I leave Cornell this morning! I met SO many wonderful, wonderful Toasties and Cornell students and writers and it’s really been a lovely trip. This is a picture of me in bed with Mallory and Rachel Fershleiser, watching Crimson Peak and eating fried pickles in the middle of the day. This is a short roundup because my cab to the airport comes at 5am which is 3am in Utah time so I want to go to sleep.
Bill Clinton fucked up:
“I don’t know how you would characterize the gang leaders who got 13-year-old kids hopped up on crack and sent them out onto the street to murder other African-American children,” Clinton said, addressing a protester who appeared to interrupt him repeatedly. “Maybe you thought they were good citizens …. You are defending the people who kill the lives you say matter. Tell the truth. You are defending the people who cause young people to go out and take guns.”
Remember the letter-writer whose sister managed someone who kept having inappropriate emotional responses like “I should not have to tell you what’s wrong if you don’t know” and who was sending her abusive text messages like “I think I need to know if you get the depth of how betrayed I feel” and “I am so hurt that I want to destroy you”?
Here’s the update.
Jaya reports from Kelly Rowland Dance Class:
When I think of my own fitness abilities, the word that comes to mind is “competent.” I can’t run a mile, and I don’t own a single stitch of Lululemon, but I can do pushups. The same goes for my dancing skills. I dropped out of ballet when I was six, but I did high school theater, and have spent at least 10 hours trying to learn the dance to “Single Ladies” (which Mr. Gatson choreographed). I have no problem dropping into the occasional dance fitness class, but this was different. The point was not fitness, but actual dance, where remembering to point your toes and consider your lines and sell it actually mattered.
buying a big bowl to put lemons in
The science and mythology of the Santa Ana winds:
Can we blame the winds? Raymond Chandler isn’t the only one who holds the Santa Anas responsible for bad behavior—they’re said to cause migraines, irritability, even suicides and murders.
In the 19th century, the winds were thought to be cleansing—an 1886 report from the California State Board of Health called them “health-giving” and informed Californians that, after a bout of Santa Ana, “the atmosphere becomes wonderfully clear, pure, and invigorating.”
After my mother died in 2011, paying out the final $80K of her estate to me and three siblings (as explained by my brother, the executor) was delayed in case there were late bills and/or taxes that needed to be paid. No problem—made sense. Now, though, the executor-brother, after writing in October to say the money was ready to be disbursed, has only sent a payment to one sibling (who had frequently asked him about it). I’ve had no previous reason to distrust him, but when I asked a month ago, he claimed he’d been working dawn to dusk six days a week (he’s self-employed) and had been unable to get to the post office.
He’s also ignored a respectful email from the other unpaid sibling, who, like me, is beginning to smell a rat; we know the executor-brother has tastes that may exceed his income. Frankly, I’m not happy about the idea of politely forgoing $20K of my inheritance. And while it’s not my place to worry if my executor-brother is being financially irresponsible, I am concerned about how all this affects my dear sister-in-law, who I am certain knows nothing about what’s going down. How should I proceed?
Talkin’ to Trey from Broad City:
What are some ways your character has evolved that have surprised you?
A lot of people know a Trey. He’s this relentlessly enthusiastic, upbeat trainer and, you know, if you go to a gym, if you go to an Equinox or something, that person exists. And like I said, he’s a well-intentioned, good guy, but he’s sort of been a vehicle for jokes, and it’s really exciting to go deeper with him. It’s been really cool actually. A lot of shows will have a character fill an archetype and stick to that, and one of the things I’ve been really excited about, that Broad City’s been able to do, has been to take someone who’s been a source for jokes, and a source of angst for Abbi, and made him into someone who the audience sympathizes with and actually likes.
