PicoBlog

Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade.On April 23, 1910, Theodore Roosevelt gave a speech that has been ranked among the most widely repeated and loved of all time. I took some creative license and changed the pronouns to celebrate how far women have come in such a short time. It was still a decade prior to women receiving the right to vote when the speech was made.

Here I sit on the 23rd of December, two days before Christmas, and it’s day three without my son. He’s been with his mom. Time away from him is never easy, but it’s excruciating during the holidays. I’ve been distracting myself with last minute Christmas shopping, gift wrapping, long walks with my dog, and making my way through season 2 of Fargo (highly recommend), but the mind must be idle eventually, and when it is, I get sad.

This week in the historic Waterloo Chamber at Windsor Castle, Queen Camilla hosted a reception for authors, illustrators, and bookbinders who contributed 20 new books—each measuring only 1.8 inches—for the 28-inch-high library in Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House. A marvel of miniaturization, artistry, craftsmanship, and technical prowess that continues to amaze everyone who sees it, Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House made its debut in April 1924 in the Palace of Arts at the British Empire Exhibition in London’s Wembley Stadium.

AHP note: This is the January Edition of the Culture Study Guest Interview series. I interview people nearly every week for this newsletter, but my inclinations and passions are, well, my own. If you have a pitch for an interview with someone who is not famous but writes or does work on something that’s really interesting, send it to me at annehelenpetersen @ gmail dot com. Pitches should include why you want to interview the person, 4-5 potential questions, the degree of certainty that you could get the subject to agree to the interview, and have CULTURE STUDY GUEST INTERVIEW in the subject line.

A great deal of nervousness accompanies any new book for me, but I’m feeling more nervous than ever to announce the release of my latest. You’ll understand why in a minute. I set a lot of standards for myself—I want a book to be accurate, I want it to be free of grammar mistakes, I want it to move a reader (and the world) toward healing. As a writer of creative nonfiction, I’m often writing about the lives, habits, and conversations of real people; and I want these to be as close to the truth as possible.

Oliver Bateman Does the Work is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. As the deadline for Donald Trump's surrender for booking in Georgia looms, online sportsbooks are indulging in a spree of proposition bets, from his tie color to his body weight. An intriguing part … ncG1vNJzZminnJ7Dpr7BmquepZGjsbCx0q2fnq%2Bfp7hvv9Sbqq2Zk6B7pLvMaKdorJiaeri70aRkqJ5dl7K1wMinnmannmLBs8HMqapmr5WetKnA

In this free-to-all episode, I discussed RFK’s viral incline bench press video. To dig deeper into some things I mentioned here, check out my recent long articles on steroids and “auto-androphilia.” It looks like I’ll be writing a long article on effective TRT regulation for an upcoming issue of American Affairs Journal. While you’re here, you should also take a look at my recent article on Netflix’s Arnold Schwarzenegger documentary.

On a Saturday morning in March 1982, I was scouring the flea market in San Jose, California, looking for old guitars. Suddenly I heard loudly amplified music I never imagined echoing in such a place. Even from several aisles over, the songs sounded straight off of an antebellum cotton plantation or, at the latest, a turn-of-the-century minstrel show. I made my way over to a homemade shack built atop a flatbed trailer attached to motor home.

Sarah Blondin is a free newsletter. If you love it, consider supporting it financially. For $5/mo, you’ll gain access to “Folding In” journal entries, poetry, and the occasional live group meditation gathering. My work here is reader-supported, hence the lack of ads and sponsors. Thank you! I am so happy you are here! 1× 0:00 -22:04 Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade.“This is your life unfolding and unraveling before you.