i’m writing this one-handed because olga da polga is lying on the right side of my laptop and making swipes at my hand to pull it down to her face. she has succeeded at the moment, my right hand is a sort of pillow under her skull and she’s vibrating with purrs, delighted.
i’ve spent the last four weeks doing an application for a grant given to non-german writers. just sent it off yesterday—the paperwork was small but detailed, but i needed to get everything almost word perfect, which took ages. i haven’t had a new cv in nearly a decade. and project descriptions are hard! with a lot of help from k, i finally managed to get it finished and send it off at midnight yesterday. the deadline is today, after you read this, the applications will be closed. i only find out by december though, so it’s a long time to wait and be hopeful. anyway that means i have a little breathing room between that and my next project, which is actually writing my next book. i’ve also been doing short stories! one is currently “in submission”, is actually a horror story and one i’m working on at the moment. AND i’m going to be speaking at the agatha christie literature festival in devon this september so the speech and presentation for that have to be prepared and then fine-tuned. a busy summer! when it feels like everyone’s on vacation, which is what happens to europe as soon as the sun starts shining.
today though, i’m playing hooky from my desk (except for writing this) and will make the trip to the big library, the american memorial one, which is two train rides away and because of construction work at one of the stations will take an extra 15 minutes to return on top of the 30 minutes it takes to get there. but it’s a reward well worth it, because they have the best collection of english language books in all of berlin and it’s a treat i promise myself every now and then. i bought a new backpack from this upcycling company in the UK so i plan to fill it with books. my local library which i call “my” because it feels like it belongs to me, also has a well-curated section but only two shelves so i run out of new stuff very fast.
or maybe i’ll take a nap. our flat has been very noisy recently because of construction next door so i’m awoken from my slumbering in the middle of a REM cycle which leaves me feeling gritty eyed all day.
i have a lot going on in non-work related things as well. i’ve been doing a lot of “cultural” things recently, and in that vein, this weekend we’re off to an opening party for a new exhibition of andy warhol’s photographs followed by a new ballet the next day. k’s mum gave me some vouchers for the ballet last christmas so i’m keen to make the most of them. the week before that, rachita taneja aka sanitary panels gave a small talk at _subkontinent, this south asian space that i love.
also, i joined a handstand class as part of this sports subscription app i have, and had my first lesson last week and my shoulders were sore for like DAYS and i haven’t had any time this week to do another regular yoga class so i have more shoulder pain to look forward to after my second handstand class tomorrow. (although it is GREAT fun and that moment when you’re defying gravity and actually standing upside down is something i’d recommend to everyone.) (there were three of us—small size, a very slender spanish lady, medium size, me, and large size, a tall broad man and it is much easier to stay upside down when you’re a size 0 but i wouldn’t let that bother you if you do decide to try. eventually, you’ll do it, even if you don’t do it as long as the size xs.)
Chalo, Olga has left me to go lie on the floor so I can go back to proper capitalisation which is much easier to read. Here, then, are the links I enjoyed reading these past few months. You can bypass paywalls (sometimes) by using 12ft.io or disabling javascript in your browser or saving to Matter and reading there or just subscribing to the magazine/newsletter in question.
When Radcliffe emerged from the Harry Potter chrysalis, he did not want to stop working. He knew that some things were immutable—“Harry Potter is going to be the first line of my obituary”—but if that was the context in which his life would now continue, it needn’t limit it. “I wanted to try as many different things under my belt,” he says, “knowing that it was going to be the accumulation of all of those things, rather than one thing, that would actually sort of transition me in people’s minds.” - From How Daniel Radcliffe Outran Harry Potter by Chris Heath in The Atlantic.
