Have a Fun Weekend.

Merria-Webster’s explanation for the origin of spinster

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/spinster-meaning-origin#:~:text=During%20the%20late%20Middle%20Ages,wool%E2%80%94hence%20%22spinster.%22

I am so fascinated by the comments about the light that I am considering the purchase. However, my one question is: would opening curtains and sitting by a window not have the same effect? And if not, why? Just curious.

I adore the green-colored front doors in the Cotswolds. I went down a bit of a rabbit hole searching for the perfect one and think Farrow and Ball Blue Gray is pretty close to perfect.

Those lamps really, really work. I had low expectations but got one for my depression because why not try everything and after 20 minutes I got this weird urge to go for a run. And did. Voluntarily. Amazing.

The piece on David and his decision to end his life on his own terms was absolutely beautiful.
I can’t remember the last time I read something so personal that instantly meant so much to me.
Tears streaming down my face.
Exquisite.

For a non-dog-lover, Joanna, you sure know how to find amazing dog photos!

Another mood booster is sitting in a body of water, minimum size: big enough to just slightly float in. Bathtub, hot tub, pool, bathhouses, floatation tanks, a lake, the sea

The article by Rachel Handler was one of the best things I’ve read in a long time. Cried. Beautiful. Thank you. And thank you to David now you are part of me as well.

The article about assisted suicide feels particularly relevant since my very old grandparent is currently in the ICU. I’ll avoid any potentially identifying details, but it definitely made me consider how I’d like my life to end. I’d like to be able to coherently express my wishes while I can, rather than be trapped in a painfully deteriorating body. Death is coming for all of us, and it’s never an easy thing to say goodbye, it always feels too early to let go of a dearly loved one. But it makes it just the slightest bit more easy for all involved when we accept the fact that it is inevitable and attempt to prepare–for example, creating a living will.

whoops! forgot the link to the door!
https://pin.it/4xWJel7

I always visit this door colour, it gives me a fuzzy feeling when I see it, have it pinned and am just working up the courage to just go for it. (scared it won’t suit our front! ha) We have a very dark blue at the moment with brass hardware, but gosh, I need a change!

Jason Manzoukas manages to make utterly unhinged characters seem sort of innocent and charming. It’s very fun.

This weekend was supposed to include a low-key, restorative evening at home with my boyfriend of 7 months. Instead he called and dumped me within 10 seconds. There are reasons that make sense (even if they hurt) and reasons that do not make sense to me and just feel like smoke and mirrors. I know I will be okay but I still felt drawn to coming to my favorite corner of the Internet to ask for wisdom, support, anything you want to share <3

I’ll put in a plug for Bros. My partner, best friend and I saw it on a whim and all laughed SO HARD throughout the movie. I am usually not the one to be audibly cackling in the theater, but this one got me. So cute and funny!!! Highly recommend

On a great hostess gift, a bouquet of dried flowers! I recently went to visit dear friend who had redone their basement so they could have a new home office. My first thought was a little desk plant, but the natural light is very low. Then I saw all of these beautiful dried flowers at a local florist and asked them to make a bouquet. The tans and pinks and sages and fluffy whites are dreamy! And they last forever with no maintenance or green thumb required. I might go back and get a bouquet for myself!!

I fully agree with Kay about Jason Mantzoukas! I found him through Gilmore Guys and he’s such a joy to listen to, I’ve found so many great podcasts when I searched for some he’s been a guest on. ( Home Cooking, Newcomers and many more) On my most stressful days I go back and listen to some of his episodes for comfort :)

I can’t tell you what a nice surprise it was to click on a “$25 mood booster” and it not be a lipstick but something actually scientifically proven, mood boosting. It would have been fine if it was a lipstick, but thank you COJ. It’s not always skin deep around here, nudge-wink.

I’ve had a tough week, and I just wanted to come here and say thanks, Joanna & team, for being a daily lightness for me for the past 15+ years. I’ve been a loyal reader & commenter (and was once featured in a round-up on careers – a highlight of my 20’s!) and can’t fully express how important you are in my day to day. As I’ve grown older I’ve come to appreciate routine, and this blog is an inherent part of my daily routine. It’s where I find joy, compassion, education, distraction, and community. Thank you, thank you, thank you. xoxox

I’m a new COJ reader and I have to say the weekend round up is fav. Always fun, always something to learn. I’m 62, I live in small town WV and have had the same preschool teaching job for 30 yrs or so. It’s like I get to invite all these interesting, many-aged, informed, opinionated, colorful folk into my day to hang out for a bit. I’m pretty darn glad I found you all.

