Turn Around, Bright Eyes [#135]
Situated ourselves in the path of totality. And a hot dog controversy rages.
Howdy from Houston,
On Monday, the moon’s shadow will completely block the sun, darkening the skies over much of my home state. (Though because of cloud cover, Burlington, Vermont may actually the best place to experience this scientific wonder.) Either way, this is gonna be awesome! Last time there was a solar eclipse in North America, I was living in Asia and only experienced it by seeing photos of Donald Trump staring straight into the sun.
Our adventure in Texas follows a most lavish week in Big Sky, Montana, where the girls really leveled up their skiing and I did no such thing. (Everyone knows just standing on top of a hill can dislocate my shoulder.)
Reading
This badass April 8 eclipse map by my former spouse, Matty, allows you to see the exact time the eclipse will happen in your city. Why Ramy Yousef’s SNL monologue felt so revelatory. Calling people “toxic” is unhelpful because it focuses on their impact instead of their actions. Skyrocketing rates of autism+ADHD diagnosis. America’s elite universities are bloated and complacent. The Secretary of State was stranded by Boeing, again. The GOP’s forced birth problem continues to worsen. A story written just to kick up controversy: A queer eye’s take on how to arrange your bookshelves. These shorts are not for me, but the comment thread is. There is no way Americans eat as many hot dogs per year as the hot dog lobby claims. IKEA’s plant-based hot dog is headed to stores, at five cents less than the meat hot dog. Unrelated, maybe: Why we’re gassy on airplanes.
Werk Werk Werk
The award-winning Interior Chinatown was the March book club pick for The Stacks, and host Traci and I discussed a whole lot of things about it, including but not limited to assimilation, Asian tropes, and how we’d cast the TV adaptation (even though a real one is forthcoming). Then we got our friend Sam to join us for lunch and a bookstore visit.
Spoke at Northeastern University for Women’s History Month and the most engaged and attuned audience turned out. I got probably the best set of crowd questions yet? Dare I say? Thank you to my new friends at Northeastern and Mills Institute for convening us.
When Spotify shared the global audience numbers for its top podcaster, Joe Rogan, it gave us a glimpse at other audience numbers. Among them, that my podcast, TED Talks Daily, is second only to Joe Rogan as the most listened to Spotify podcast in the world.
Reminder that I’m joining Anne Helen Petersen’s Culture Study podcast to take YOUR questions about Sephora tweens, following my recent Atlantic piece on the topic (and a chapter of Flawless that’s devoted to kids getting yanked into the beauty matrix). We want your questions! Submit through this easy form.
Watch and/or Listen
Angel City, the full three episode docuseries (on Max), follows the inception and rocky first season of the audacious new women’s football club in Los Angeles, which, in coming together, has elevated the entire professional women’s soccer league. We are big Angel City fans over here, and seeing their backstory and getting to know their players has inspired me to get season tickets.
Is there a sane way to use the internet?
Other Recommendations
I started a Bookshop page where I’ll be curating lists of book recommendations. Buying through Bookshop ensures you’re supporting independent bookstores, and now that we have the page up I can continue to build on it with Hu’s Letter-community related lists, etc.
Pal Sam Sanders’ podcast, Vibe Check, now has a Patreon you can support, with exclusive member perks like a running group chat. Good luck to your productivity now that you can chat about pop culture with Sam, Sayeed and Zach all day long.
Chocolate chip cookies without chocolate chips. (I realize how outrageous this is for many of you, but this is my fave kind of cookie). Found this excellent recipe involving browned butter and a 2-1 yolk-to-egg white ratio.
Furikake flakes on everything. For spring break my family invited my daughter Isa’s friend, Elise, and her family to join us for skiing in Big Sky, Montana. We made so many core memories. One of them is how young Elise (the third grader) travels with her furikake flakes to season everything — her eggs in the morning, her rice, her soups — and it elevated every food it touched.
I rushed straight to the Japanese grocery store upon return to get my own canister that I now won’t leave home without.1
Coming Up
The big TED in Vancouver, April 14-20. Let me know if you’ll be there or around there and I’ll add you to the group chat so we can find each other.
Are you in Hawaii? On May 4th I have my first ever book event in a place where every day is Hawaiian shirt day, thanks to the bookstore Da Shop, in celebration of AAPI Heritage Month and one year of Flawless the Book! Register for the free event here.
To our ever expanding universe,
Elise
My friend Jeannie offers this recipe for your furikake fun:
Furikake Rice Krispie Treats
If you like the flavors of salty and sweet found in Furikake Chex Mix, Hurricane Popcorn, or just even Kettle Corn... this is one you'll like!
INGREDIENTS:
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
3 Tbsp Furikake
1 bag marshmallows (10oz)
7 Cups Rice Krispies cereal
DIRECTIONS:
1. Melt the butter in a large pot. Once melted, add the soy sauce and Furikake. Mix.
2. Add the marshmallows into the pot. Stirring, melt the marshmallows. Lower the heat and keep stirring so nothing burns. Stir until the marshmallows are completely melted. Turn off heat.
3. Add the cereal to the pot and mix it until the marshmallows are completely incorporated throughout. Turn over the contents of the pot into a lined or greased pan. (I used 9x13)
4. Flatten and mold the cereal mix into the pan. I used a large sheet of parchment paper over the cereal and pressed down with the bottom of a measuring cup.
5. Sprinkle a little extra Furikake on top (optional) and wait for everything to cool and harden before slicing into bars.
I have read that AuDHD article and have been thinking about it a lot.
I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 12. (I wasn't medicated for it, but I suppose it's a different topic.) It seemed to explain a lot of things about me, particularly my unusual hyperfixations and how I somehow manage to do well at school despite cramming a lot of my projects.
But I remember when I moved to a different, much bigger high school, and was pretty much bullied by the entire school population. (I mean, juniors were pointing me to the girl's room when I asked for the boy's room. There were no labels.) In particular, they called me "autistic", and I didn't actually understand why. I suppose I never felt any different from them, apart from coming from a different town and being completely out of my depth.
And then I got kicked out after three months for hitting a classmate—first offense!—and got the ADHD diagnosis when I moved schools.
As far as I know, I'm not on the spectrum. I probably would've been diagnosed with that the first time, although the thinking then that the two are mutually exclusive probably didn't help things. But I'm not one overwhelmed by stimuli (although a few situations do) and I can relate pretty well with my peers and colleagues. But then I remember watching Atypical on Netflix with my ex, and her telling me—straight out—that I am neurodivergent. It was one of her (many) (flimsy) reasons for breaking up with me. She just wanted a new guy; she had to drag my entire being into it.
It's great that perceptions are changing, but I am afraid greater awareness of these mental conditions—think of how ADHD has been "manic pixie"-ized on TikTok—is also contributing to certain "weird" people, whatever standard that is judged by, being ostracized. The definition of "normal enough" is getting narrower the more we start to define these things, rather than getting wider because everyone's just slightly off the center line, or something.
Thank you so much for the vajeanas comments, I needed that so desperately!
+1 on Furikake, though in a pinch crumpled kim and toasted sesame seeds will work.
Is there a way to follow your Bookshop page? I am a regular Bookshop customer but couldn't find a way to follow your page.