Happy summer solstice, friends. Hope you’re enjoying these long, hot June days.
10 Things I’ve considered / enjoyed / consumed this week:
Luka in the cutest Petite Plume romper for his 6 month birthday. He is such a sweet, happy, curious baby and I am feeling lucky to be his mom. Balancing life, work, and motherhood is challenging, though, and something I may write about in an upcoming letter.
An article from Paul Krugman’s newsletter on why protests matter. Fully agree. An excerpt:
“While there are heroes willing to take a stand against tyranny whatever the personal cost, most anti-Trumpists are reluctant to stick their necks out unless they believe that they are part of a widespread resistance that will grant them some measure of safety in numbers. In other words, the victory or defeat of competitive authoritarianism will depend to a large extent on which side ordinary people believe will win. If Trump looks unstoppable, resistance will wither away and democracy will be lost. On the other hand, if he appears weak and stymied, resistance will grow and — just maybe — American democracy will survive.”
A conversation with Masha Gessen, a Russian opinion writer for The New York Times, on “shock exhaustion” and “resilience.” The concept of resilience in war zones is one that I find grating, mostly because it’s often used (sometimes unwittingly) to sanitize abject suffering. I once wrote that “resilience is something more akin to existence on the brink of despair.” Anyway, this conversation is about the beauty in people’s ability to cope in difficult situations — and I agree, there is beauty in that — but Gessen points out that there is also danger in “normalizing things that we really shouldn’t live with.”
This beautiful 323-foot-square home in Vogue. I have been looking at 2 and 3-bedroom apartments in the city and big ol houses in the suburbs, but I still dream of small, impeccably designed spaces like this.
Crimes of the Century: How Israel, with the help of the U.S., broke not only Gaza but the foundations of humanitarian law, a very long and detailed article in New York Magazine. I don’t know how many more words need to be written to convince people that Israel is perpetrating a genocide in Gaza and undermining humanitarian law in the process, but this is another valiant attempt.
This orange and pink rug from Ishkar spun from Ghazni wool. The curving stripes are meant to be “reminiscent of swooping stems and rows of flower fields.”
An interesting take on “taste” from this Substack post. An excerpt:
“Taste is often dismissed as something shallow or subjective. But at its core, it’s a form of literacy—a way of reading the world. Good taste isn’t about being right. It’s about being attuned. To rhythm, to proportion, to vibe. It’s knowing when something is off, even if you can’t fully articulate why … We associate aesthetic with surface. But good taste is deep structure. It’s the throughline in someone’s life. You can see it in the design of their home, the cadence of their speech, the way they treat people, the books on their shelves.”
The Creative Act by Rick Rubin. The above post mentions this book, and it’s definitely one I come back to often when I’m trying to get in touch with my artistic, creative self.
Steak frites with garlic butter and sauce au Roquefort at Luc’s Café in Ridgefield. Surprisingly authentic French food in Connecticut!
This video of a man in Tehran playing his violin so his neighbors don’t hear the sound of bombs. I think it’s important right now to remember that Iran is a place where people live and hope and dream, just like any other.
Until July, xo Jess.