10 Things: Raspberries, Rap, Reading
Sophie's things to read, do, look at, explore, and further dive into this week.
Welcome to the first-ever separated-out email of recommendations! This used to be called “Extras” and live at the bottom of my weekly emails, and now it is called “10 Things” and lives here, behind a paywall. (I’m offering a free preview of the first six things this week.)
Important to know: Luke is my husband, T is my daughter, Norman is my cat. OK. Here we go!
Howie the Crab Eating a Raspberry.
Set to “Raspberry Beret,” this important TikTok shows the backyard crab Howie enjoying a raspberry while wearing a literal raspberry beret. 115/10.
“The Confessions of a Conscious Rap Fan” by Mychal Denzel Smith in Pitchfork.
Pitchfork didn’t immediately review Kendrick Lamar’s latest album, “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers,” and Luke speculated it had to do with some of the, uh, complicated takes the album has towards (mostly) women. (They have since given it a 7.6.) This personal essay is about conscious rap of the ‘90s and early aughts, and pairs rap history with the writer’s own growth; he ultimately dives into his thoughts about “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.” The essay is thoughtful and thought-provoking. An excerpt:
But that’s the thing: Conscious rap, as an identity and as a political lens, has never been anti-sexist. It’s never been anti-homophobia—defend Brand Nubian’s Afrocentricity if you must, but the vile hatred espoused on their 1992 track “Punks Jump Up to Get Beat Down” is unlistenable. It has only ever really made room for cis-het Black men to assert themselves (Queen Latifah and Lauryn Hill are probably the only major exceptions). It was disappointing to hear Kendrick pulling from this old playbook, this old testament if you will, on Mr. Morale, but in a way that’s exactly what being conscious is actually about.
Making a quilt.
I haven’t ever made a quilt, although I am personally very close to a famous quilter (Mary Fons, too famous to read this newsletter, and with a Twitch channel and some really good YouTube history videos about quilting), so I HAVE some quilts. I am gathering supplies for a future where I might make one, and I’m thinking about this excerpt from Carson Ellis’ terrific Substack, “Slowpoke”:
4. Regina Spektor - “Home, before and after”
Pitchfork giveth and Pitchfork taketh away, because I think they were wrong in their album review of this new offering from my favorite piano-playing-art-sorta-punk-singer-songwriter. I think this ambitious album is successful and beautiful, and not at all over-produced. She has a lot of resources and so she’s using them? I think that’s great. Go ahead, Regina.
5.The Substack newsletter “Garbage Day”
Let me first advocate for the Substack reading app, which I have gotten pretty addicted to this week as a sort of longform social media aggregate. I appreciate how newsletters take a long time on both ends — for writers and readers, and they therefore create more intimate-feeling relationships. “Garbage Day” is my current favorite Substack; it reminds me of how I used to feel listening to “Reply All” before everything got terrible. It’s all cozy internet stuff, and I think it’s a lot of fun. If you don’t like white boys with left-leaning politics talking about pop culture, though, skip it. (And I respect that.)
6. The things I have recently purchased from Marshall’s.
I don’t mean to keep going to Marshall’s, but I always need a destination for baby T and me on a Thursday, and we went to Trader Joe’s too many times (so that the cashiers knew our names, which I swore would never happen to me). I like to go to Marshall’s for birthday presents, but have recently purchased some things that I really like FOR ME. Here they are:
An inflatable pool that is shaped like a unicorn and is the exact right size for a baby and / or toddler. It was like $12.
A little fan that is supposed to clip on to a stroller, and babies can put their fingers in the foam blades and be fine.
A present for my nephew that is an airplane and a choo choo train in one box and they do that pull-back-and-drive thing.
Discount Sephora shampoo. (I got “Living Proof,” and after I used it ONE TIME, my husband said to me, “What are you doing different with your hair? It looks great!”
Essential oils.
An enormous tote bag with dinosaurs on it that says “love is love” and was $1.
Also, ALL THE POOL TOYS that are in the unicorn pool, seen below.
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