Huuuuge news from yesterday angels, as I was feeling wavy and bored as hell during my wisdom teeth recovery (and yes, I do still look like a chipmunk with nuts in her cheeks)
I started our first-ever Shit Chat!!! Substack has this cool feature where you can start chat threads and it’s like a big cute group chat with all the newsy besties!! All you have to do is download the Substack App and reply to the thread I started (sorry android users, I think it’s coming soon for you!!!) Yesterday I asked everyone to introduce themselves, and then tell the group what song they would choose if they could only listen to one for the rest of their lives, and I think I should make a playlist outta them tbh!!! It’s like the SYSCA soundtrack??!!
Anyway, the thread will be open forev, so if you wanna come & have a shit chat with me & the rest of the SYSCAhood, you totally should!
PS I’m thinking we use this chat in some cool/ chaotic ways… I reckon we get Bel to come and chime in with some wisdom every now and again, live chat during big events, you give me ideas for the newsy, we tell all our deepest & darkest secrets, we do some agony-aunt advice sesh’s… (and if you have any ideas for how we should use it, plz let me know!)
Can’t wait!!
Bel Chimes In: On Time
Ukraine war: Poland says missile deaths an unfortunate incident
D*****d T****p is shooting his shot as president again
The Grammy Noms are in
Am I in my Jonas Brothers era again?
⏳Bel Chimes In: On Time ⌛️
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.
Mōrena besties,
How the heck are you?! And how the HELL are we so close to the end of the year?! Honestly, I'm kinda vibing the end to what I will affectionately call The Biggest Year Of My Life To Date, possibly even when I'm a 70-year-old lady out mermaiding in the sea each morning and sharing a brandy and dry on my balcony with friends (mm nice thought actually).
But in the same breath, I always find it a bit bleak when people are like I CAN'T WAIT FOR THIS YEAR TO BE OVER because isn't it a bit sad to get to a point where you just want to race through life? I say this now, but I also flash back to the really hard bits — the heartbreak or grief or massive projects I've worked on where I've just wanted to close my eyes and for time to race forward and wake up, and it's all over, and something new's begun.
Which got me thinking about how time can be all types of rhythms in your life, all at once or for different people at different stages. You may be able to tell at this point that I'm thinking about this while in the office a little late because I decided to draw this to work it out for us (lol don't judge my 5-year-old scribbles):
Time as circular, not linear
When you lose track of it, like on holiday or when you're really happy, and you stop being stressed about being late or early or unproductive.
Time as a wave
When you're consumed in something Massive, and it feels like you've been swept up in a whole other world completely, finally emerge once it's over and realise a whole day/week/season's passed. You're reassured that feelings or difficult things are just waves that keep changing, after all.
Time as a collection of stars working in their own ways
Just that feeling that everyone occupies their own universe, has different things going on and that it's a rare beautiful thing to be aligned with people (when their time stars line up with yours).
Time that's stopped
Usually when something shocking has happened, and you feel like you're operating on another level outside the realms of the normal world (oof, heartbreak or grief here). This will change I promise!
Time as a pattern (nothing personal)
The most straightforward, western perception of time where every day feels equal and the same and measurable.
Time that goes on forever
Lol, this is just like, those days somewhere you don't really want to be where you are, that just drag on forever, no matter what you do to help pass the time. This is usually because you're yearning to be somewhere else, and life is reminding you that it doesn't work like that.
Time as just the lens you look through
Ok maybe this is just the overarching idea that how you feel about time (lol Luce and I complaining that we never have enough but also getting parro about wasting it). That the longer you're alive, the faster it goes and is always changing.
I hope this didn't feel like a university textbook but a cute way to think about how you experience your days and how you dream about your future! You know I'm a gush and will do everything within my word power to help you get there 💘
Have a cute rest of your week! As always, thanks for having me in your inbox each week. Love to all the knitters too! (she's up to slipping stitches now, wow what a journey). xox
Ukraine war: Poland says missile deaths an unfortunate incident
Tuesday afternoon marked the first time a NATO country has been directly hit during the 9-month-long invasion of Ukraine, when a missile landed in the Polish village of Przewodow, killing two people on a farm. Now, this happened at “roughly the same time as Russia launched its biggest wave of missile attacks on Ukrainian cities in more than a month” leading people to suspect that this could have been a Russian attack, but despite the Polish Foreign Ministry initially describing the missile as “Russian-made,” it’s actually not known who fired the missile, or precisely where it was fired from.
