Ann Friedman - The glass shelf and the blank page

I realized this week that I'm coming up on ten years of this newsletter! (Whew, 2013. It is simultaneously yesterday and ancient history. Aging is a trip.) I want to celebrate in my favorite way: Ask you a few questions about your own decade-long practices so we can co-create a 10th anniversary edition. Fill out the form if you feel like reflecting with me. A celebratory special edition is coming your way in a few weeks.

"The glass shelf, and the items she placed on it, were both remnant and reminder of the home left in the home made, two feet in the present, one heart in the past, and beauty — beauty in the small treasures and moments not to be wasted. " Jenise Miller on her mother's shelf of glassware.

"[U]nlike other parts of the body, our brains are built to change over our lifetime, meeting the challenges set by every life stage. " Caitlin Gilbert on how the brain evolves throughout life.

What if we saw addiction treatment as care, not punishment? Zoe Adams on the history of methadone in America.

Andrew Lee on the origins and meaning behind the phrase "it's okay to be white."

"Body positivity was my salvation from an anti-fat world," writes Samhita Mukhopadhyay. "Then I was prescribed an injectable weight-loss drug that upended everything."

Irene Vázquez on Black hair as a design practice.

Are there too many sex scenes in movies? Celia Mattison on why "the ability to show sex on screen is an important and essential fight in the history of filmmaking and artistic expression." Unrelated: She also interviewed Jenny Odell this week!

Portraits famous photographers have taken of their partners. You can now watch Women Who Rock in the UK (and the US)! 

This is simultaneously the furthest thing from an actual book-writing process, and exactly what it feels like to write a book.

"thank you for this and the weekly dose of non-new-mom-related things to think about." -Rachel. It's a big weekly dose!