How hard could it be? Boys do it...
+ Countries are cutting funding to UNRWA’s aid efforts in Gaza, Michael CeraVe, & Januarycore
Starting this newsy off with some potentially sad news - due to life/ timezones/ me needing to recover from… everything, we’ve decided to put our beloved podcasts (The Shit Show/ Culture Vulture) on hiatus. It breaks my heart to do this but there are some changes happening at SYSCA (which you’ll know about soon) which means honestly, we don’t really have the capacity to keep 🙃doing it all🙃 right now. There’s boring stuff like the costs involved in editing/ recording/ hosting, and the deeper stuff like how hard it can be to be enthusiastic on the mic each week when you aren’t feeling the greatest.
On the bright side - you’ll still get a monthly Book Club pod (so if you miss our voices, there’s that) and you’ll still be getting me in your inbox like… ALL the time. I’m not going anywhere, just having to make a few changes!!!
Squish, Bel, London Laura, Liv, Slam Dunc and Rubes have all loved our various bouts on the mic and we can’t get over how much you’ve supported the pods!! We love you sooo much, and who knows, maybe they’ll be back soon????
Luce xxxxxxx
⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖ IN THE NEWS⊹˚. ♡.𖥔 ݁ ˖
Countries are cutting funding to UNRWA’s aid efforts in Gaza
First of all, in the name of balance, here’s how Al Jazeera are reporting this story, and here’s how the BBC are. I encourage you to read both!
Over 10 countries, including Japan, Austria, Canada, The USA, UK, Germany, Australia and Italy have announced that they are suspending payments to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees - UNRWA. This comes after allegations by Israel that some of the UNRWA staff were involved in the October 7 attacks.
From Al Jazeera:
“The UN on Saturday said that it had terminated nine out of 12 staff over the allegations and vowed to hold its employees accountable, but expressed its shock at the swift funding cut by several Western countries amid a humanitarian disaster in Gaza, which has been devastated by nearly four months of Israel’s aerial and ground war.”
More than 26,000 people - mostly women and children - have been killed in Gaza since October 7th, and many of the 1.7 million people who have fled their homes are using UNRWA facilities for shelter. Humanitarian needs are “growing by the hour” and other aid agencies are deeply concerned about the UNRWA losing these funds at a time when people in Gaza need it the most:
“We are shocked by the reckless decision to cut a lifeline for an entire population by some of the very countries that had called for aid in Gaza to be stepped up and for humanitarians to be protected while doing their job,” the coalition of 21 agencies, including Oxfam, Save the Children and ActionAid, said in a statement on Monday.
The UNRWA - which aids two million people out of about 2.3 million population in Gaza - is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions (apart from a limited subsidy from the UN), so the halting of funds from these countries is significant.
Former UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said the UN agency “has weeks only before it runs out of money for its crucial aid work to save Palestinian lives in Gaza.”
Deeper reading:
UNRWA: Gaza aid agency says it is 'extremely desperate' after funding halted (BBC)
UNRWA fund cuts by the West ‘collective punishment’ against Palestinians (Al Jazeera)
At least half of Gaza's buildings damaged or destroyed, new analysis shows (BBC)
☆⋆｡𖦹°‧★ ON THE WEB ☆⋆｡𖦹°‧★
Sorry but I’m obsessed with Michael Cera-Ve
I don’t care if it’s an ad! It got me!!! The other day on Close Friends I posted this:
And I was flooded with comments from you all letting me know that it’s “Michael Cera-Ve!!!” (CeraVe is the name of the skincare brand he’s holding FYI.) Turns out, I think this was a marketing stunt done right because coincidentally, a #ceravepartner just happened to see him in a store signing bottles, and posted this: “Guys run to this pharmacy in BK, I just saw MICHAEL CERA signing bottles!! I’m a #ceravepartner, and I’m asking @cerave what is going ON.”
As reported by The Cut, shortly after this all went down “Cera also went on Bobbi Althoff’s podcast to address “claims” that he is secretly the mogul behind the CeraVe conglomerate. He refused to own up to any skin-care nepotism, but admitted to having “some skin in the game.”
Something tells me the bit may have gone a little too far though, because the official CeraVe account did have to post this to their Instagram to let everyone know that no, Michael Cera didn’t create these products:
I have to admit, I actually don’t care that I’m eating out of the palm of whoever’s genius hands concocted this campaign. Credit where it’s due because this is great.
✿⊰𖡼𖥧𖤣❀ BEL CHIMES IN ❀𖤣𖥧𖡼⊱✿
This section is written by my all-time crush - and co-author of our debut book Make It Make Sense - Bel Hawkins. Each week Bel comes here to chime in about the things she’s been loling at, yearning for, or totally mystified by. Luckily for us, she also writes our Sunday column for all our paying supporters who want to make sense of the world!! Upgrade your plan to get her newsy here!
Crushes! She's back, she's in reality, she's coming to you from an actual table and an actual chair on an actual laptop propped up by what looks like a stand that could very much have once been property of a crypto trader.
While Luce and I are back doing our long distinct crushing, Zooming in various hoodies, pyjamad, caffeinated, white wine spritzered states, I've been loling and j'adoring what's on the internet this week as an unhealthy distraction from our LOOMING FINAL BOOK MANUSCRIPT DEADLINE. If things get unhinged on here in the coming weeks, that's why.
Plus, on my IG I promised to share my existential epiphanies from my hiking trip, and if you stay tuned for the next week, I'll show you my chaotic behind-the-scenes experience of trying to host a birthday dinner in an apartment you've just moved into in a foreign city when you hate birthdays. I'm thinking... what could possibly go wrong? And then I'm also thinking, how hard could it be? Boys do it...
PS. Super excited to be out of my simple pilates boot cut pant cladded road trip to be back in your weekend inboxes from next weekend! Thank you so much to our paid subscribers, you really do make our world turn and think you're gonna love our revamped 💌Sunday newsy 💌
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In the words of my local city buses, “There’s always another bus. There’s only one you.”
Sadly CeraVe fall under L'Oreal who support Israel through investment, and have a factory in occupied Palestine. Jarring to read the endorsement (even if it is "cute") after the previous piece about collective punishment (which is a war crime!!!). Companies only pull stunts like this when the boycotts are working.