The girls would like to clarify that although new issues come out every other week, this is a weekly newsletter.
To-do list:
Follow us on Twitter, email us classified ad requests (it’s literally free), follow the Washington Review of Books on Twitter and subscribe to their newsletter, and go for a walk to look at the daffodils and tulips and flowering fruit trees.
Links:
A New Yorker story on dating the last man in the world
A somewhat sloppy article that explains the problems with hormonal birth control. [To me it seems obvious that a drug to turn off one’s fertility would be bad, but it was interesting to me that even in the 1960s the carcinogenic effects of estrogen were not only known but even presented to the U.S. Senate. I think the work of Dr. Ray Peat, who has long chronicled this phenomenon, is pertinent here. -Sarah]
Literary Updates:
The Managing Editor of the Washington Review of Books is launching a literary club focused on Ulysses! At least one of the girls is joining. You should, as well. [Sarag if it was u who wrote this abt urself then at least two of the girls r joining: #metoo! —Clare] [It wasn’t me. I am unfortunately out of range (geographically.) –Sarah] [Ohhh so mayb it was Downton Gaby! I did not realize it had a geographic limit. Also ty for changing my parentheses to brackets, I forgor our formatting conventions. —Clare] [It’s okay since one of us remberred. –Sarah
Author J.D. Vance, whose memoir Hillbilly Elegy several of the girls have read, won the Ohio Senate GOP primary.
Shapes:
Certain girls found out about the “Torus” this week. It is a donut shape. [More shapes like this, please! -Sarah]
Culinary woulds:
Clare made a chicken curry that everyone in her family loved. She has been on the road a bunch these last few weeks so she is sure she has been exposed to seed oils. Oh well.
Sarah made tacos! Shredded chicken, avocado-mango-lime relish, pico de gallo, cilantro-lime rice, and canned refried beans with mozzarella (the cheese that she had in the fridge.) Everybody agreed the best part was the canned refried beans with mozzarella. She committed to not using a recipe for anything. This was okay except for the strawberry peach crisp that was sooooo juicy. oh well.
Gaby made a ham-handed attempt at culinary magic. She baked cheesecake with party crust and cheesecake with macaroon crust; made deviled eggs (twice!), and continued tweaking her stir fried rice recipe. She finally acquired sriracha sauce and cayenne pepper, so she is able to properly season her dinner again. Gsby tried the viral baked chocolate protein baked oats, and will be making them again! She substituted chia seeds for eggs + blueberries for banana and it was still delicious.
Zoe
Chris [Not a girl! -Sarah] was featured in The Girl’s Guide to DC, where he wrote about his pantry staples.
Music:
Gaby is currently listening to the radio station version of Dawn FM by The Weeknd. Pyramid by ALYSS, Cocaine Model by Zhu, and Holding Out for a Hero by Bonnie Tyler are at the top of her playlist. She is clearly in an oddly romantic mood lately. It is quite uncomfortable.
Clare asked God in prayer to send her something to help her feel His love and then one of the hymns at Mass tonight was one that she had been hoping she would hear soon. Very cool.
Sarah listens to The Cranberries now. whatever.
Poem:
Ok, everyone, sorry, but one girl is plugging her own poems. She feels weird doing this but also really liked how these ones turned out, for the most part. They are—if you can be brought to belief in this—the result of a lot of circumspection and entire worlds’ worth of various sentiments. And as you can clearly see here she’s being sort of sensitive and preemptively defensive. So, you know. Give her some grace here.
What we’re reading:
Clare has been weeping every night as she reads 1 Samuel. Something about the way David turns a phrase just really gets into her heart. She recently read “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck. It didn’t make her feel any better about her age. Ok and also, at her church, there has been the same issue of a Catholic newspaper on the tables in the back for, like, at least five million years. The front page features these students from a local Catholic high school planting trees on a day of service, and the accompanying article bears the title “LAUDATO TREES.” It’s so cheesy it makes her want to cowboy emoji water gun emoji, but now that phrase has taken up residence rent-free in her mind, so it will not be she who gets the last laugh.
Sarah is in 1 Kings. She just read about Ahab and is marveling at how Israel’s monarchy got so bad so fast. She’s also reading Middlemarch, still. (Tfw no parents who see much company etc. etc.)
Gaby’s reading list is all over the place, as usual. She completed The Decadent Society by Ross Douthat, Battle for the Soul by Edward-Isaac Douvere, and Chaos Under Heaven by Josh Rogin. Gaby is partway through yet Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe, another science fiction anthology, a theology book or two, and the second volume of Infinite Jest. She would like to thank the Managing Editor of the Washington Review of Books for designing and printing a beautifully arranged edition of this classic. Truly, it is a joy to hold.
Exhortations:
Ask the girls out on a date! One of the Associate Editors went on a date recently. She encourages the Readers to shoot their shot with her colleagues. [Wait, who wrote this? We need an update in the GC. —Clare]
[Just found out about dating. Woah 🤯. -Sarah]
Request for approval:
Is this okay?