A 21-gun salute for a brave cat
Back in March, about a week into NYC completely shutting down, I was feeling miserable, stressed and anxious, and filled with fear at the sheer amount of death possible. Of the mundane things that changed, the first thing I noticed was how stressful grocery shopping had become. Randomly touching an avocado to check if it was ripe had me filled with dread I’d been stupid to do so for a solid two weeks afterwards, shelves were half empty and all of a sudden we decided we all knew what to do with beans, and it turns out okra is the last frozen vegetable people will ever pick. After my first traumatic grocery shopping trip, I braced myself for the second one, sweating and fogging up my glasses while I waited outside for my turn to go in. I was in a dreadful mood. I love grocery shopping usually. I like planning out meals, I like searching for deals, and I like to be swayed to buy at least one stupid thing (it’s probably going to be pizza rolls). But now I was just anxious.
The young clerk who was letting folks in though was jovial. He was clearly a little bored and chatting up everybody in line. “Hey, I like your mask!” He said to the woman in front of me. “It reminds me of that artist, what’s her name? Yayoi Kusama! Do you like Yayoi Kusama? WHAT? You don’t know YAYOI KUSAMA? She’s cool.” I don’t know why but I found this kind of odd exchange extremely comforting and was immediately less anxious. I think of it often. I think I like it because it reminds me there are still sorta-weird-sorta-mundane moments in my day. Like bonding over 60’s pop art at the Associated with a stranger.
Theme music for this newsletter
While I try to refrain from nepotism, I am going to give a plug this week to my paterfamilias, who just put out an excellent EP of his solo work and some garage bangers with his current band, The Wild Hares.
AND if you feel so inclined, it’s available on vinyl for less than the price of a burger in many corners of NYC. And I dare say, it is better than a burger.
Pigeon Report
I heard this story about pigeon self-confidence on NPR the other day, and reader, I was truly stunned. Stunned as to why this dumb study was funded.So to sum it up as quickly as I can (so as to spare you the pain of hearing a nerd wax poetic about pigeons), scientists found that if they put heavy backpacks on pigeons it made them feel stronger and more confident so they could beat up other pigeons. Or something to that effect.
I mean, that’s definitely a thing we have now learned, that we now know, but does it MATTER?
Grade: D, of course it doesn’t
Are you okay? Checking in on my favorite d-listers
Look, I have no time for celebrities this week, because I discovered through Twitter that France sent a cat to space in the 60’s and now my whole life is consumed finding out more about this brave feline hero, Félicette, who survived a trip to space, but could not survive the French government afterwards. Félicette, we salute you, and the 14 other cats who unwillingly gave their lives in the name of…wait why was FRANCE sending people into space?????
The weirdest shit I saw on Craigslist recently
This is 1000% a vampire, right?
Hints from Hellouise
You wanna be fancy? PUT SOME BASIL IN YOUR ICE WATER AND LIVE IT UP BABY.
Shit you really ought to read
Extraordinary story of an American child who made it out alive in Hiroshima. Surviving Australia’s hellish detention centers. Every time I read something about QAnon I feel insane. Colin Jost is my least favorite kind of mediocre white guy