what i love right now

a list of non-consumer favorites #2

This is coming a few days early because I’m working on a Black Friday post. How could I miss the opportunity to shit talk a consumerist “holiday” full of worker exploitation and buying needless things?! (If I sound angry about it, it’s because I am.)

Here’s some stuff I’m loving at the moment. Shout out to reader Lauren, who left a comment asking for me to include some of what I’m reading, too.

1. DUCKS by Kate Beaton

You may recognize the name Kate Beaton from her work on the hilarious and incredible Hark, A Vagrant! which started as a webcomic and became a published collection.

If you, like me, were a huge fan of Hark, A Vagrant! (boy did it get me through many days of depression in college), DUCKS, which is a graphic memoir, is a true gift, though it’s stylistically super different.

Whereas Hark, A Vagrant! was largely pithy, historical and anachronistic and silly, DUCKS is about two years Kate spent working in Canada’s oil sands (aka “tar sands”) in an attempt to pay off her student loans.

Steam and Smoke in Alberta Tar Sands by Alex MacLean

This book is sobering and beautiful. It doesn’t push any kind of message, but, very fascinatingly to me, it floats around the question, “What happens to you when you do work that requires isolation from family, physical endangerment, and, for all practical purposes, almost complete gender segregation of binary genders?”

I devoured this book in about a day and a half, and I deeply, deeply recommend it. I have more I want to say, but I honestly feel like I need to sit with it further and do a deep reread before I feel confident enough in my thoughts.

Nonetheless, it would make a great gift if you know someone who loves a graphic novel — and you might pair it with Hark, A Vagrant! for a palette cleanser.

2. My local crossing guard, Maria

I live in a heavily residential part of New York City, and there are a lot of schools. One school has a crossing guard named Maria, and she loves my dog, Smudge.

My partner first told me of Maria. “She’s a crossing guard, and she gets really excited when we walk by. . . but she doesn’t really talk to me at all, just to Smudge.” Ha! I’ve totally done that to other humans before, too.

Lo and behold, one morning a month or two ago, I was walking Smudge by a school when a crossing guard turned and said “Smudge!!” Smudge ran excitedly up to Maria and jumped up, putting her front paws on Maria’s torso. “Smudge! Oh Smudgie! What a good girl!”

I was determined to engage Maria in conversation, so every time we encounter her—even though she does mainly speak to Smudge, I don’t mind—I try to be my most extroverted self. That’s how I learned her name, for starters. I encountered her again this morning. “I’m here until next Wednesday. Bring Smudge by before Thanksgiving!”

Maria told me about Sage, her sister’s dog, who is an adorable gray and white pitbull mix. Maria sends her sister money every two weeks to pay for Sage’s bi-weekly cheeseburger and “pup cup” (for the uninitiated, that’s a small cup of whipped cream from a coffee shop). I find this delightful.

On chilly mornings, our conversation is brief. “Stay warm!” she says in her cheerful, Brooklyn accent. Sometimes, she’ll pause mid-sentence to walk a child across the street, only to come back and resume talking. A few times, an excited child approaches Smudge reluctantly and gets a few pets in, shrieking joyfully if Smudge licks them.

I cherish the handful of face-to-face neighborhood relationships I have here. They’re with people from different countries, different occupations, different socioeconomic backgrounds, and yet, we all say hi and chat when we see one another. Despite having lived in New York for 11 years, this area is where I’ve gotten to know the most people. It’s mostly because of my dog and people’s interest in her, but I’m deeply appreciative of how her excited, curious energy draws people together.

3. My duvet cover

My duvet cover

Unless people ask in the comments, I’m not going to mention where this came from, because I don’t want to make anyone feel that “omg I need that” feeling, when you probably don’t.

Until two years ago, I was using the same Target brand comforter and sheets I’d used since college. And they were fine! Except the comforter wasn’t really made for two people, so my partner and I were always fighting over it in our sleep.

During the pandemic, I started to struggle with insomnia and anxiety that impacted my sleep. I decided to invest money into one duvet, two duvet covers, and two sets of sheets that would make me really excited to sleep in our bed. I wanted a “summer set” of sheets and a “winter/all other seasons” set of sheets. One of the duvet covers I chose was a cooling, bamboo-based fabric, and it’s a dark forest green. It’s actually meant for warmer weather, but after letting someone stay at our place recently, I needed to clean the other sheets, so I put it on.

And man! I love it. It’s so good! Every time I lay down I’m like, “Damn this is so soft!”

I want to re-emphasize: I did not go buying this just because. I wasn’t tricked by social media advertising into feeling like “I should have this!” or “I deserve it!” or “I need an upgrade!” I spent months thinking about it, I had other financial needs met, and I decided to spend about $300 on high-quality bedding that I would not replace until it was unusable. I focused on the fabric, transparency of manufacturing and labor, and what I could afford. (I don’t care about brands, and I care about aesthetic but only so much. Function wins out for me.) I chose simple, non-patterned sheets, and every time I use them, I appreciate them. (I was gifted a third set of sheets this year—a linen set my dad got on clearance for $60—and they’re great, too.)

It really has made going to sleep a positive, enjoyable experience, and it didn’t cure my pandemic insomnia, but it helped.

4. Pomegranates

I’m a member of a food coop, and they have pomegranates in stock regularly this past month, so I’ve been indulging. They’re so good! Yes, they take some work to “open” and you should never eat one while wearing a white shirt, but it’s kind of like a fun mini-project. I feel like it makes the arils (the edible seeds) all the more rewarding.

Fun fact, the red outside of a pomegranate is called a pericarp, and the inedible white flesh inside is the mesocarp.

(If you’re turned off by the labor involved, or the blood-like splatter of pomegranate juice, may I recommend quartering the pomegranate and then doing the rest of the dismembering with the quarters submerged in a bowl of water? The white mesocarp floats to the top, and the seeds stay on the bottom.)

5. Watching the sunrise

I’m usually up (even if briefly) around 6:30 a.m. to walk my dog. Now, this means watching the sunrise, too. I try to soak up the (somewhat) quiet streets, the crunchy leaves on the ground, and the watercolor sky during our 45-to-60-minute romp around town. The nights can be hard, but the mornings are beautiful.

6. This picture my partner took of a dog in a limousine

Thanks for the amazing photo, Miles.

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What’s something bringing you joy? Have a book to recommend?
Jump in the comments!