June Recommendations
Drinking a beverage on the balcony at night: ICYMI, I have a gorgeous little balcony in Berlin and also the sun sets at literally 10pm. This is the PERFECT setup for a habit which has entirely replaced my end-of-day-TV-on-the-couch ritual (which I also adore, tbh – brain rest is an important kind of rest): The balcony beverage. I sit outside for between twenty minutes and two hours with a little drink and I scroll Instagram reels, which I have carefully curated to be only colorful maximalist houses and dogs narrating their days and very little horrible world news (I get that elsewhere). Maybe some future fancy version of me reads a book, but that is not the current routine. Sometimes the bev is alcoholic, and sometimes not. A nice chilly white wine or seltzer with rhubarb syrup scratches the same need to sip on something fun. My favorite thing about this is that even though my phone lights itself, the setting sun actually eventually does make me want to go inside as it gets darker, and then I tuck myself into bed. It’s much easier to come inside from the balcony and go to sleep than it is to resist the urge to press “next episode” when I’m so cozy on the couch, but it somehow feels even more restful and luxurious to have my balcony bev time. Highly endorsed even without a balcony. Feel free to reply to this email if you want specific bev suggestions, I have many.
The Jewish Currents “Weekly Parshah Commentary” segment of their Shabbat Reading List newsletter: First of all, this newsletter is free, and I already adored it. A few months ago, though, JC did something absolutely designed for my tiny niche of the world by adding a dvar Torah on the parsha to this delightful Friday email. What feels so meaningful about this is that it treats Torah – specifically, read through a traditional, creative, and lefty lens – as an important voice in the Jewish cultural conversation that can be a resource for Jews with any relationship or none to Judaism qua religion/Torah qua scripture. I have been longing for a consistent place to gather lefty Torah (if I had a dollar for every time a friend asked me for help placing a piece that really belongs in a nonexistent “leftist Lehrhaus,” I could fund such a thing myself*); this is not quite that, but it is a haven and a start. Disclaimer: I am in the parsha rotation for this newsletter!! Also, it’s mostly my friends writing for it. I love it so much.
*ok but if you know of grants that might give startup funds to such a thing, dearest gentle readers, please do tell me!!
FIRST EVER ANTI-REC: Moving internationally. Living in different parts of the world is great. Seeing new things is wonderful. Moving anywhere is hellish, and all the more so across an ocean. I am so so stressed and unsettled. I am trying to just let that be the reality and know that it will be over soon, and also accept all the help and generosity that my loved ones are offering me. And it is still such a miserable ordeal!! Also, it is profoundly expensive.
(If you’ve been considering a paid subscription here, this would be a moment when it would make a major material difference to me as I navigate this transition!! I set a little mental goal for myself of five new paid subscribers and I will do such a sweet little happy dance if that happens!)
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