“SHEIN might be singled out as the worst fast-fashion retailer because the United States fears and envies China and has a particular interest in denigrating its successes, and it might be singled out because it is, in fact, the worst: the greatest polluter, the most flagrant IP thief, the largest violator of human rights, and—arguably worst of all—the most profitable. SHEIN has shown the world that unsustainability pays. Together with the companies that will follow its example of ultra-fast fashion, SHEIN will accelerate the already-rapid acceleration toward global catastrophe.” - From Super Cute Please Like by Saree Madkisi in N Plus One
“A few years ago, I realized that no one says “hipster” anymore. Not only has the word lost its status as a cultural movement or subcultural identity, it has lost its semantic meaning. It is no longer useful. New restaurants aren’t hipster; they’re basic or cringe or hyped or cool. New bands aren’t hipster; they’re indie-sleaze, hyperpop, or Spotifycore, slotting into atomized genres that aren’t significant enough for anyone to care about defining. (Mostly they’re not bands at all.) Hipster is over, I think, in part because no one can — or wants to — claim their individuality at this point.” - From Why did we stop saying “hipster”? by Kyle Chaka and Nate Gallant in One Thing
“Adlan Jackson: "The toilet room was so small that it was hard to see how anyone standing up to pee could do so without feeling the cold wall on their backside."
this kind of implies pulling your pants all the way down to pee lol
Esther Wang: lol wait
do you not” - From How Do Dudes Pee? An Earth-Shattering Reveal by Esther Wang in Hell Gate NYC
“The north hogs the limelight because of its numbers. Whoever controls Uttar Pradesh, a state more populous than Brazil and poorer than sub-Saharan Africa, has superior odds of capturing the reins of federal administration. And there’s a near-consensus that UP and its neighboring states are ready to give the strongman a third term. The opposition alliance, which accuses him of preparing to sweep the election by jailing its leaders and choking its funds, fears that India’s secular constitution will be upended in Modi 3.0. Although the prime minister has denied any such plan, a Hindu rashtra, or nation-state, will play well in the north.” - From Why India’s South rejects Modi - and Why it matters by Andy Mukherjee in Mint
“The earliest history of English has its share of prejudice but also offers a world of nuance and possibility. The term ‘girl’ was originally gender-neutral, meaning simply ‘young person’: the first recorded use of the word in English comes from a poem of around 1300 which describes a crowd of ‘gurles and men’ thronging a London street. Similarly, ‘Mrs’ did not become fixed as the title of a married woman until the mid-19th century. Before that point, it meant something like ‘boss lady’, a female honorific, indicating authority. Some words that now feel firmly gendered originally had another meaning. ‘Vagina’ meant the scabbard of a sword. I could not hate this more. The idea that it is a protective casing for a phallic weapon feels like a betrayal of what the vagina can do.” - From Hayward of the Dale by Mary Wellesley in London Review of Books
“If a day at Disneyland is all about beating the lines, a meal at Les Grands Buffets is an exercise in optimizing calories. Some expert buffet-goers swear by starting with the most expensive stuff, or by assembling an “introductory taster plate.” Others warn against maxing out on carbs. One Reddit tactician writes, “NEVER take a single piece of food until you do a preliminary reconnaissance sweep of the entire buffet. No use filling up on fried chicken breasts when there’s a prime rib carvery station at the end.” - From The Hottest Restaurant in France Is an All-You-Can-Eat Buffet by Lauren Collins in The New Yorker
“A young publicist from a literary award phoned me to deliver tidings that her tragic tone indicated I would find devastating: alas, my book had not been short-listed. ‘Thanks for letting me know,’ I said in the stoical voice writers have ready for these occasions. But to my astonishment, she poured out a stream of the soft, tongue-clicking, cooing noises one makes to a howling toddler whose balloon has popped. I was obliged to cut across her: ‘And you can stop making those sounds.’” - From The Insults of Age by Helen Garner excerpted from her book Everywhere I Look
No misc links for you this time as it’s been a slow few months for internet reading. Instead I’ll send you off with a recommendation. I’ve been enjoying Radio Paradise for a long time. It’s a web radio with a rather nice app and they have excellent music in four different categories: Main Mix, Rock Mix, Mellow Mix and Global Mix. I like them so much that I even gave them some money as support and I usually have them on all day because I feel like our tastes align. Anyway, you probably already know that Spotify is super exploitative of artists, so this makes a good change. (I do still pay for Spotify premium but I wish I had a nicer alternative to find music and make playlists.)
What’s your favourite independent app/website these days?
Speak soon!
x
m
Who are you? Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan, writer of internet words (and other things) author of eight books (support me by buying a book!) and general city-potter-er.
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