(Note: Both Russian and Ukrainian forces have used Russian-made weapons during the conflict, with Ukraine deploying Russian-made missiles as part of its air defense system.)
Joe Biden said that “preliminary information suggested it was “unlikely” the missile was fired from within Russia,” Polish President Andrzej Duda has said “there are no signs of an intentional attack,” and Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused western states of a “hysterical reaction” (sounds like a reporter from the 2000s describing teenage girls at a concert) so at this stage, there are no clear answers.
*UPDATE: Right before I went to send this the BBC reported that:
“The Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg says the blast in Poland late on Tuesday was likely to have been caused by Ukraine's air defence systems.”
In the meantime, the G-7 met on the sidelines of the G-20 summit (🎶like a G6🎶) in Bali, issued a statement condemning the “the barbaric missile attacks” that Russia inflicted on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure on Tuesday, and offered their full support to Poland. As always, when we know more, I’ll keep you in the loop!
The Grammy Noms are in
And Beyoncé is the woman of the moment! She’s now been nominated 88 times - tied for the most nominations ever with - guess who? Her hubby Jay-Z. Beyoncé was nominated in NINE different categories this year, while our boy Harry also SLAYED these nominations too, grabbing 6 noms!!!! Also, a cool new update to the Grammy’s is that there is now a category for Songwriter of the Year (this feels… like it should have been added earlier) but better late than never!
Here are some of the nominees:
Record of the year
ABBA - Don’t Shut Me Down
Adele - Easy on Me
Beyoncé - Break My Soul
Brandi Carlile Featuring Lucius - You and Me on the Rock
Doja Cat - Woman
Harry Styles - As It Was
Kendrick Lamar - The Heart Part 5
Lizzo - About Damn Time
Mary J Blige - Good Morning Gorgeous
Steve Lacy - Bad Habit
Album of the year
ABBA - Voyage
Adele - 30
Bad Bunny - Un Verano Sin Ti
Beyoncé - Renaissance
Brandi Carlile - In These Silent Days
Coldplay - Music of the Spheres
Harry Styles - Harry’s House
Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers
Lizzo - Special
Mary J Blige - Good Morning Gorgeous (Deluxe)
Song of the year
Adele - Easy on Me
Beyoncé - Break My Soul
Bonnie Raitt - Just Like That
DJ Khaled Featuring Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, John Legend & Fridayy - God Did
Gayle - ABCDEFU
Harry Styles - As It Was
Kendrick Lamar - The Heart Part 5
Lizzo - About Damn Time
Steve Lacy - Bad Habit
Taylor Swift - All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (The Short Film)
And you can check out the rest here!
D*****d T****p is shooting his shot as president again
God, I hate this man with all of my being so I’m not gonna dedicate much time at ALL to this, but he announced yesterday that he was going to “move on those elections like a bitch,” and “grab those votes by the p***y.” Note: these were not his actual words, but they HAVE been in the past, and I don’t want us ever forgetting what a vile, vile man he is, in so many respects.
Here’s a good headline from NPR about it:
Am I in my Jonas Brothers era again?
TikTok definitely wants me to be. For the record, when I was little I was Mrs Nick Jonas through and through. Then I grew up and Joe Jonas’s voice got INFINITELY better than it had ever been, AND he married Sophie Turner, so I became a Joe girl. Now, I’m scrolling through my TikTok FYP I’m getting served up a whole lot of videos of the bros at their Vegas residency, and I’m not gonna lie Nick is… kinda looking like a snack at their latest shows??? Nothing incredibly intelligent to add here, just thought you should all know where my head’s at.
PS it seemed incredibly chill trying to get Taylor Swift tickets yesterday
Elon's Twitter Takeover, Explained (The Shit Show Podcast)
Queerbaiting: what is it and what ISN’T it? (Culture Vulture Podcast)
People Born After 1997—Are They Just Better? (The Atlantic)
Will Anne Hathaway Pick Up Her Crown For Princess Diaries 3? (Vulture)
SYSCA playlists (✨Supporters only✨)
Our HUGE SYSCA reading list! (✨Supporters only✨)
Referencing “sounds like a reporter from the 2000s describing teenage girls at a concert” and the absolute banger of a song Like A G6 amidst V Imp war news is exactly why we love you SYSCA ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Gotta go for Joe, Cake by the ocean unironically slaps