Florida wants to ban talking about periods at school🩸
+ Bel Chimes In: Do you get... the 7 types of rest?
Close Friends saw it first but last night I went to a Burlesque(esque) show and I cannot wait to write about it for you in Friday’s diary entry! It also means I’m a lil tired this morning, but luckily we’ve got Bel in here today talking about the 7 types of rest (which I think I get about 0/7 currently.)
Now I’m off to record a Culture Vulture with Laura, and then I’m going to see the new Louis Tomlinson doco tonight, so you’ll be hearing from me in podcast form, in Close Friends form, and reviews of the doco in diary form. A life’s work keeping you all in the loop!
PS this made me feel cute from a newsy reader yesterday:
“thought you might appreciate this. in my uni class last week, the lecturer did a whole talk on y’all and then had us all listen to an episode. as a long time sysca supporter, it was really full circle for me knowing that it all began in the back of a lecture. Though it might make you smile :))”
Things like this always make me smile!! Whenever you see SYSCA in the wild please send me emails like this!!
🔔 Bel Chimes In: Do you get... the 7 types of rest?
Republican lawmakers in Florida want to ban people who menstruate from talking about their periods at school
WE'RE GIVING AWAY TICKETS TO THE 1975!!
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🔔 Bel Chimes In: Do you get... the 7 types of rest?
This section is written by my crush, the refreshing-as-a-house-chardonnay-on-a-steamy-day, Bel Hawkins. She also writes our Sunday newsletter ‘No News is Good News’ which all our paying supporters receive. Upgrade your plan to get her newsy here!
Crushes! How are you?
I must be ageing because I went dancing with my (other) besties on the weekend, and woosh, she's still aching! (Do I need to work out more? Slash at all? Ugh, a life's work to fit it all in). However, I had SUCH A GOOD TIME, and it was, I must admit, a wild abandon leap into some of our favourite phrases here lately, which is having a total Who Cares Moment (WCM) and pulling the clutch right out! Live your truth!
So you might remember that I went to Malaysia to meet my Amsterdam bestie over the Christmas break and at the departure lounge before I flew, feeling very WOW (Worn Out Woman) after a giant year, I was served this TED Talk article breaking down the 7 types of rest we need.
I also found this idea repurposed on Goop (fraught, lol), so take from this what you will, but whenever I'm feeling like an empty bottle of Powerade on the side of the road, I go back to this list to figure out what's missing in my life. They all kinda work into each other, but I thought I'd break them down for you below because I care about you deeply, and you should know this by now:
Physical rest: Sleeps, naps and zen-like activities like yoga and chill girl walks — any kind of activity that physically restores the bod.
Mental rest: Having small breaks in your days and weeks where you're not accountable for producing great thoughts or delivering incredible, cutting-through-the-clutter ideas (me, projecting here). Think walk breaks at work, lying in your bed in the morning daydreaming for 10 minutes, calling someone on your lunch break, putting your phone on DND in the evenings etc.
Sensory rest: As Luce often describes, achieved best when 'touching grass' or just unplugging from screens and devices and slowing down your stimulation. (Note: this is how I've fallen back in love with reading this year! And my incredibly slow pursuit of knitting, which is taking me an embarrassingly long time, but I still believe in it!).
Creative rest: Hard for me not to talk about this through my lens of making things all day, every day, but I feel like this one's about making time and space to feel replenished and inspired in whatever form that takes (one of my friends handmakes pasta to do this, for example, another goes fishing after work — you get the drill).
Emotional rest: This one's about being honest about how you're feeling (in a way that also protects your inner world) with both others and yourself. What do we say here? 2023: the year of the boundary 💘
Social deficit rest: Get really good at knowing which relationships in your life fill your cup and which ones leave you feeling... depleted. Then snip snip or set up your boundaries to prioritise those that make you feel full :)
Spiritual rest: Do you believe in anything? I'm not religious per se, and if you're also not, I think this one's more about doing something that feels religious. For me, this is like... sea swims, a really good yoga class, hiking up the hill behind my house to me ~ soft space ~ and going for drives with the gals. Find your thing!
In some ways, circling back to my departure lounge scene above, I feel kinda fraught about holidays because you always have to return back to the churn of life as though nothing ever happened and that you were just lucky enough to get the experience. The concept of grinding until you can escape your life for 1-2 precious weeks to replenish before going again feels a bit... not enough?
