Today's wisdom, from me, to you: When you're trying to be your best self make sure you're not trying to be someone else.

Supplemental: Landed Maybe threshold moments are quieter than I expected. Maybe the buzz and vibration of needle against skin pushing ink for hours… Maybe the stinging wipe off...

New Griefletter Supplemental - Landed - buttondown.com/ironheadjane...

A contact form reads: Subject: Checking Authenticity Body of message Hi there Beth. I have been contacted by someone who is using the email, [email blacked out], and using you name and one of your novels 'Feast of the Starving Stone: The Chef’s Five' to engage with me as a fellow author - if it is you then great, if it is not, as i suspect, then this is a fake approach. I just wanted to be sure. thanks. [signed name blacked out] You're a real person, right? No, I'm a bot. Please don't include existential questions in a contact form. Yes.

I just found out that an AI scammer is impersonating me in their spam campaign. I am LIVID.

Please, please share this post. Warn people. I’m horrified that someone might be ripped off in my name.

No one is safe from being impersonated like this.

It's astonishing how wedded people are to the idea that refusing to name what's happening is how we overcome it.

Thank you!!!

Me: [idly looking up info on popes]

Wikipedia: This list is incomplete; you can help expand it.

Me: wut?

Wikipedia: [lifts eyebrows suggestively]

Hold On • Buttondown I woke up this morning, naked, sprawled and tangled in soft sheets, my lower left arm wrapped in plastic and bandages, morning light muted through pulldown...

New Griefletter - Hold On buttondown.com/ironheadjane...

guys, this is how you lose the time war

My gender identity is "Fine, if I have to."

I Tolkienize men.

Men, kiss each other on the forehead. Cry. Say things like "Be at peace Son of Gondor" and "My Friends, you bow to no one." Hug more. Write poetry. Sing songs in quiet moments. Go on big long walks. Have adventures. Be a little in love with each other secretly. Eat lembas.

Meanwhile, in Washington State.

Can’t wait for about ten, fifteen years from now when one of us says, “Boy I sure do miss those cool 87 degree April days.”

inside me are two Beach Boys

1) this is granny music

2) Good Vibrations is the sound of a generation and I'll see you outside

I went out again at dusk to get some snacks for my tattoo adventure tomorrow. Still beastly hot in NYC, but the light, the overheard conversations, the smells, the sirens, the colors, the energy — hard not to love it, but it’s such a hustle.

I think about this a lot. AI chatbots remove a lot of social effort, which can incentivize their use. You don't have to be vulnerable with actual humans anymore!

But that social effort builds the connections and community that I would argue bring much of the meaning in life.

Turns out sweating in 80 F heat and walking a few miles just about does me in. Oh, NYC, I love to visit but….

Every time I’m in NYC I have to remind myself why I’m not moving to NYC. Becomes harder every time.

it's my sister's bday and I have sent her a 5 kilo bag of rice that will be delivered at some point today because I'm not a good brother

millennial: iykyk

plato: NOT SO FAST

I mean, as a person who grew up around Evangelicals AND raised Episcopalian, it’s only later in life I really understood how *different* Catholicism was from Catholic Lite. Post-religious studies degree, and really only because I chose to learn. I think he’s just trying to colonize Catholicism.

I remember the virulent hatred my evangelical Appalachian relatives had for the Pope and Catholics. I wonder how much of Pope hatred is literally a part of his upbringing that he hasn’t shaken.

❤️

I feel like there’s a whole group of folks who are Christian, who even keep catholic traditions! that exist because of protesting the Catholic Church. What are they called? Seems like he should look them up!

Dear Blind Lady by Elsa Sjunneson: 9781632176363 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books "Dear Prudence" meets Reddit's Am I the Assh*le? but for the disability community: finally, all the questions you've always wanted to ask about living a disabled life, but shouldn't have (or have aske...

I inhaled most of this @snarkbat.bsky.social jawn in one day because as usual Elsa's writing is just soooo smart + wise + kind + fucking funny + yummy-snax readable

and THIS IS A BOOK THAT EVERY HUMAN SHOULD READ

because it's about how we love each other better?

and it's INTERESTING AF

so:

Text from lyrics to The Gift by the Velvet Underground, which reads, “Inside the package, Waldo was so transfixed with excitement that he could barely breathe His skin felt prickly from the heat, and he could feel his heart beating in his throat It would be soon”

It’s one thing to have lyrics stuck in your head, but it’s another thing when the lyrics are “The Gift” by the Velvet Underground, and it’s about your current trip, and while the line itself is fine, the ending is not one anyone wants.

you shouldn’t learn about bands from shady TikTok manipulation, you should learn about bands by hanging out with a girl you like but are also extremely afraid of

Martha is talking about LLMs, but could apply to other things too

If you haven’t heard about it yet, the youths are super into IRL human interactions, no AI, and “physical media” (vinyl! DVDs! tapes!) right now and it’s glorious.

Like there are 20yo influencers that just read old paper books and talk about feelings.

I've been waiting for my trip to NY for months now. I've been so excited, dreaming about it, fantasizing about it (I'm getting 2 days of tattooing!!) and now I'm like, "gulp! it's happening" It's going to be an adventure, folks.

My favorite thing about a 10:1 CBD/THC gummy is how I’ll argue with something I wrote 2 hours ago, after sending.

Also. It’s really ridiculous how sensitive I am to small amounts of THC.