more from megan no. 1
writing, links, reviews, style, and goofing off from the middle of america
Welcome to my newsletter, and thank you for checking it out. More From Megan is basically a blog sent directly to your inbox containing exclusive content, writing, recommendations, contributions from Nebraska creatives, activists, and business leaders, and whatever else comes to evolve.
For me, starting this newsletter feels like returning to my comfort zone. I have been blogging since 1996 (and professionally from 2008-2013). As social media changed the functionality and demand for traditional blogs, I stopped maintaining my website and moved to creating content on other platforms—primarily Instagram, and primarily for the clothing company I was running at the time. As we’ve all seen (Design*Sponge? The Toast?), web-based content has become less valuable, more people are using smart phones, and web is not really easy to engage with. However, I have really missed the writing, Instagram and Twitter are not at all the same, and I’m ready to dive back in. This platform is perfect. There’s never been a better time to return to a familiar, comfortable place, and while I’m quarantined at home, I have plenty of thoughts to funnel into a new channel.
Eventually, I will produce content in this newsletter that is only available to paid subscribers. I’m not at that point yet, and will never make the newsletter fully closed. If you like what you see, please help me by encouraging your friends and family to subscribe. I hope you enjoy it at home, and I hope you’re able to find some comfort in it too. Remember: it’s all for fun.
photos in this edition by kimberly dovi
What I’m reading
On my e-reader: How to Live: Or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer, by Sarah Bakewell. This book is so brilliantly written, a very easy and entertaining read, and also very educational. It’s about the life of Michel de Montaigne, a French Renaissance philosopher who came up with the concept of the “essay.” Montaigne published hundreds of essays around the nature of humanity and how one should live, with humor and poignancy that still feels relevant in 2020.
In an actual book: I was gifted a signed copy of Lazy B: Growing Up on a Cattle Ranch in the American Southwest, by Sandra Day O’Connor and her brother, Alan Day. I have been on a memoir-by-a-fascinating-woman streak, including Some of my Lives by socialite Rosamond Bernier, and Personal History by former Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham. Lazy B documents the unusual life of Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman supreme court justice, which started on a ranch in the American Southwest where her family settled before the Gadsden Purchase. You read all the time about how leaders in American Government come from Yale or Harvard and come from these famous and illustrious New England families, and that wasn’t the case for Sandra. I wish stories like hers were the case more often today—it feels like there is less of a meritocracy in both the public and private sectors than there has ever been.
This article by Rachel Tashjian in GQ: We Are Living In the Age of Sweatpants and Never Going Back. “At a time when Americans feel they can never work enough, and indeed, a record number of Americans are out of work, sweatpants represent well-earned time off. They are the pants of everyday life—a reality only accelerated by the pandemic. (Where fancy restaurants once banned jeans, they now ban sweatpants.) Sweatpants can look good with anything, but their origin myth is less specific than denim’s. If jeans are meant to connect us to a distant working class past, sweatpants transcend class connotations, and are worn by manual workers, white collar workers, celebrities, and billionaires alike.” A nice palate cleanser after today’s corny, judgmental LA Times piece about why you shouldn’t work from home in sweatpants, you slob, which was written by a person who doesn’t understand anything about modern trends or style, and which I won’t link here.
And I just finished: Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion by Jia Tolentino was quick, enjoyable, and light, full of essays that read like features in the New Yorker (where Jia is a frequent contributor) or on an online new site like Jezebel (where Jia was a former deputy editor). The focus is Jia’s (highly relatable-to-me) experiences as a female millennial, perfect for reading in the bathtub with wine.
What I’m listening to
Fiona Apple’s new album, Fetch the Bolt Cutters, has been on repeat in my apartment since its release today at midnight. I didn’t like the first two songs at first, but I sank right in after the title track and “Relay,” a percussive, driving song. As I’ve listened to the album repeat, it has all flowed together and I am here for all of it. Fiona Apple is such a great lyricist. I love this album—equally good for listening carefully or for background music while I work.
Tame Impala’s new-as-of-February-14th album The Slow Rush. It’s a perfect album. Period. I think I’ve listened to it 300 times. Borderline is my favorite track, but it’s hard to choose. They’re all excellent. An album for perfectionists.
I also have a sleep meditation playlist that has been helping me quiet my mind and get to sleep. If you have the same problem, maybe it will help you too. Sometimes I am asleep within the first five minutes of the first track, which is a 25-minute guided visualization of walking through a busy shopping center into a serene, grassy meadow.
Things I’m so glad I bought
Last year in a 60% off sale Black Friday shopping spree I bought like 7 track suits from Adidas. I had intended for 2020 to be my personal year of athleisure, but of course I had no idea how seriously we would all end up taking it... The classic black set is my favorite. I wear a track suit pretty much every day, or track pants with a cashmere sweater (the best deals are at Macy’s) in the same color.
Also in 2019 I bought a very slim treadmill (similar to this one) designed to slide underneath a standing desk. I take a brisk walk on it every night while I catch up with my tv shows. It rolls away easily under a bed or stands up behind my hallway door, out of sight. I would love a real treadmill, but in my small apartment, I don’t have room for any exercise equipment like that, and I don’t have a gym membership. So when I can’t walk or run outside (hello random Thursday in April blizzard), this slim under-bed treadmill has been a sanity saver.
Finally, this is a weird one, because I NEVER thought I would be the kind of person who buys these kinds of mortifying SkyMall-Sharper-Image contraptions, but I have very sore feet and finally got absolutely sick of it. There is no one to rub my feet! I can’t get a massage! Gotta do something. I bought this highly-rated foot massager that has kneading and squeezing functions, and I absolutely love it. It’s ugly. It’s a definite contraption that I would never let anyone lay eyes on in my home. But wow it feels good. Going on day 36 of staying at home, this has proven itself to be a worthwhile purchase.
I’m ending this edition by giving a hand to my local Omaha area restaurants that are working so hard provide food for all of us and support their staff while facing this unprecedented economic disruption. If you can swing it, consider throwing them some support this week:
Le Bouillon - Offering free delivery of meal kits, pre-cooked meals, packages, and à la carte. Order online. Don’t forget the wonderful selection of wine.
Sweet Magnolias - Order online (love not having to call), and get their delicious pastries curbside. My favorite is the cinnamon sugar donut.
Nite Owl - Everyone knows this place is my go-to. Now I get it to-go. My order: Birdhouse Slider with no fun and an extra piece of chicken, tots, and an Irish coffee slushie.
Subscribe to my good friend and food writer Sarah Baker Hansen’s newsletter for more local food tips.
More to come. If you know someone who would like this in their inbox, forward it to them and tell your friends to subscribe. Stay home, and stay safe!
Meg