I Don't Hate It | Romance, Bodies, Friends, TGIF
Hey there. The quiz at the end of the last newsletter was a big hit. Some of you wrote to me to share your reactions. I love mail! Snail mail, e-mail, texts, Facebook messages, you name it. I am a correspondence junkie. You can reach me at allison@wrightallison.com.
1. I mentioned to a friend that I was reading Aziz Ansari and Eric Klinenberg's Modern Romance for an assignment and he suggested I listen to the audiobook. I am a big fan of audiobooks in general, and I especially like celebrity autobiographies and memoirs read by their authors. You can't tell me actors don't know how to deliver a line. (We will revisit this genre in future newsletters, don't you worry.) Ansari narrates Modern Romance, and it's a little bit like hearing him deliver a stand-up routine, only with fewer jokes and more research about online dating in the twenty-first century.
2. The other day I read this delightful piece by Summer Brennan chronicling her adventure taking forty-four past issues of The New Yorker on vacation with her, and it reminded me about my favorite New Yorker story from last year, Patrick Radden Keefe's "Where the Bodies Are Buried." As I tweeted, it took me four flights* to get through this masterpiece, so while this isn't a book recommendation, it is at least as long as most Kindle Singles so I don't feel like I'm slighting you by suggesting it.
3. In 2011, Tanja Hollander set out to photograph all of her Facebook friends in their homes all over the world. (This project is ongoing.) One of the ways she funds the project is through Act Fast Friday—one image offered once a week, on Fridays. On Fridays she offers that week's image for free, though she accepts donations to the project. And a good art citizen will donate as much as s/he can/is willing to/thinks the art is worth. Tanja includes pertinent information about the cost of image reproduction and shipping to help you determine your donation amount. Past images are available in the archive for a set fee. So far I have purchased an abstract image of a pool in Austin (taken with an iPhone, if you can believe it) and an image of a chapel in Waco. (Not all of the photos are taken in Texas—promise! This week's image is of a burrito stand in New Mexico.) I cannot say enough about this project or these images. Follow Tanja on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram and don't miss your chance to purchase a piece of history.
*This is less because I'm a slow reader and more that my superpower is the ability to fall asleep on almost any form of transportation. Those planes took off and I was out.