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January 24, 2020
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"Gnome Downtime," Artist Unknown, 2019
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This week
I love the feeling that a stranger has left something for me to find. Not a physical object per se—I'm not talking about "little free libraries" or random stoop giveaways—but more like the way good art feels. Or a message in some graffiti. Or the above tableau, this poolside garden gnome, which I stumbled upon outside an estate sale a few weeks ago. Clearly someone had taken this gnome and placed it perfectly, deliberately, on the lounge chair. They probably had a chuckle to themselves about this chill dude, and then went about their day. Maybe they thought, "I'm just going to leave this here to amuse someone else, too." I was that someone else. And I was instantly appreciative.
I thought about this silly scene and the stranger who created it as I consumed the news about the Doomsday Clock reset, and pondered guaranteed environmental destruction, and listened to senators plead for truth and rightness, and discussed that tired old " will a woman ever be president?" question, and read Michelle Goldberg's column about "the future" evoking feelings of dread. The big narrative is awful, the long arc does not seem like it's bending toward progress. But we all still get to decide, in the now, that we want things to be different later. We get to punctuate this doom with smaller acts of hope. We get to choose to do something positive, take incremental actions in the right direction, leave something delightful for future humans to find.
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I'm reading
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Members only
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I’m looking & listening
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GIFspiration
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I endorse
The Gentlewoman mini-magazine, aka "a decade of fabulousness—in miniature." It features all of the magazine's cover profiles in a roughly 2x3-inch compendium. I am admittedly biased, as a longtime reader, a friend and fan of visionary editor Penny Martin, and the author of two of the cover profiles included in this tiny publication. But I am just so charmed by this way of commemorating a decade of work! A small good thing from the past to take into the future.
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The Classifieds
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Testimonials
"Thanks for all the work you do compiling your newsletter. It is the best thing in my inbox." -Cindy. Honestly, Cindy, some weeks it really feels like work. And other weeks it feels like art or play or therapy.
This newsletter is a lounging garden gnome for your inbox.
Forward it to share with someone else.
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