Edition #1: Best Served With Conversation
A Note from the Editor
Like most good things, it started at book club. Wanting to add a dose of intellectual spice into my daily interactions, I started a book club with ten unconnected friends one year ago this month. I knew I loved books and that a few of my friends also loved books, but what I didn't know was that our monthly meetings would quickly turn into some of the richest, most thought-provoking conversations I would have all year.
Without fail, I leave those Tuesday nights with an iPhone sticky note full of anecdotes to research, articles to read, videos to watch, concepts to explore. I’ve already grown so much since the start of book club, but something else happened, too— I began to see my friends in a new light. Some of these friends I’d have for years, and yet somehow I hadn’t scratched the surface of their unending depth in our normal interactions. I wondered how this could be the case. I’m smart, they are smart, we are all well-read.
But I realized there isn’t a dedicated space in “regular life” to discuss these sorts of things at depth. Why not? We talk about the movies we watch, the people we know, but we don’t talk about the other stuff. And it’s high time to change that.
That's so interesting was created to emulate that lovely, post-book-club-glow; to foster the types of conversations we need more of in our lives, the ones that leave us feeling smarter, more inspired, and challenged. Every Thursday I'll be sliding into your inbox with a pretty little roundup of news, essays, funny stories, and the occasional piece of advice (because I can't help it) on topics that you'll want to read, read again, share with your loved ones and most importantly, discuss. Because rich conversation is no longer reserved for the academics or the elites.
Cheers my dears, and many thanks for reading along.
Three Pieces of Content Worth Consuming:
Can true equality in couples actually exist? Long gone are the days of a woman having no choice but to be a Suzy homemaker (can I get a Hallelujah?), but the dynamics of dual-career couples are far more tricky than most people care to acknowledge. Most fascinating takeaway: A dual-career couple with a self-proclaimed 50/50 partnership wrote down all of their respective household chores and realized just how uneven their split actually was.
We are all weird, and you deserve to laugh. Do you ever take a second to stop and consider just how f*cking weird we are as a species? Example: we stab needles through our earlobes (and sometimes through the earlobes of infants), only to shove decorative bulbs through the self-inflicted holes. Did your hole close up? STAB IT AGAIN! Why? Why not! Whenever you're taking life too seriously, remember everything we do it strange (and subjectively unimportant).
The Australian women trapped in Syria. The Syria conflict has been covered everywhere, but this heart-wrenching podcast episode brought things into a whole new light for me. A young woman marries a man who later joins the Islamic resistance, she gets tricked into crossing the Syrian border, she's held in a camp with her three small children and terrified of what's going to happen now that the US is retreating from the region. And she's begging to come home, but Australia won't take her back.
Perhaps you should...
Try Eating Dinner With a Bunch of Strangers
While also bearing your soul on topics that you'll be shocked to speak so openly about to a room full of people you don't know. The format is simple: pay $15, show up at your hosts’ home (preferably with a bottle of wine), share a meal with 10-12 other women to discuss a previously disclosed topic, chug your wine because the whole thing is both nerve-wracking and impossibly meditative. Sorry fellas, this one is for the (self-identifying) ladies.
(Terrifying) **Bonus Content**
Because we can't not acknowledge that today is Halloween. Would you try this extreme-horror haunted house? If completed, the victor receives a $20,000 prize. Spoiler alert, no one has ever made it through the chilling 8-hour experience. What goes on in there? I have no idea, but consider watching this documentary to find out.
A Quote From A Book You Should Read:
"Gradually, the waiting began to feel less like waiting and more like this was simply what life was: the distracting tasks undertaken while the thing you are waiting for continues not to happen."
-Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney
This newsletter is best served with a side of conversation, so drop your opinions, reflections, and thoughts in the comments below and let’s get to talking.
Or, share the most thought-provoking piece from today’s edition with someone you love, then call them up to discuss, debate, and percolate. As a wise woman once said, “Great minds discuss ideas.”