today

Liana S (@cherstve_pechivo)

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This morning, I came across a terrible index in a cookbook. I want to read or write a long-form piece on the subject.
 
Index makers are heroes. They are map makers of a sort. Never underestimate their contribution. Like plumbing in a restaurant, it is not a place to skimp or bargain shop. A book without an index is fatally flawed.   
 
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I am between two worlds. Working out how to get over, in a good way.
 
Among the problems I have right now is that all my ice cream buddies are on holiday at the same time, and I keep thinking about black currant or apricot sorbet.
 
I can take myself out, no problem. But ice cream and company go together real nice.  
 
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I was like a bobblehead of agreement listening to this podcast — sent it to girlfriends. Thank you, Sarah Manguso, Laura Good, and the woman on Bluesky who told me about it. They spill the tea on marriage, divorce, and being a successful creative woman. I will never forget the term "chaos janitor."
 
Listening is hard because the main character must reckon with her choices, having called in a partner trying to derail her creative power. Living in that terrible human place she must see in order to change. 
 
It reminds me of a line from Lauren Elkin's Art Monsters:
 
"To be a good wife is to accommodate yourself to someone else's story, a story in which you are not an artist."
 
I put Liars on hold at the library.
 
There's a whole other discussion to have about how our culture makes a leg iron out of professionally winning for men.
 
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Birdy and Sweet Baby James.

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2011

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