Episode 19: Hottest girl summer
And not in a good way.
Hi!!
It’s the 4th of July. Little known fact: the 4th of July is my favorite holiday. Not really for patriotic reasons, but because it’s during the summer and I love cookouts. I hope everyone enjoys their hotdogs and burgers today. I’ll be making cornbread.
What I thought about this week
Hot girl summer has gotten entirely too real this year. Speaking literally, it is hot outside. Several states are advising to skip fireworks. Heat waves are striking across the country, and in case you missed it, the ocean literally caught on fire. This tweet summarizes how I’ve been handling that:
The tweet is smart for two reasons: first, it speaks to a universal and paralyzing anxiety: that we are witnessing the climate changing in real time and the world becoming more unpredictable, and second — that sometimes the easiest way to deal with that anxiety is to feign ignorance and laugh it off.
Rather than panic, it feels better to squash down our fear with distractions and jokes. But that solution, for me, only works for so long. Then the doom comes back, like a low hum that’s always present in the background.
Last week, I arrived to work on Saturday sopping wet after a commuting through a torrential thunderstorm. Despite wearing a coat and carrying an umbrella, the sideways-slanting rain left my outfit completely drenched. Like, wringing-my-pants-out-in-the-bathroom drenched. I was one of two people on the train while tornado sirens blared through the city. I felt like I was in a science fiction film. For a moment I wondered, “should I really be on a train in the middle of a tornado?” The answer was, “definitely not,” but I was already on my way to work, and, if I am being honest, I’m getting accustomed to apocalyptic situations at this point.
Since getting back to Chicago, the number of times I’ve heard, “I bet you’re happy you don’t have to deal with the California wildfires anymore!” has been kind of crazy. Not that the thought hadn’t crossed my mind ~~ I felt relief avoiding fire season this year. But, just as suddenly, I’ve been confronted with other natural disasters: tornados, storms, flooding. Rather than “escaping” the effects of climate change, I’ve merely traded one for the other.
And it’s not just me — seemingly everywhere, we are confronted by this reality. In perhaps one of the more grotesque examples, Vogue recently posted an instagram caption in which they use the unnatural heat as an opportunity to sell summer’s latest trends:
This post is so out of touch it almost feels like satire. Vogue might as well write, “How to Look Hot While the World Burns” or, “We Will Sell You Clothes Until Our Pollution Makes Earth Uninhabitable (and Then We’ll Sell You Clothes on Mars).” And herein are two more responses to the climate crisis: one, look hot at all costs and solely prioritize feeling personally good, and two — continue to prioritize profitability above all else because, screw it. Capitalism.
And I get it, the topic is so vast it can be hard to conceptualize, let alone know what to do. I find myself empathizing this cartoon dog at least twice a week:
At this point, we can be personally responsible but it’s increasingly obvious that sweeping policy and structural updates are necessary to bring about meaningful change. Remember that ocean fire from earlier? It’s a meme already. Feel old yet???
But, the meme has a point. We need a more radical solution than paper straws. We absolutely should continue to put pressure on public elected officials to address climate change through policy, infrastructure, and regulation. But while we continue to critique and protest and donate, the question becomes how do we navigate being reasonable people in an increasingly unreasonable world?
As the world reopens and my own life transitions, each week looks so different from the last. There’s no way to tell how things will shake out. My only comfort, oddly, is not knowing who I’ll be, how I’ll feel, and what will be true then. It’s like I’m waiting to meet a stranger at a party, but that stranger is my future self and that party is the future world. And I’m a mix of nerves and anticipation.
What I drank this week
Scribe Syrah, ‘Baker Lane,’ Sonoma, CA $62
I have a personal connection to this wine: a friend of a friend lives on Baker Lane, which is the namesake for this vineyard! Their house overlooks the rolling hills this fruit was grown on. It’s beautiful during sunset. The wine is clean and focused — still a decidedly savory Syrah, but one with dark elegant fruit that’s balanced by the cooler climate of the Sebastopol (California) location. Scribe purchases the grapes from growers and makes a pure, simple wine that lets the fruit shine while remaining food friendly and approachable.
Matthieu Barret Petit Ours Brun, Syrah, Cornas, France 2019 $32
It was a Syrah type of week. This Syrah is coming from France and is strikingly different from the Scribe Baker Lane. A highly coveted, but accessible natural wine producer, Matthieu Barret is known for making quality wines that highlight fruit. This was surprisingly bold, deep, and heavier than expected. The fruit was abundant — like a blackberry jam you would spread on a baguette on a summer picnic. Matthieu farms organically and bio-dynamically. We should have had this with charcuterie but instead we drank it sans food as we looked out at the city from a hotel room. It wasn’t a half bad experience to tell you the truth.
What I liked this week
Rachel Lindsay’s take on The Bachelor franchise for Vulture.
This dish with potato porridge, wheat berries, potato chips, a jammy egg, and truffles at Sepia. It was freaking delicious.
Going on a staycation date. Sometimes you gotta play tourist in your own city.
Hanging out with Oscar’s fam and eating delicious wood fired pizzas. I posted this picture on social media and someone asked me what restaurant I was at LOL.
Being reunited with Camille! She was laying next me like this as I wrote this newsletter.
Obsessively looking at property postings!!
Taking several couch naps 🛋😴
This new / fun red dress I got. It’s secondhand Gucci and wasn’t outrageously expensive. Win win.
And I’ll leave you with this treat!!! —
Thank you for reading! Have fun today!
Bye,
Kate
As always I loved - and agreed with - your take on the world. And I'll hold in my mind's eye the image of the jam spread on bread at the picnic. Mostly I love knowing that you and Oscar and my grand-niece-cat are back home!
"For a moment I wondered, “should I really be on a train in the middle of a tornado?” The answer was, “definitely not,” but I was already on my way to work, and, if I am being honest, I’m getting accustomed to apocalyptic situations at this point." Not sure whether to laugh at that or cry - and that's the point! I also loved your recent post on love letters and wonder if you have thought about submitting them to the New Yorker or NYT Modern Love.