I’m a lesbian who has had a lot on my heart about Bros, in our current moment, and I hope it’s ok if I share a quick thought. Tbh I am not sure where else to say this; hope it’s ok here.

In the last couple of months or so we’ve seen some great gay storytelling, which I love. Bros looks great–haven’t see it yet, definitely will, already obsessed with the trailer. The sequel to Andrew Sean Greer’s wonderful, 2018 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Less, also just came out (the sequel is called Less is Lost). One thing I love about both of these stories is that they really go out of their way to tell happy, lighthearted stories about gay life, which I’ve been craving for a really, really long time. At the same time, though, part of the lightheartedness in these stories revolves around how the p.o.v. of gay white men–whose experiences are played for humor, and who are given a chance to seek happiness–contrasts with perspectives of LGBTIA+ women and people of color, which are sometimes made to seem humorless or aggressive. (Duh duh dum ominous sound effect begins denoting humorless and aggressive blog comment, with me as author.) On the flip side, we have the seemingly incredible movie Tár coming out now, with Cate Blanchett in a leading role as a lesbian who is a highly gifted conductor as well as a serial sexual harasser and all-around bad person. Part of me wants to say, “Well, I guess this is what progress looks like in 2022…gay white men get the kinds of stories that straight men used to get [rom coms], and white lesbians get the kinds of stories that gay white men used to get [stories where they play someone fascinating, charismatic, villainous], and people of color still aren’t getting any mainstream stories at all.”

Now I do understand that this reaction is not at all fair; it’s private, personal, subjective. Yet still I have felt very twisted up inside recently.

The problem I have is not with Less (great novel!!!) or Less is Lost (can’t wait to read!) or Bros (can’t wait to see!) but with the fear that the media will cover this gay white male comic narrative in such a way that it becomes a new mainstream at the expense of other stories, after several years in which all kinds of queer storytelling seemed possible. I’m losing some of the hope that I felt when Moonlight won the 2017 Academy Award, for instance.

So all this to say, I guess: yes watch Bros! And read Less, which is just great, and deserves the Pulitzer. And also see Moonlight if you haven’t! And read some Roxane Gay, who is wonderful, and some Samantha Irby, who is hilarious, and also Audre Lorde, who is a classic for a reason. If you like poetry, read some of the peerless Adrienne Rich. Lindy West is very very funny: she wrote that “Love, Actually” piece that makes the rounds every few years on the Internet, and also co-created the TV show Shrill (along with Aidy Bryant). If you want something fun and hilarious and rom-com-ish with a bunch of lesbians in it who are friends, see Shrill Season 2. And others may have more recommendations here, of media to watch/read that help to keep non-white, non-male queer experiences in the mix, alongside Billy Eicher’s Bros and Andrew Sean Greer’s Less and Neil Patrick Harris’ Uncoupled.

Is there a way to read the NYmag article without paying? When I click on the link it says I have reached my limit.

Quick question for Joanna/ those of you using a daylight lamp: are these only really useful if you work a desk job? I live in a part of the world with relatively little bright daylight in winter, and have always coveted the idea of such a light- however I’m rarely sitting in one place for a long enough time (apart from right before bed, when it’s probably best not to use it) to imagine it being very practical. Or am I imagining it wrong? When do you all use yours?

I am so tickled to see my comment featured! The power of Zouks is real!

A Black Lady Sketch Show made a MASH sketch! I watched again before posting-lol
https://youtu.be/8TYLPPswALw

Happy weekend, fellow CoJ friends. I wanted to give a shout-out to all of the amazing plus size Jean jacket recommendations I received a few weeks ago in the comment section. I ran errands all morning in my new amazing jean jacket and even received compliments from strangers on how cute it was. It felt like a huge new moment for me and I couldn’t have done it without the votes on confidence from this crowd ♥️