NY Conversation

I just gave my cat two small pieces of organic steak

It cost $11 a pound. From Wholefoods. I gave it to her because I love her and I want her to be happy, and also because there was too much for me to eat.

I know there are glaring, gaping, horrible inequities in the world. I have no idea how to fix them.

"I saw a street called Myrtle Avenue,” Miller wrote, “which runs from Borough Hall to Fresh Pond Road, and down this street no saint ever walked (else it would have crumbled), down this street no miracle ever passed, nor any poet, nor any species of human genius, nor did any flower ever grow there, nor did the sun strike it squarely, nor did the rain ever wash it… Dear reader, you must see Myrtle Avenue before you die, if only to realize how far into the future Dante saw."

Henry Miller, Brooklyn Hater : The New Yorker (via markrichardson)

THIS IS AMAZING. I used to say that looking down Broadway from the corner of Myrtle & Broadway (where I lived for a year and a half) was like looking into hell. 

(via likeapairofbottlerockets)

The first time I came to New York I stayed on the Upper West Side and spent pretty much all of my time in Manhattan, but one day I went looking for the fabled Bedford Ave, which was apparently where all the cool people were at.

Unfortunately no-one told me to take the L train, so instead I got the J train and ended up getting off at Marcy… I walked for a while in the complete wrong direction, and by the time I got towards the area Sophie’s talking about, I realized that something had gone very wrong and that I was clearly not in the part of the city I wanted to be in. I got back on the train and hightailed it back to the shining island, convinced I’d been a minute away from being mugged/shot/etc etc.

A year later I ended up living there. 

(via likeapairofbottlerockets)

"The type of young person that magazine writers come across most frequently are magazine interns. Because the media industry is high-status, but, at least early on, very low pay in a very expensive city, it attracts a lot of rich kids. Entitled, arrogant, spoiled, preening — those are the alleged signature traits of Millennials, as diagnosed by countless magazine writers. Those traits curiously align perfectly with the signature traits of a rich kid. Have you seen your intern on Rich Kids of Instagram? If so, he or she is probably not the best guide to crafting the composite personality of a generation that fought three wars for you."

Every Every Every Generation Has Been the Me Me Me Generation - Elspeth Reeve - The Atlantic Wire (via sc0rnflakess)

I liked this piece on the whole, but as someone who has spent the past three years supervising (paid) media interns (and was one, not too long before that), the generalization bugs me in the same way the Time article did. Look, I’ve had interns like that — who just seem to be marking time while their parents pay their bills and they continue to believe that their inherent specialness will result in job offers, fortune, and fame. Sure. 

But I’ve had at least as many interns who were balancing the gig with school, extracurricular activities, and additional jobs that did more to pay their bills — not to mention anticipating massive college debt. These were not entitled people at all! They knew that, in our shit economy, they had to work really hard to succeed in such an imperiled industry with so few jobs to offer. And so they pushed themselves.

To me, this speaks to a truth we rarely hear articulated about the Millennial Generation: terrible economic circumstances have forced a kind of polarization. There are the ones that are trying much, much harder — and, I think, are much more independent — than previous generations, just to get the same opportunities their parents had. And then there are the ones who find the reality too terrifying to address and have just sort of given up. Of course, you can only afford to give up in any major way when there’s someone around to feed, house, and clothe you. So, is there entitlement in some subsets of this generation? Sure. But elsewhere, there’s a whole lot of pragmatism, hard work, and ingenuity, too. Weird how that story always gets told as an anomaly (“look at this 18-year-old genius entrepreneur!”) rather than a generational trend.

(via judyxberman)

What she said.

(via judyxberman)

flavorpill:

Why Time’s Millennials Cover Story Says More About Joel Stein Than It Does About Millennials

I wrote about professional shit-stirrer Joel Stein’s Time cover story. 

marklisanti:

It’s not kidnapping if you give them sequined pants.

Well this is the greatest thing ever

(Source: nakedwitch, via clambistro)

likeapairofbottlerockets:

I know basically nothing about visual art. I know the names of some painters and I enjoy some paintings, I’ve had a good time at museums and exhibitions, but if you want to get into why an abstract painting is good or not all I can give you is my gut reaction, and I’m not very practiced at even that. Brian Eno’s 77 Million Paintings, which I was at earlier tonight, helped me understand a little bit why people enjoy visual art so much.  What struck me most about it was the center, almost “aleph” shaped piece, which unlike the other screens, remained one solid color throughout, absent of any shapes or designs. It seemed to change colors quicker than the outside screens, which would shift from one pattern to another as pieces were highlighted or darkened, added or subtracted, at an almost unnoticeably slow pace. Staring at the center, which seemed the natural focal point, you could watch it go from bright green to grey, to black, to purple and hot pink, while what surrounded it remained relatively constant, only occasionally revealing something meaningful. I thought about context, how important it is. The center’s color completely changes your perception of everything surrounding it, whether it’s the brightness of color or the lack of it completely. It highlights parts of other pieces you may not have noticed before. It’s all controlled by a complex but chaotic algorithm, which will probably never repeat the same pattern twice. I couldn’t help but think that it was a lot like life: a series of mostly random events colored only by our perception. It’s good to remember that things can look different from the outside, and even if it’s hardly noticeable, everything is always slightly changing. 

This was a beautiful, peaceful, serene experience. I highly recommend seeing it if you get the chance.

"We almost expect women athletes to not be classically beautiful or feminine, and therefore we’re not surprised to learn they’re gay. Male professional athletes, by contrast, are thought to be our most masculine specimens. So when they come out as gay, it seems they’re playing against type. Even more than with femininity, masculinity and heterosexuality are widely perceived to be linked. For all the progress that’s been made, there’s still a perception that the bullied gay kid is spending his after-school hours curating a Lana Del Rey Tumblr, not practicing with the varsity basketball team. The bullied teen lesbian? She’s the one on the court."

On Jason Collins, Brittney Griner, and the need to decouple gender and sexuality - NYmag.com / The Cut (via annfriedman)

(via emilywhereverimayfindher)

The Fatal Shore, Or 10 Years of Music Versus the Internet

Today’s work action

(Source: flavorpill)

actuallygrimes:

i dont want my words to be taken out of context

i dont want to be infantilized because i refuse to be sexualized

i dont want to be molested at shows or on the street by people who perceive me as an object that exists for their personal satisfaction

i dont want to live in a world where…

This is great. Round of applause.