2/21 - joymaxxing

Friday’s Newsletter: James Baldwin’s tie, a pop up market, and I call Eric Metaxas a windbag

A few items we must discuss:

• Just a thought - I get the ick when a drinking glass is too lightweight. Recently, I was walking around a home decor store and went down a shelf of glasses, picking each one up. I’m not given to Hulk-like tendencies, but I had the impulse to crush each $60 pastel, hand-blown glass in my hand. I’m looking for substance. Weight. Something to last through the ages, or at least survive the 6 inch fall if I accidentally drop it in the sink when I’m washing dishes.

• Here’s how to clean your airpods. Trigger warning: the author includes two disgusting pictures of airpods in this article but it’s worth the cringe for the tips they offer.

• Order your cookies from these trans girl scouts. I got emotional reading their bios. They talk about loving geometry and wanting to use this money for donations to their local animal shelter. Protect trans kids at all costs 🫶

• Living for the new Tate McRae album and Busy Woman by Sabrina Carpenter.

:)

Thought Starters

People are dying in Texas

*article*

We’ve got a dispatch from Texas, my home state. Since abortion was banned in 2021:

1. The rate of sepsis shot up 50% for women hospitalized when they lost their pregnancies in the second trimester.

2. The rate of maternal deaths in Texas rose 33% between 2019 and 2023 even as the national rate fell by 7.5%.

I’ve said it here before, I used to be an avid pro-lifer. I grew up in an evangelical bubble. The high school I went to taught us how to debate someone who was pro-choice and flooded our moldeable minds with a tangle of “facts” and scripture about conception. We didn’t actually talk about what abortion or sex was which led to horrible misunderstandings about birth control and consent.

You know what changed my mind? A Christian midwife. She reconciled her faith with the medical need for abortion and the safe choice it gave people who didn’t want a child. When I met her, we were in a country that made abortion illegal for religious reasons and she recounted the stories of desperate women and girls who died due to medical complications or were stuck with abusers.

After that experience, I went to Peru, where abortion is illegal in most cases (their laws were similarly influenced by religion) and worked at a shelter for children who had experienced sexual abuse. I watched their babies while they took dance classes.

When I came back to the states, I met friends who grew up in the same environment as me who had their own abortion stories. Sitting across from them in a coffee shop, holding their hand, hearing about the heart-wrenching decisions they had to make, I couldn’t hold onto a shred of the pro-life propaganda I was raised to believe.

It’s sickening to know so many one issue voters. It’s sickening to read reports of women dying from preventable complications. Doctors are afraid they will be jailed for evacuating a uterus after a miscarriage - technically an abortion - because the Texas abortion law is so vague and carries a 99 year prison sentence. AT LEAST TWO WOMEN DIED BECAUSE OF THIS.

I can’t imagine the God I grew up believing in being happy about these deaths. Jesus notoriously was on the side of the feeble, ostracized, and outcasted. I think about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor who was involved in a plot to assassinate Hitler and where the limits of his faith took him. Tragically, his life was co-opted by evangelical windbag, Eric Metaxas, and the alt-right to prop up Project 2025 and the pro-life movement. Bonhoeffer scholars are pushing back on the propagandist and false retelling of his life and Bonhoeffer’s family is preparing to sue them.

Here’s something Bonhoeffer actually said: “We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.”

I think of the young women at the March for Life who, like me, want a perfect world where women and children are protected from harm.

Instead, they are marching for a world where there are too many bodies to tend to and they may find out too late that they are under the wheel themselves.

“Texas law threatens up to 99 years in prison for providing an abortion. Though the ban includes an exception for a “medical emergency,” the definition of what constitutes an emergency has been subject to confusion and debate.”

“ProPublica’s analysis is the most detailed look yet at a rise in life-threatening complications for women losing a pregnancy after Texas banned abortion. It raises concerns that the same pattern may be occurring in more than a dozen other states with similar bans.”

“ProPublica’s analysis was conservative and likely missed some cases. It doesn’t capture what happened to miscarrying patients who were turned away from emergency rooms or those like Barnica who were made to wait, then discharged home before they returned with sepsis.”

“One recently filed a bill that would allow the state to charge women who get an abortion with homicide, for which they could face the death penalty.”

James Baldwin knew how to “sing” through clothes

*article*

It opens with a debate from 1965 “on whether the American dream had been built at the expense of African Americans.” Derek Guy, who runs the iconic menswear Twitter account, writes about this debate and how James Baldwin dressed for the occasion, showing up entirely as himself in speech and style. It’s a fresh examination of a civil rights titan and reminder that how you dress speaks volumes.

“Rhetoricians consider it one of Baldwin’s greatest speeches, as he demonstrated an unmatched ability to cut through intellectual pretense with moral clarity, exposing the contradictions of America’s racial history and its stated ideals.”

“The conservative, buttoned-up aesthetic conveyed a seriousness that gave his words weight. And yet, his tie was perched on top of a collar pin, which gave it a firm, beautiful arch that flowed like water from a fountain spout. This subtle bit of dash marked him as a more creative spirit than his upper-crust counterpart, the bow-tied Buckley.”

“Baldwin knew how to speak in the language of bourgeoisie respectability, so he dressed as needed when presenting in front of certain audiences. But as a critic of white supremacy and bourgeoisie sensibilities, he also knew how to modify his attire along the edges so that he could express his unique identity.”

Things to do

Alfargo’s Market

When: February 21, 6 - 10 pm & February 22, 11 am - 6 pm

Where: NeueHouse Madison Square

What: I went last year and this is truly one of the coolest clothing sales in the city. Rare finds, big wool coats, interesting sellers - you’ve gotta go.

RSVP for today

RSVP for Saturday

Gotham Sample Sale

When: February 22 - 23

Where: Gotham, East 3rd St

What: I guess the universe is telling you to refresh your wardrobe this weekend. Gotham (my fav dispensary) is hosting a sample sale in-store and online featuring brands like Eckhaus Latta, Collina Strada, Meals, Jungle, and more!

Learn more here

No brands or products for today’s newsletter but I wanted to leave with you something my friend, Beth, said this morning when we were talking about the horrors of this world.

They heard a trans activist say this and I’m so glad they passed it on. It changed my brain chemistry.

Stay joyful, bbs 💕