Do Plants Talk To Each Other When We're Not There? And Other Awkward Conversation Starters.
Good morning, my sweethearts! I’m looking out my kitchen window to a gorgeous burnt orange sunrise, enjoying my first cup of coffee, and resisting the urge to walk downstairs and yell at an angrily honking car, whilst in my pajamas. What this individual has to honk about this early in the morning I know not, but I hope they find some joy in their day, because ooooof that car horn is taking on a lot of emotional labor right about now.
This is a bit of a longer read for a Wednesday, but definitely worth it: Instagram influencers have started posting about mental health, sharing their personal battles with anxiety and depression amidst carefully curated photos of “beach vacations, expensive dinners out, impossibly glowing skin, and exciting career news.” Author Eliza Brooke compares and contrasts these vulnerable moments with the filtered glamour we’ve come to expect from Instagrammers, even speaking with a UCSF postdoctoral fellow who has studied the impact of “aspirational posts” on the everyday social media user. TL;DR: I am all for anyone and everyone discussing mental health, and since seeing photo after photo of someone else’s joy and success isn’t exactly great for your happiness, we should all bury our phones out back and move to a commune in the Sierras. I’m sorry, what?
Quelle surprise: “Conversion therapy crusader has something to say: He's gay” McKrae Game founded one of the largest organizations dedicated to praying the gay away, and he’s now admitting that not only is HE gay, but that “Conversion therapy is not just a lie, but it’s very harmful”. While I’m happy this individual is able to live his true life now, I still believe he has a lot to answer for in terms of the dangerous programs and social structures he built.
And finally, a restaurant in the Castro closed and the underlying, then ensuing drama is downright nuts: Chow Replacement Cook Shoppe Is Closing On Church Street; Owner Jailed For Being A Fugitive. This story has everything: illegal alcohol sales! Living and working under an alias! One of the restaurant owners faking a fundraiser with Lady Gaga and now sitting in jail (unrelatedly)!
You’re lovely. Be kind to each other.
Xoxo Amy