#60: Take It or Leave It
A weekly drop of things I love
Take It or Leave It is a weekly highlight series for paid subscribers, but this installment is free for everyone. Pretty much every Friday, I share a quick hit of things I’m loving.
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If not, all good. Take it or leave it ✌️
Before we get into it, here are a few ICYMIs:
One of my favorite newsletters,
, invited me to have a conversation with myself about navigating patriarchy and learning health masculinity. The responses have been overwhelming in the most beautiful of ways, especially this comment from :
“I had so many tumbling thoughts reading this, tears welling up, but I think you've also said everything I wanted to say right here: One of the greatest and most needed gifts right now is just that, giving one another permission to return to ourselves. Thank you.”
The
community published a new issue of — a monthly selection of pieces from Black, Global Indigenous, and People of Color on Substack. So many friends were involved with this one. It was beautifully curated by , edited by , and features the homie . Hope you give it a read!
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Something from YouTube
Clairo, whose album has been on constant rotation since it dropped, released “Juna” as her first music video in six years. It’s my favorite song on the album, and I couldn’t wait for the visuals to drop.
Clairo attends an amateur wrestling event in the video, and it made me think back to religiously watching WWE in 5th & 6th grade. RIP Eddie Guerrero.
If Clairo had a finisher, it would have to be the mouth trumpets. I don’t know about you, but I’m tapping out every time.
Songs I played
This week, I kept the playlist short and sweet (hi, Sabrina Carpenter 👋). I finally got around to listening to Denzel Curry’s new album, King Of The Mischievous South Vol. 2, and it’s really solid. The Memphis influence is strong with features from Juicy J and Project Pat. Also, I’m kinda ready for this new A$AP Rocky era. His new single “HIGHJACK” is a banger, plus the outro is wonderful.
A podcast I listened to
As Charli XCX’s latest album BRAT has become the biggest record in the world, its musicality and lyricism have been flattened. The declarations of “Brat Summer.” The “kamala IS brat” tweet. All the doctorate-level breakdowns of “Brat Green.” It seems we’re talking about everything but the music. This Switched on Pop episode explores the musical characteristics of being a “brat” by diving into each song from the album. It helped remind me why we’re all talking about this record so much. Because it’s actually worth talking about.
Something I read
My dear friend
wrote a beautiful dedication to the friendships in his life. Robert shows up for his people with encouragement and compliments always on his lips. Honestly, there’s no better person to share about the power of generative friendships. That is who Robert is. In his words, “I am learning to be human more fully through those I love and allow to love me back.”A TikTok video I watched
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My new favorite basketball player is Marine Johannès. She’s playing for the French national team during this year’s Olympics and is also a WNBA standout on the New York Liberty.
After the one-legged rainbow three she hit against the Aces during last year’s WNBA Finals, I knew Johannès was a problem. But I didn’t realize she was playing in the Olympics until I saw highlights circulating of her throwing one of the smoothest no-look passes I’ve ever seen. Since then, I’ve tried to tune in anytime France plays.
Johannès took over the game in France’s quarterfinal win against Germany. Coming off the bench, she scored 24 points with 5 threes. It’s been so hard to find highlights from the game, so I had to drop a few clips for you. Get ready for Marine Johannès to become your favorite player, too.
Something I keep thinking about
I posted this Note on Substack because I needed to hear these words. I didn’t expect so many other people to also connect with them.
Popular media tends to spotlight writers who have written bestselling books or had their work featured in major publications. And while many of these features are well-deserved, it starts to feel like you can only call yourself a real writer if you get paid to write—either by having your work accepted by one of these publications or writing something people can hold in their hands.
You don’t have to share your work publicly to be a writer. But for those of us who do, we have different reasons for why we write and what we want to accomplish with our writing. Before I think about anything related to writing, I do my best to remember that I’m good exactly as I am. I don’t need to write a book. I don’t need to have my work featured in The New York Times. I love me, and my people love me, no matter what.
My only goal for my writing is to continue showing up to the page and seeing where it takes me. When I began exploring essay writing in 2021, I had no idea that I’d love it as much as I do. I had no idea that I’d start a newsletter to keep sharing these essays or that I’d get to write monthly stories for local publications. I didn’t know that I’d help organize different writing communities.
I’m already writing beyond my wildest dreams. I get to write, and people want to read my work. That’s a gift in itself. I get to join together with other writers. As this journey continues, I don’t want to compromise my well-being or playfulness to attain what I think I should be doing. I know who I am. I know that I’m loved. And that’s enough.
As my writing opens new doors, I want to assess every opportunity through that filter. Will it impact my well-being? Will it help or hurt how I’m able to show up for my people? Do I get to keep playing? Even if my journey doesn’t look like everyone else’s, I’d rather stay true to myself and my community than sacrifice my needs on the altar of other people’s expectations.
Love this. Another great round up - you have excellent taste if I do say so myself, and your lists always make me smile... I need to make time for your feature with 15th Century Feminist - it looks amazing and I can't wait to dig into it.
Clairo is absolutely everything I want my last few weeks of summer to be