Observables #2

on jumpsuits, Berlant and a soft heart

My sister Natalie guests on Observables this week.

This jumpsuit...

every day… because it's silk and cooling in my not-at-all-air-conditioned home… and because it was on sale. I was a little nervous at the excellent sale price since such a "good deal" can also mean it's not a great seller, potentially for good reason. BUT Kit and Ace proclaim on every page of their website that: "We Exist to Amplify Optimism" — so I channeled their upbeat spirit (with an appreciation for what they claim is slow fashion in a burning world that needs all of the help that we as a human race are showing ourselves slow to provide) and added to cart! 

Cruel Optimism by Lauren Berlant, whose notion of optimism is verrrrrrrrry different from that espoused by Kit and Ace! According to Berlant, "A relation of cruel optimism exists when something you desire is actually an obstacle to your flourishing." At 42, post pandemic, I would like to see some serious flourishing in my life and career and such, so I am reading this book with great concentration! (But - similar to my slow fashion purchase - this book takes time...I can only do like three to five pages in one session. So much wisdom requires so much underlining.) Thank God it's summer. 

Yep, we watched the first episode of Ted Lasso, Season 2. Of course we did. Ted and his abundance of similes and metaphors. Ted and his cute jokes. Frankly, I think it started slow and the writers were working hard to set up all the characters, but nonetheless my heart was warmed, and it’s not a bad thing to have a warm heart. Warm, soft heart is what I’m seeking these days.

Also, we are watching our cat in this too small box.

We ask these kinds of questions when we are stroking the cat in the box, especially since someone in our house turned 8!

How old do you think you’ll get to be?

90.

Imagine if you got to 199. 

That’s old. 

Definitely a world record. What about 170? 

Also old. 

Still a record?

I think so.

We play this game for a while longer getting down to 100 at which point I don’t think it’s such a feat and nor does she. Although this…