links worth reading, #2
Hi, hello! I can’t believe it’s November already. Today I’m turning in the latest draft of book #3. Fingers crossed I finally nailed it. Stay tuned for more exciting news in that space in the months to come. In the meantime, I have more links for you—
You’d be happier living closer to friends. Why don’t you? - I’m a new subscriber to Anne Helen Petersen’s Substack, and I am just gobbling up her essays. Her writing is thoughtful, relatable, and intriguing, so I highly recommend taking a look at her other pieces. As for this piece, it’s a topic that’s been on my mind the last few years but never as well-structured and articulated as it is here. I’ve spent most of my twenties and thirties moving around… a lot… and while I wouldn’t trade any of those moves or the people I’ve met because of them, I’m feeling the consequences of those decisions as I settle into my late thirties. This one has me reconsidering future plans—in a good way.
“Girl” trends and the repackaging of womanhood - Love this passage: “Namely, a “girl’s” story is about the transition from girlhood to womanhood — that is, “from being someone to being someone’s wife, someone’s mother,” whether that’s the direction their trajectory goes or not. The protagonist of The Girl on the Train, for instance, “is a wife erased by marriage. Once she’s no longer ‘wife,’ she’s no one at all. Like the girls of Girls, she is unmoored. She’s the girl on the train because everything ‘woman’ about her has been stripped away.” Even Golden Girls, “a breathtaking reversal of the marriage plot,” falls within this matrix of girlhood: After the duties of wife and mother are no longer theirs, they can return to the pursuit of self-actualization. They become girls again.”
Speaking of girls… What it’s like to be a thirteen-year-old girl today - Hint: not as horrifying as you might think!
And on the opposite end of the spectrum… The new old age - A thought-provoking piece on “what a new life stage can teach the rest of us about how to find meaning and purpose—before it’s too late.” The author had me at post-career college program. Sign me up.
How do you read so much? - A great piece from Pandora Sykes. I heartily relate to every sentence, particularly these: “As a child, my mother would take me to the library and we would get out the maximum 14 books. I could easily read for 8 hours a day, aged 9. I fucking loved it. I still fucking love it. I am easily over-stimulated, I have a racing brain, and reading takes me out of myself. It is my self-care, my meditation, my way to find an equilibrium in order to face the world.”
It’s good to remember: We are all on borrowed time - Anne Lamott nails it, as per uje.
Thanks for reading,