Would you rather live in a Swift City or an Elon City? 🎸🤖
+ A study showed that the mental health crisis following the pandemic was ‘minimal’ - basically everyone disagrees 👀
Angels!!! Another HUGE welcome to all our new besties - love having you here, love seeing all your replies in my inbox, love YOU! A few things to start off - first, it’s been VERY exciting to see all your entries to our Lorde competish (there is still time to enter), and second of all thank you for ALL your love on Zoe’s guest newsy yesterday - it’s genuinely one of the buzziest/ best things I’ve ever read and I’m so glad you all agreed!
Today Rubes and I are sending Liv off on her big OE and then tonight we are lucky enough to be going to an INTIMATE FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE SHOW (we went to see her and King Princess on Tuesday night and when I tell you it was the best show I have EVER been to I’m not lying.)
You better believe I’m going to be writing/ posting about ALL of this in the Friday edish of the newsy (for our paid supporters) so I cannot WAIT to tell you all about it! This crazy life eh?
Ugh, love you the most, come hang out in the comment section will ya?
A study showed that the mental health crisis following the pandemic was ‘minimal’ - basically everyone disagrees
🔔Bel Chimes In: With mundane power moves💪🏼
A city named after Taylor Swift
🗺Around the world🗺
The Willow Project approved, Submarine chat, & Elon Musk building a Texas Utopia?
Do you find it easy to sleep on planes?
A study showed that the mental health crisis following the pandemic was ‘minimal’ - basically everyone disagrees
The BBC ran a story about five days ago with the headline “Mental-health crisis from Covid pandemic was minimal - study,” claiming that:
“People's general mental health and anxiety symptoms hardly deteriorated at all during the pandemic, research suggests. Most people are resilient and made the best of a difficult situation, it says.”
I would looooove to know who these mysterious ‘most people’ are because
The lil fact check tab on Twitter points out that “the review did not look at lower-income countries, or specifically focus on children, young people & those with existing problems, the groups most likely affected, experts say, and risks hiding important effects among disadvantaged groups” and
they’re certainly not the people I saw all over my Twitter timeline dunking on this study (which is actually the point of this newsy segment):
Here are some of my fave dunks:
These people are all just like me fr.
🔔Bel Chimes In: With mundane power moves💪🏼
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!
Ok, ok, gorge to see you back here again. This week, I'm keeping my usual gush snappy because, well, she's a Worn Out Woman, and one day soon, maybe I'll be able to tell you why? Yup, back on my baiting bullshit. Stay with me – I promise it'll be worth it!
Speaking of baiting, deeper forays into the Chiming softcore philosophy, life snippets, hot recs, and other cute shit can all be found on our weekend newsy No News is Good News and if you want to join an extremely cute place on the internet for only $8UD p/m, you know where to go.
This week I wanted to give you something to lol over as, well, you know, sometimes we tackle heavy shit here, but we deserve a break! And I'm acutely aware of how life swings in between good and back in an uncontrollable way, and when Luce and I started devising this list off the cuff, off mic the other day I knew it needed to go straight to you.
Mundane power moves (things we (or other people) do to feel powerful, control situations, send subtle ~ ugh, stop~ vibes, or mentally teleport somewhere else):
Leaving a social occasion before everyone else
Taking a long call during a social engagement
Disrupting your normal messaging rhythms (leaving on read for way longer than you usually would)
Over explaining why you’re late
Over explaining why you can’t make it
In fact, over-explaining in general
Complaining about rich people things (‘oh the pool upgrade has been so stressful,’ bitch, I’m trying to pay my student loan).
Impersonal replies / deploying HR language
Cutting messaging off when it’s getting into a deep conversation because ‘you’re busy’
Going on your phone in a meeting and disguising scrolling instagram as if you’re checking an important fact on google related to the presentation
Obsessed with knowing what yours are/what you notice being done in your world. Discuss!
Love you, see you on the weekend or next week. Off to have a white wine spritzer on a week night and get home late a bit tipsy, write a stream of consciousness creative writing school exam esque WhatsApp essay to my bestie in Amsterdam, stay up too late and not make lunch for work tomorrow - WCM! Who Cares Moment! Carpe bloody diem — Love ya x
Glendale Shakes Off Its Name To Rebrand as “Swift City”
In case you missed it, Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour is nearly here (it’s basically all I think about atm considering I’ll be in New York for the show with her & Phoebe Bridgers and I DON’T HAVE TICKETS.) Anyway, the first stop is Glendale, Arizona, and to celebrate huge milestone, they’ve rebranded to “Swift City.” Turns out the officials move pretty swiftly, because there’s also this:
I’m not gonna sit around and say it’s the best marketing I’ve ever seen, but my job is to stand up for stans, even if that stan is a city, so I will oblige.
🗺Around the world🗺
US
Biden approves controversial Willow oil drilling project in Alaska (The Guardian)
You probably remember me writing last week about The Willow Project (or talking about it maybe?) Well, to follow up (like the good newsy writer I am) - it got approved. Naturally, a BUNCH of people aren’t happy about it:
“But the approval has been met with outrage among environmental campaigners and Native representatives who say it fatally undermines Joe Biden’s climate agenda. In all, the project is expected to create about 260m tons of greenhouse gases over its lifespan, the equivalent of creating about 70 new coal-fired power plants.”
On the other side of this though:
“Some Alaska Native tribal organizations, including the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope and the Alaska Federation of Natives, have supported the project…
The deal will make it “possible for our community to continue our traditions, while strengthening the economic foundation of our region for decades to come,” according to Nagruk Harcharek, president of the Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat group.”
US/UK/Australia
Aukus deal: US, UK and Australia agree on nuclear submarine project (BBC)
It’s not every day I get to jump on here and talk about submarines, but today is that day.
“The US, UK and Australia have unveiled details of their plan to create a new fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, aimed at countering China's influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
Under the Aukus pact Australia is to get its first nuclear-powered subs - at least three - from the US.”
USAgain
Elon Musk Is Planning a Texas Utopia—His Own Town (WSJ)
“Elon Musk is planning to build his own town on part of thousands of acres of newly purchased pasture and farmland outside the Texas capital, according to deeds and other land records and people familiar with the project.
In meetings with landowners and real-estate agents, Mr. Musk and employees of his companies have described his vision as a sort of Texas utopia along the Colorado River, where his employees could live and work.”
Fucking hell.
Today’s mundane poll:
To get my Friday diary entry, a whole bunch of links and recommendations, and Bel’s Sunday morning newsy ‘No News Is Good News’ become a paying supporter 💌
I don't leave social occasions early for a power play, I leave social occasions early because... I don't want to be there.
Why is BBC still allowed to conduct these studies still surprises me to this day... these tweets BROKE ME can't stop giggling and thinking of my own lockdown breakdown - me and my housemate would sit and watch Portuguese big brother and give each other the most HORRIFIC hairstyles we could until 2 AM... if that's not a sign of declining mental sanity I don't know what is