Mixtape No. 1
What I've been reading, listening to, doing, & loving lately
For the last five weeks, we’ve been tied to a dock in a very, very hot marina just a few miles north of the Guatemalan border. We were supposed to be here for about five days before sailing on to Costa Rica, but some vital equipment failed on our passage here that needs to be fixed before we head offshore again. So here we are.
Our days have mostly been spent tackling mountains of both computer and boat work, doing laundry by hand and trying to escape the heat, but in the in-between moments we’ve been able to step out into the humid, heavy air and tour coffee farms high up in the jungle, swim under giant waterfalls, try raw cocoa seeds right off the plant (so good!), watch monstrous thunderstorms build to the north and tower over us every afternoon, and pluck fresh mangos right off the tree while walking the dogs, all while sweating, of course (like, so much sweating).
I have several essays in the works that seem to be taking their sweet time in coming together, so in the meantime, today I thought I’d try something new and share a roundup of some of what I have been reading, listening to, and inspired by lately: a mixed bag of articles and books and music and shows I’ve been enjoying, and some photos from my life lately.
Most of this will be for my paid subscribers, which reminds me: did you know? Fifty bucks gets you a full year of access to everything here. Your support is deeply appreciated and every new paid subscriber makes me smile with glee and high five myself.
What I’m reading
While I spent much of my career spotting and illuminating the insidious ways diet culture had invaded every single aspect of not only our self image, but our aspirations, fears, relationships, our sense of morality, goodness, virtue, shame, and ultimately our entire experience of our lives, Jessica DeFino’s work has been impactful for me in turning that same lens of scrutiny to beauty culture altogether.
In this piece, DeFino examines the ways skin has become a signal of status:
Today’s five-minute face — as modeled by influencers, editors, and entrepreneurs — is predicated on the behind-the-scenes beauty work of skincare products, cosmetic procedures, and plastic surgeries. Rae Nudson, author of All Made Up: The Power and Pitfalls of Beauty Culture, from Cleopatra to Kim Kardashian, suggests that a more fitting moniker might be “the five thousand dollar face.” It is “quiet luxury” for cosmetics; the “stealth wealth” of skin.
(Honestly all her work is wonderful though. Exhibit A:)
On how our modern preoccupation with efficiency and productivity has forged an often unnoticed but costly belief that our Real Life lies in waiting on the other side of our boring to-do lists and nagging tasks.
Implicit in the promise of outsourcing and automation and time-saving devices is a freedom to be something other than what we ought to be. The liberation we are offered is a liberation from the very care-driven involvement in the world and in our communities that would render our lives meaningful and satisfying. In other words, the promise of liberation traps us within the tyranny of tiny tasks by convincing us to see the stuff of everyday life and ordinary relationships as obstacles in search of an elusive higher purpose—Creativity, Diversion, Wellness, Self-actualization, whatever. But in this way it turns out that we are only ever serving the demands of the system that wants nothing more than our ceaseless consumption and production.
My meditation practice has taken a deeply somatic turn in the last several months, and it’s been a fascinating and illuminating journey. (I wrote about this a bit in this post here.) Along with the work of Peter Levine, and a course I’m currently taking with Reggie Ray, this book was a helpful guide on the never-ending voyage within.