So I liked the idea of leaving you with this list instead to help the huns avoid burnout and ~ find a holiday feeling and go there as often as you can ~.
PS! If you're vibing this kind of chat, you just wait til you get my newsy 💌No News Is Good News💌 in your inbox. It's fkn cute, filled with hot recs, hot takes, D&Ms and even some bespoke, unhinged but fun playlists I make especially for you. Something to think about ✨
Til next week! Ily! x
Republican lawmakers in Florida want to ban people who menstruate from talking about their periods at school
In one of the most cooked stories to pop up this week, legislation moving in the Florida House (sponsored by Republican Rep. Stan McClain) wants to ban any teaching/ discussions on “human sexuality, sexually transmitted diseases and related topics to grades 6 through 12.”
McClain also confirmed - on video - that discussions about menstrual cycles would also be restricted for kids in those grades.
“So if little girls experience their menstrual cycle in 5th grade or 4th grade, will that prohibit conversations from them since they are in the grade lower than sixth grade?” asked state Rep. Ashley Gantt, a Democrat who taught in public schools and noted that girls as young as 10 can begin having periods.
“It would,” McClain responded.
This legislation is part of an effort to combat the “anti-woke” agenda (gross gross GROSS) and would also allow parents to “object to books and other materials their children are exposed to, require schools to teach that a person’s sexual identity is determined biologically at birth and set up more scrutiny of certain educational materials by the state Department of Education.”
I’m so mad that I don’t have many words rn except ugh just leave us alone!!!
PS:
WE'RE GIVING AWAY TICKETS TO THE 1975!!
I am still DEEP in my Matty Healy/ The 1975 obsession - so much so that I'm going to BOTH of their New Zealand shows - and I want you to have the chance to go too!!! Thanks to our literal besties at Live Nation (who support us in all our obsessions) we have a double pass to their Wellington show (April 19th 2023) AND two double passes to their Auckland show (April 21st 2023) show to give away!!!
All you need to do is make sure you’re subscribed to our newsletter, fill out the form below, and we'll announce the winner in a week's time xxxx
We’re launching a breakup podcast!!
New podcast alert!!! Next Monday we’re launching a brand new podcast series (within our Culture Vulture feed) all about how to break up better. It’s called ‘Own The Feels,’ it’s brought to you by Love Better, and it’s based around YOUR breakup stories. We cover it all - from ghosting, to revenge, to stalking - you all provided us with some juicy stuff!
Listen to Own The Feels in our Culture Vulture feed, wherever you get your podcasts, from next Monday!!!
🗺Around the world🗺
Tech/ biz
Amazon is laying off another 9,000 workers (Mashable)
That’s on top of the 18,000 layoff’s they’ve already announced
Twitter's press email now auto-responds with a poop emoji (Mashable)
Tell me you can’t get your company to make any significant improvements without telling me you can’t get your company to make any significant improvements.
USA
Idaho poised to allow firing-squad executions in some cases (AP News)
Idaho is poised to allow executions by firing squads when the state can’t get lethal-injection drugs, under a bill the Legislature passed Monday with a “veto-proof majority.”
India
India cuts internet to 27 million as Punjab police hunt Sikh separatist (CNN)
Huge lengths. “Indian authorities have blocked internet access for about 27 million people in the state of Punjab for a fourth straight day – one of the country’s most extensive blackouts in recent years – as police search for a Sikh separatist on the run.”
France
France pension reform: Macron's government survives no-confidence vote (BBC)
Can’t believe I didn’t even know this was happening! An effort to topple France’s government just failed, after the government survived a vote of no confidence.
This was all because of controversial new pension legislation which looks to raise the pension from 62-64 (and was passed using executive powers) causing massive protests and widespread labour strikes.
Today’s mundane poll:
PS this made me LOL
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the french strikes aren’t just about the age! it’s also about the trimester system (which severely negatively effects women and it has been acknowledged as doing so) i think it’s super unfair that media is reporting it as an age increase when it’s SO much more than that
lemme tell you we are SO MAD here in France but also powerless bc the government shits on us all the time and doesn't even want to let us vote when we've been on strike for the last THREE MONTHS about this bill ! I now understand the need for guillotine we had a couple centuries ago