Happy Wednesday!
Thank you to everyone who shared their summer recipes. I’ve put a few of them in the grocery queue.
In a personal news, we adopted a third cat! We got her from the same shelter where I adopted old man Linus seven years ago. They even showed me Linus’s old intake photo. He was definitely much plumper then.
There were so many wonderful cats, including a beefy black cat named Alcott who had thumbs. Seriously, he looked like a mini jaguar. I hope he finds a forever home.
While looking at a cute stray that was brought in, named Chunky Tuna, we heard this tiny chirping behind us. There, we saw a little Tortie lady who had the shelter name Loki. We have since renamed her Fig Newton, or Fig for short.
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Quite a number of you sent this link to us about the boom of monster romances coming out. PamG said, “…I thought this was engaging but not too enraging.” That’s always good to hear when it comes to literary spaces covering romance trends.
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Romance community member and a person whose pop culture commentary never misses, Morgan Jerkins, wrote about the prevalence of “trad wife” influencers and its juxtaposition to the erosion of women’s rights.
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I was telling the Bitchery about the delight I took in telling my partner about the Sopchoppy Worm Gruntin’ Festival in Florida and Maya chimed in that the Oxford American had a great article on Florida worm charmers. I do love learning about weird and niche regional events and festivals.
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The Instagram algorithm recommended Brochet to me, a fiber artist who makes “woolen weaponry.”
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Don’t forget to share what cool or interesting things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way!
Amanda, Fig is beyond adorable! Congratulations on becoming a three-cat family–I’m jealous.
I went to that worm gruntin’ festival and even have a tshirt!
@Melanie: Thank you!
@LJBG: OMG, tell me everything! I was never able to attend when I lived in Florida.
I have lived in FL almost all my life. Why have I never heard of the Sopchoppy Worm Gruntin Contest?
And congrats to the new edition to the family. She’s adorbs. We brought home two kittens just a few weeks ago. I had forgotten how much of a handful they can be. But love ’em anyway.
Congratulations on the third cat! We took on a three-legged tortie barn kitten a few weeks ago and the slogan “Three feet, zero f****” definitely applies.
@Sandra
The worm-gruntin’ festival is a Panhandle thing, I don’t know if it gets advertised outside of that general area. It’s very fun though and the food is fantastic
There’s also Mule Day, but that’s in GA. It is only a 40 min drive from the capitol so I consider it a “local” festival
The Stardew Valley soundtrack is available for free: https://concernedape.bandcamp.com/album/stardew-valley-ost (I don’t think this is a new development, but I just learned about it recently). It’s 2 hours and 100 tracks long.
Hmm I’m surprised that, early on in the monster rom article, the boom in popularity is attributed to stigma around kink. Only briefly and later on does it mention the glaring social issue that (I’ve always thought) obvs factors in:
“As Laura Whitney … told me, ‘Seeing these brooding and powerful men completely simp over their women is fantastic. I love how you get these tough … monster men who aren’t afraid to lay all of that down and be vulnerable with their partners.’ … Josie Meléndez said something similar: ‘I think a lot of women just want to feel safe in relationships, but still be able to have that excitement.’”
Like, you’re not going to expand, at all, on the statement that many women read monster rom in order to vicariously feel safe AND excited in a romantic relationship? That so many readers find it easier to believe in monsters than to believe in men? Idk maybe it’s just me; I’m kinda obsessed with the intersection of social justice and media
Fig is the cutest little kitty! I gasped when the page loaded, she is so sweet!
Thanks also for the link on trad wives, I keep seeing that term pop up and I’ve been putting off looking it up. It’s good to be media literate sigh. Was glad to get a reminder to read Sisters in Hate. I’ve been meaning to read it since reading Deirdre Sugiuchi’s interview of Seyward Darby for Sisters in Hate over at Electric Lit (https://electricliterature.com/seyward-darby-sisters-in-hate-women-white-nationalism/). Would also recommend following Ms. Sugiuchi! She is a wonderful interviewer.
OMG Fig is adorable. I love her.
Also thanks for sharing Brochet. I was not expecting the yarn “blood” then brain sequence of events and I was both in awe of his skill as a fiber artist, and also at the imagination and skill with video editing.