Ann Friedman - Clink-clink to my bad-ass sisters!!!!

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March 11, 2022

A line drawing, in pen, of two lumpy pillows on a cream-colored background

Albrecht Dürer

This week

Hey girl hey!! Have you heard it's women's history month? A great time to celebrate our foremothers and how far we've all come, right? Let's all lift a hard kombucha to the women who came before us. Knowing our history has always been important, but we have some special reasons to feel connected to the past this year.

Clink-clink to my bad-ass sisters who have a uterus!! This month, we celebrate our shared history of forced pregnancy thanks to the Texas Supreme Court, which just stopped a lawsuit against the state's abortion ban, and to the 28 states that are poised to make this basic health care procedure illegal in the near future. Most of us have, at some point in our lives, felt our blood run cold when we realized our period was late or our tits were a little too tender. Now, thanks to court justices and lawmakers across the nation, we can share an even deeper mortal fear of unwanted pregnancy with all women who have sought out the proverbial back alley, an experience that connects us through generations. I mean, the power of that!!

I'm sending some empowered high-fives to my girls who were born without uteruses, too!! Especially those of you in Texas, where cisgender lawmakers are doing their damndest to keep you, and everyone who loves you, from thriving. We all know that shared oppression is what really makes a woman, so shout out to the many states that are forcing you into this legacy of identity-based hardship. Cheers!

Not really gonna mention moms here, as you probably couldn't make it out to drinks anyway—and hey, you have mother's day coming up in a few months! Do you gals really need a special month to connect with history? I mean, you're doing the vast majority of the caregiving work in your household and getting paid poorly outside of it, which has been the case since the dawn of capitalism. Every day is women's history month for you! Nothing new to report, really, so it's hard to come up with a toast. See you in two months for some pancakes in bed and a homemade card.

And, I know this is controversial but I gotta give the guys some props, too: Thanks to all you amazing men who bravely posted about #InternationalWomensDay this week with a photo of six random books written by women or a quote misattributed to Maya Angelou. Honestly it almost made us forget about your failure to advocate for policy change in your workplace or get yourself to therapy. We wouldn't be here without you.

No, for real, cheers!!! And happy women's history month!!!

I'm reading

An essay I really needed to read about why it all feels like too much. Kate Lindsay captures the experience of trying to be a thoughtful, caring, hopeful person at a time of nonstop bad news and simultaneous pressure to engage with it.

Ileana Nachescu puts the invasion of Ukraine in the context of global capitalism and regional politics: "Putin is not so much a product of some sort of an authoritarian past, nor simply of the legacy of communism, which after all ended thirty years ago. He is as much or more a product of neoliberal capitalism and his actions can be read as continuous with its logic of accumulation."

Nancy Powega on using the ladies' room as a trans non-binary person.

"All you need right now is to set yourself up for failure. Tee off from the worst spot with the jankiest club. Die on the ugliest hill. Dive after two birds in the bush, miss them, then watch the bird that was just in your hand fly away. Piss into every wind. And when you fail? Say to yourself THIS IS WHAT IT’S LIKE TO REALLY LIVE, MOTHERFUCKER!" Heather Havrilesky, everybody! Have you read Foreverland yet? It's really good.

Amy Reardon on the decades-long search to cure stuttering, and what's been lost along the way. And Helen Lewis on the new prevalence of tics and twitching, perhaps the first illness spread by social media.

"The spirit of fried rice," writes Kenny Ng, "was born out of what most immigrants do and have always done when faced with the slow fade of hope in the lived reality of settling in a new land: Turn the scraps of what they have into something notable enough to puncture through plastic of being unseen."

Pie chart

What do gorgeous, gorgeous girls love? 15% Dr Scholl's insoles; 15% sheet-pan dinners; 15% texting each other photos of personalized license plates; 15% getting this season's seeds started; 25% The fact that Catherine O'Hara has her own Canadian postage stamp; 15% clean sheets.

The Gorgeous Gorgeous Girls Pie

Celebrate women's history month by joining the folks who already support this woman's real-time documentation of history by becoming a paying member for just $15/year. Clink-clink, indeed!

I’m looking & listening

ACLU attorney Chase Strangio explains what's going on with anti-trans legislation in the states. I also rewatched this 2018 interview with 8-year-old Kai Shappley about what it's like to grow up trans in Texas. It's also a good time to revisit the documentary Jane: An Abortion Service, which is about the collective of Chicago women who provided 12,000 safe, illegal abortions between 1969 and 1973. A miscarriage, in photos.

A moment

Tweet by Evan DeSimone reads: "Every time we’re forced to talk about Joe Rogan I am reminded of my best and most immutable axiom: Nothing that only men like is cool."

I think about this archival tweet a lot.

I endorse

707-998-8410. Just dial it.

Events

March 13, Los Angeles - My friend and frequent collaborator Lara Shipley will be signing copies of her book Devil's Promenade, "a nuanced, mysterious and tender representation" of the Ozarks and its folklore, at 2pm at Skylight Books. I'll be there in a fangirl capacity.

March 26 & April 2, virtual - Jade Chang and I have ideas about ideas! Join our workshop, which is all about honing your creative impulses so you can get them out of the notes app and actually get to work. Details here.

The Classifieds

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You can have the relationship you want and it won't take long! This FREE, virtual, 5-day event will get you on your way to love and into a relationship that you're proud of and feel good being in. Leave your past relationship baggage behind and join us!

Discover how to restore joy by recognizing & managing patterns that drain you dry and make you feel like banging your head against walls. Without relocating to Mt Shasta:) Even when it feels like moving thru mud, all you might need is a new stance. Be Yourself workshop, code ANNFRIEDMAN for 75% off.

Fulfill your wildest desires with the new and full moon energy using this free Guide to Manifesting with the Moon Cycles from Colette Baron-Reid.

MAYBE THIS, BABY THAT is a free newsletter exploring motherhood through the eyes of a designer

Decolonizing can be delightful! Dragon Letters is your dose of decolonizing, sent on the Capricorn and Cancer moons. Decolonize Time to Liberate Flow.

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This newsletter is very aware that women's past is women's present.
Forward it to your girls!!!!

AF WEEKLY

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