headspace #2

on playing tourist in edinburgh, the residence on netflix, the let them theory, and more...

Hi friends,

Welcome to my second edition of this newsletter segment

I said in my last post that this week’s letter would cover my trip to Paris. Oops! I lied. I was knee-deep in writing 3,500 words for my South Asia and Religious Violence papers, so honestly, this edition of headspace will have more of an intellectual edge to it because I’ve been in academic mode.

Also, I said I would keep this newsletter segment short and sweet. The first edition of this did not do that. Let’s try again.

Enjoy!

---

LINKS

• Do All Democracies Have to Die? - By Honor Cargill-Martin

  • I loved reading this piece on looking to the past to understand (and perhaps solve) the present, especially the section on how “Democracy overthrows Oligarchy.” It makes me think of the current speaking tour Bernie Sanders and AOC have called Fighting Oligarchy. That’s my type of Taylor Swift Eras Tour, but for politics.

• The Daily Show / Jon Stewart on DOGEs budget cuts

  • This is my favorite episode of TDS so far this year. While in an emotional rage, Stewart smashes his glass mug on the desk, accidentally slicing his hand. He finishes his bit without flinching. It was probably the most impactful monologue I’ve watched so far.

• Anthony Bourdain: A Life of Curiosity, Connection, and Courage - By Andrew Carr

  • I loved this piece, admiring and honoring Anthony Bourdain’s legacy, especially in exercising appreciation for how he told stories.

    • My friend Sasha recently wrote in detail about why he’s their Dream Dinner Guest, Dead or Alive – this post reminded me about watching the Roadrunner (2021) documentary and all the emotions it swirled about how he lived his life – an adventure to us viewers, but a struggle for himself within.

• Too Much Democracy - A Documentary

  • My tutor shared this documentary with us for my South Asia class. The filmmaker followed the 2020-21 farmers protest in India, showing how this movement stands as an exercise of civil rights despite the increasing threats of authoritarianism in government and policymaking. It made me feel both concerned yet optimistic for the power of movements. While these protests resulted in the Modi government accepting protestors demands, my tutor mentioned that protests surrounding the discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act in 2019 was not as successful. I’m curious as to what factors make a movement successful if there are multiple operating in the same environment, but protesting different issues.

• Mel Robbins and the church of 'let them’ - Podcast

  • I listened to this on the way to my religious violence tutorial today at the lovely time of 8:50am, which is a great time to use my brain and think. One of my best friends, Sydney, shared with me a podcast episode Robbins was a guest on, and we saw her book in the store the other day. I have a love hate relationship with self-help books, because they’re either too general, examples of ‘theories/practices’ are not relatable, or too cringe. This episode actually dives into looking at the rise of this motivational speaker and some critiques of her new book that’s “elevated” her to what people are calling ‘Oprah-status’

---

THINGS

• Sydney came all the way from Missouri to visit me in Edinburgh! So I got to play tourist for a week. Here’s some places we went to:

  • Climbed Arthur’s Seat at sunset

  • Walked through Dean Village (former mill town)

  • Brunch at Margot - check out this post on Margot/restaurant content

  • Ate delicious grilled cheeses (she says it’s the best she’s ever had) at Lovecrumbs cafe

  • Went to an antique bookstore (and five other bookstores)

  • I had a delicious strawberry gin and tonic at 1am at Spoons (for friends who know, yes we had to bring Sydney to experience this institution)

  • and practically dragged ourselves on the bus to Glasgow to watch Gracie Abrams in concert the next day!!

• I’ve been watching…

  • Severance

    • I watched all of season 1 except episode 8 and kind of got tired of it. Hot take. I think it’s a slow show with not a lot of actionable events that make it a psychological thriller. I need more action!!

  • F1 Drive to Survive S7

    • The new season of the series recapped the last F1 season. However, I hate how they focused on the McLaren vs Redbull storyline for basically half the season. I wanted more content and plotlines from the rest of the grid.

  • The Residence

    • I love a whodunnit. As my boyfriend puts it, it’s “really up your alley” and it’s a “white house murder mystery for a international relations fan of knives out”

    • I binged this series in one night. It’s my new favourite show and I hope there’s a season 2 with the same investigator but somewhere else.

    • Also, it has lots of political references in a very subtle and coincidental ways that doesn’t feel intentional (one character even asked “do you want to buy Greenland?” little did the writers know…)

• I’ve been reading…

  • Japanese Crime Fiction (written in the 1950s/60s and recently translated)

    • Tokyo Express by Seichō Matsumoto

    • The Inugami Curse by Seishi Yokomizo

  • Advanced Copy: One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune

    • Thank you to Penguin Random House for the early copy!

• Blank Street Spring Menu - a review:

  • Helise and I take pride in trying every single new drink at Blank Street - so obviously we went on the first day of the spring menu launch

    • Rhubarb and Custard Matcha - 2.45/10

      • It was sour. yuck. My dad says Rhubarb is an acquired taste, but I just think this was bad. But yes, I did drink it all.

    • Strawberry Shortcake Matcha - 6.38/10

      • Didn’t really taste strawberry shortcake, but it was still sweet and drinkable?

    • Carrot cake cookie - 8/10

      • Imagine cream cheese frosting inside, in the middle of the cookie, with walnuts on top. the most redeeming pastry of all.

  • Takeaways: will we go back? yes. will be buy more matcha? yes. always.

---

looking ahead

• I’m going back to Paris for a few more days!

• My boyfriend is back in town to celebrate two years next week. We’re invited to 2000s/Pyjama-themed party (my friends couldn’t settle on a theme) and he excitedly bought a Shrek cartoon shirt for the occasion…

• I’m locking in to finish a political data project for class.

Thanks for reading! Until next time.