Break or take breaks!
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Good morning my angels!!! I am home, writing to you from my own cozy bed up here in Tāmaki Makaurau. Other home was nice, but nothing is as nice as your own space amirite?? (Tho, my sheets could use a wash - don't tell Flo.) Liv and I had band practice last night for our battle of the ad bands comp coming up in September and honestly? We're living out our (or at least my) School Of Rock fantasy in a BIG way. (Also, have I told you that I saw School of Rock on Broadway a few years back??? Core memory.)
I also wanted to quickly chat about a response I got from a newsy reader yesterday!! She said her journalism professor asked the class where they got their news from, and when they the SYSCA newsletter, he (the professor) looked it up and said "it's not really news." She came to our defence in a big way (loooove her for that), but I'm kinda like... are we still doing that??? I know we're not strictly a news publication, but we don't claim to be!! We're a cute mix of news/ the world/ tech/ pop culture/ funny mundane things, and that's all so that keeping up with the world doesn't feel daunting or depressing!!
Idk, Maybe the Harry Styles pictures distracted him from my paragraph about the floods in Pakistan, or the Taylor Swift content overshadowed what I wrote about NASA's new rocket launch, but this comment, no matter how many times I hear it just makes me a little 😡😡
In a world where so many people get their news from TikTok, Facebook, or... Telegram groups, I just don't think professors should be yucking our yum like that?? We're trying to do something good here!! Obv this newsy isn't always hard news - and sometimes there is very little of it because I'm hungover, but the realness/ freshness/ reactiveness/ unpredictableness is what keeps me (and hopefully you) loving it!!!
Maybe I'm just sensitive because I work so hard to bring you a mix of everything, newsy and culture-y every day, but anyway, hope he reads this!
Also, if you DO like what we do, consider supporting the media you love here 🥺🥺🥺
Bel Chimes In: Break or take breaks!
Turns out there's more than just the Irish Goodbye
The last remaining member of an uncontacted indigenous group in Brazil has died
New Episode of Culture Vulture!
AI has been detecting undetected pools in France
Speaking of pools: What do you call the things you swim in?
Bel Chimes In: Break or take breaks!
This section is written by my crush, the refreshing-as-a-house-chardonnay-on-a-steamy-day, Bel Hawkins. You should check out more of her beautiful words here.
This morning, I'm writing to you from the past, which is to say from the airport lounge at Auckland Airport at 4am before I take flight on my first holiday in 2.5 years. A privilege in itself, I know, and woosh, while I sit here hooning my overpriced, under-extracted flat white, I feel incredibly grateful to be able to have a life I can temporarily leave behind, fill up the cup, and return back to.
BUT the point of this Chime is not to flex that I'm going on a full Julia Roberts holi where I enter feeling like an uncooked Tegal Chicken and emerge (this is what I'm envisaging anyway) like a celebrity makeover from Stars In Their Eyes. It's to talk about the importance of taking breaks.
Some of you may know I have Chronic Fatigue (which is literally the most boring thing to both talk and write about because everyone is tired and everyone wants a holiday), but it has given me a buzzy relationship with work and energy and often leaves me in a cocoon state (read: at home with my phone on Do Not Disturb mincing around in my kimono trying to replenish the energy tank).
It feels like a real Insta inspo post 'Take Breaks or Break' — or even something Kmart might sell on a stretch canvas. But I believe it to be inherently true. Luce writes so beautifully here about all the measures she takes to maintain her incredibly demanding life; tuning out completely on a Sunday, submerging into natche (nature, lol, let's make this take off), doing something frivolous, or doing something with your hands that isn't necessarily 'productive'.
The internet and capitalism and hot people on social media make us feel guilty for stopping. They make a feeling that stopping/pausing/taking a break means the rest of life is coursing past you (FOMO), and you're not going to catch up. This is a lie, and you have to believe your life is yours and works to your own rhythm and if you were looking for a sign to zen out for a bit, this is it <3.
Speaking of Bel... you had a LOT of thoughts on her 'Irish Goodbye' chime last week
And they're way too good not to share. For anyone who missed her chime last week about 'Irish Goodbyes,' it's here and you should read it!! After this chime rung out into the universe (is this pun still punning?) I got SOOO many responses about what you call it in other areas of the world (and queries from Irish folk about why it's called an Irish goodbye??) so here are some new findings:
Australians call it ‘smoke bombing’
In South Africa they call it ninja bombing
In military speak, the Irish goodbye is called the “AJ Fadeaway” (AJ = Army Jerk)
In the midwest, it’s the COMPLETE opposite and goodbyes last for about 45mins
It could also be called: Houdini-ing, backdooring it, ghosting, ninja
And no one in Ireland knows why the hall it’s called that because their goodbyes are always so long and sweet
New episode of Culture Vulture
Barbie Ferreira's Departure & Child Stars - Culture Vulture — open.spotify.com
Barbie Ferreira is leaving Euphoria and we're upset about it!! We're also upset at how child stars have been treated for basically... ever. From Judy Garland to Drew Barrymore, we walk through the childhoods of some of the world's most famous child stars and how their parents didn't really parent them. We also chat about some of the protections that are now in place to stop kids from having to work like adults! Listen wherever you get your pods!
The last remaining member of an uncontacted indigenous group in Brazil has died
'The world's loneliest man,' and last remaining member of an uncontacted indigenous group in Brazil has died, the BBC reports.
The man was the last of an indigenous group living in the Tanaru indigenous area in the state of Rondônia, which borders Bolivia.
The majority of his tribe are believed to have been killed as early as the 1970s by ranchers wanting to expand their land.
In 1995, six of the remaining members of his tribe were killed in an attack by illegal miners, making him the sole survivor.
We don't know his name, but the 'Man of the Hole' has lived in complete and total isolation for 26 years. He's known as the 'Man of the Hole' because he would dig deep holes to trap animals in or use as hiding spaces. He died in his hammock at 60 years old, of what appear to be natural causes, and had covered himself in feathers.
Brazil's Indigenous Affairs Agency had been monitoring the area for the man's own safety, ever since finding out he was the sole survivor in 1995. Now that he's passed away, indigenous rights groups have called for the Tanaru reserve to be granted permanent protection, and so true.
AI has been detecting undetected pools in France
You think you can live in France and simply 🌊 hide a pool? 🌊 Well you can't. Especially not during the worst recorded drought in history. France just conducted an experiment using AI tech to spot aerial images of swimming pools and they found more than 20,000 hidden pools.
Why are people hiding pools?
Tax! Duh! In France if you've got a pool you have to pay higher property taxes, and under French law you have to declare your pool. There'll be a few slaps on the wrists for this one I'm sure!
Speaking of pools: What do you call the things you swim in?
I am such a knucklehead! Why did I not put 'bathing suit' on this list! This poll basically sucks now!
Anyway here's what you said:
24% togs
10% bathers
54% swimsuits
12% swimming costumes
And I can only put four options so plz don't spam my inbox with the 9837495 other things they can be called, I've already copped that on Instagram 💀
Something else to consider:
Barbie Ferreira's Departure & Child Stars (Culture Vulture)
A Bad Week To Be A Woman (The Shit Show)
Chris Dawson: Husband in podcast-famous case guilty of murder (BBC)
Britney Spears Turned Down an Oprah Winfrey Interview (Vulture)
Smutty novels are blowing up BookTok – but why are their covers so discreet? (Independent)
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