The state of the break up 💔
+ A new chime from Bel and a cute new group chat!! 💬
Hello angels from where I’ve been writing to you from lately (and no this is not my house.)
It’s the most calm and kiwi bach you could imagine and I’m using my time here to try and muster up some magic for you - as always.
I’m off to see Barbie AGAIN tonight with my mum and her friends because (as someone pointed out in our Book Club Geneva chat) idk if it’s coz I’m gen z, or just because I love a bit of analysis, but I feel like I enjoy things so much more in retrospect?? Like the more days that pass the more I understand/ love this movie and so, I wanted to see it again! Sue me!
I also have some big cute updates for our supporters (or soon-to-be supporters…)
OUR STICKER SALE IS STILL RUNNING!
Do you want 10% off an annual subscription? Do you want SYSCA stickers? More importantly - do you want to support the media you love??? If so, we’ve got a limited amount of stickers to give away to any new annual supporters!!!
We’re letting the sale run its course for a few days and we’ll be in touch to get your addresses when the sale is over!! (Also for anyone current annual supporters that have been emailing me about them - we’ll get back to you if we’ve got any left!!)
AND WE HAVE THE CUTEST NEW GROUP CHAT FOR THE BOOK CLUB
Yesterday we invited all our Book Clubbers to come and join our new group chat over on Geneva!! It’s super clean, non-stressful, easy to use, and most of all CUTE and we’d love to get as many of you all talking about books in there as possible. Ugh love getting to hang out with you on every platform ever.
Bel Chimes In: The plight of pedestalling
Yes, I’m talking about break-up’s again!!
Greece fires: Two pilots die after firefighting plane crashes
Brussels bombers found guilty after long murder trial
Singapore to execute a woman for first time in almost 20 years
Welcome to Girl Internet
🔔Bel Chimes In: The Plight of Pedestalling🔔
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!
Mōrena crushes!
How've you been? Holy shit, I've been having such a good time — I went to a World Cup match on Saturday, which was honestly the most thrilling and fun experience and made me realise that sporting events in NZ DO NOT have to all revolve around binge drinking and masculinity and feeling like a dumb girl for not knowing the rules (although I did foray into the first fifteen rugby team in high school and broke my wrist in the first game so I can't wait to weigh in with my completely unfounded opinions when that comes aroumd). And then on Sunday I went for a gorge long walk and met my chic friend at a giant old theatre to watch a Film Festival movie and sip prosecco into the afternoon. Life's a movie!
It's our last episode of Own The Feels this week, and it's all about what our first break up taught us. So this Chime, because you know I j'adore a word, I wanted to unpack this one, which is a vibe we saw quite a lot of in all of your wonderful, honest and REAL submissions: Pedastalling.
It's a phenomenon in dating (but I guess we do it in all kinds of situations with all kinds of people like celebrities or in work or platonic crushes), where you hype someone up so much in your mind, they can do no wrong. They're like... your dream/ perfect person who you may even think is way out of your league and you will kinda do whatever they want because you feel lucky to walk alongside such crushing human greatness.
It's hard not to fall into this sometimes cos romantic crushing is often built on such a whirlwind fantasy-zomg-this-person-wowowowow feeling, but it sets this bizarre sense of exchange: that one of you is worth more than the other so much so you might be willing to lose your sense of self over it. Has this happened to you? Did you stop it? There's adoration and then there's building someone up into total perfection and well, I feel like one of those camps is better than the other... Thoughts, feelings, emotions?
See you on Sunday for 💌No News Is Good News!💌 Trying something a ~ bit different ~ this week, but I think ur gonna love it. Love u! xox
Yes - I’m talking about break-ups AGAIN!
This section was brought to you by my FAVOURITE APP IN THE WORLD - POCKET. Pocket is an app where you can discover the most interesting and thought-provoking articles from trusted sources around the internet. And - at the tap of a button - you can save articles to dig into later. It’s how I save literally everything I write about in here!!
Honestly, I can’t stop WON’T stop talking about break-ups in this newsy, especially when Bel writes shit like this that makes even the most cold-hearted of us (see: me) feel like their heart is beating in their hands:
I’ve put together a handy dandy list of things you should consume if you’ve been through a break up, are going through one right now (yikes - love you) or if you just enjoy learning about the human experience. Stories like…
Thank u, next: Why Are You So Grateful For Your Ex? (By our very own London Laura
Cat Person (The best short story everrrrr)
Exes Meet For The First Time After 3 Years, The Skin Deep
You should seriously go and read/ watch/ listen to everything I’ve collected up, and let me know if you have any other bits of content that fit into this genre!!
📰In the headlines (sorry - these are quite bleak)📰
Two pilots die after their firefighting plane crashes in Greece
Two Greek air force pilots have died over in Greece while fighting the enormous wildfires that have broken out. Their waterbombing plane crashed while fighting forest fires near Platanistos.
Brussels bombers found guilty after long murder trial
Eight men have been found guilty of murder and attempted murder for the 2016 Brussels terrorist attacks that killed 32 people and injured more than 300.
Singapore to execute a woman for first time in almost 20 years
On Friday, Singapore is set to execute a woman for the first time in almost 20 years (since 2023 when a 36-year-old hairdresser was hanged for drug trafficking.)
Singaporean national Saridewi Djamani was sentenced to the mandatory death penalty in 2018, after she was found guilty of possession of about 30g of heroin for the purposes of trafficking, according to the Transformative Justice Collective (TJC), which tracks death row cases.
As evidenced by the above, Singapore has some of the world’s strictest drug laws and have drawn criticism from the international community for their punishments.
Welcome to Girl Internet
And finally, if you read anything other than this newsy today, let it be this dispatch from Dirt about Girl Internet. I’m telling you this because it’s my favourite thing to read about at the moment and because this paragraph feels as though it’s been directly plucked from my own brain:
Me, I’ve never stopped being a girl. I was a teenager in Rookie Mag’s internet. The internet of the Tumblr Sad Girl, Virgin Suicides, and Marina and the Diamonds. Which means I’ve since grown into a respectably unstable Ethel Cain listener and Elena Ferrante reader with a deep love of all girl things, including the Girl Internet. When it comes to being a Girl Online, Joanna Walsh writes that “'girl' is an attempt to make time go backwards or sideways.” Noting that IRL a woman is prompted to make herself smaller but, “online, a girl can hammer herself thin as gold leaf until she occupies the whole dimensions of cyberspace.”
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The only breakup story I have is my very short term boyfriend in like year 7 (also very good friend of mine since primary school) told me 'I'm sending you to dumpville'
so fun ! we talked about "pedastalling" in philosophy class back in high school ! we actually called it "crystallizing"