of a fig tree.” The setting seems dubious, but it’s romantic nonetheless—and while it doesn’t reveal anything provocative (in fairness, it was published in 1995), it’s still a great read.

DAY 79: BLACK SWANS

Admittedly, I was resistant to Eve Babitz’s Black Swans because it was  e v e r y w h e r e   on Instagram a few years ago—but after reading Sex and Rage, my mind was changed. It’s languid. Dripping with her signature Los Angeles hedonism that’s equal parts dreamy, decadent, and at times, drug-induced.

DAY 80: THIS IS NOT A T-SHIRT

Bobby Hundreds’s journey is as you’d expect it to be: imperfect, inspiring, raw. It’s refreshing because The Hundreds existed before streetwear (and fashion, largely) was commandeered by the masses and luxury heads—and now I’m left longing with nostalgia for the early aughts. Remember when people wrote on the Internet for the sake of writing? Documented outfits because they loved clothes and wanted to share-and-tell—not just for the pursuit of fame? I have no disdain for present-day influencers; they’re successful, and they’re clearly filling a void for what people want. It’s just different (pure, perhaps?) when the motivation isn’t money, but passion.

I digress. The story of the famed start-up is great, of course. So is the cover: a brilliant homage to one of Salinger’s most under-appreciated books, and a subtle reminder that Bobby has an incredible eye for iconography and design. Plus, it’s a reminder to prevail in the face of adversity:

“‘If you play by their rules, they’ll never let you win.'”

Which is why we need to uproot the existing, reframe, and truly change. How apropos.

DAY 81: ESSAYS IN FEMINISM

I’ve had this first-edition copy of Essays in Feminism for a few years now, and if there’s a time to revisit the ideals of feminism and its history throughout the years, it’s now. Vivian Gornick can do no wrong in my eyes; I adore her work.

DAY 82: TRUTH OR DARE, ENCOUNTERS WITH POWER, AUTHORITY, AND MYSTERY

This second-hand, clearance-rack find has turned out to be one of my favorite books read during this lockdown—not to mention, has proven relevant in today’s context as we fight for justice. There’s a tinge of New Age philosophy to it, but don’t brush it off: it’s rooted in ancient wisdom and asserts the importance of intuition, femininity (the energy—as in the yin in a world overrun by yang), and introspection for the pursuit of peace.

“To be a woman, to be a person of color, to be a tribal person in the dismembered world, to be among the dispossessed and disempowered, is to suffer continual loss. We suffer loss precisely because we have something to lose: a heritage, the rich gifts of culture, a way of being. The myth of progress denies that loss, makes us unable to name our grief.

Frozen sorrow paralyzes. To unlock our energies, to empower ourselves again, we must mourn and rage. And so the first healing task of a psychology of liberation is to teach us our history.”

Tell me you don’t believe that books always find you.

“To change direction, or better, dismantle the machine altogether, we must recognize that the system does not just act upon us—it shapes us and acts within us. Patriarchy has created us in its image.

Once we see that image, however, it no longer possesses us unaware. We can reshape it to create something new.”

Why? Because:

“Although we imagine that our choices are free, our responses are greatly determined by the situation in which we find ourselves.

A system of punishment [like our prison system] is a system of roles that shape who we are and how we act.”

Complacency will only lead to the demise of our society. (And at this moment in time, and for all the centuries before, it demanded lives as the cost for “comfort.”) Change—creation—is vital.

DAY 82: THE NEW JIM CROW

My boyfriend lent me his copy of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness over the weekend and I pored through it in one sitting. It’s clear, concise, and presented with neutrality (i.e.: facts). This should be required reading in junior high or high schools across the country.

Period.

DAYS 83 – 84: THE GIVER SERIES

My boyfriend’s mom recently re-read The Giver quartet and lent me the third and final book. Back in middle school (before The Giver assigned as summer reading), I remember devouring The Giver and Gathering Blue; revisiting the series (now with a tangible conclusion!) reminded me just how magical books are, and can be.

They’re just as good as I remember. Better, even.

.   .   .

xx