Wonder Woman of the month : Sonya ( on JR Token (5.10), Trout Creek, Oregon. )
In 2012, I house sat her cats in exchange for a rent free summer. I responded to her Ad and she called me in for an interview. The woman who opened the door was strong. Her fingers were bruised. Her skin glowed. She was wearing a pink tank top. Her arms were all muscle. She had abs of steel. Her eyes sparkled. One look at her and you recognize it. She is an athlete. The entrance had a pull-up bar. She had a book shelf in her living room and it was filled with books on rock climbing. She had a second bedroom. It had backpacks, ropes, carabiners, mountain bikes, gym shoes, climbing shoes, tent, camping gear, weights, TRX bands, … Her bedroom had one small bed and the tiniest closet I have ever seen. Everything she owned spoke volumes of her passion – climbing. She teaches in the School of Sustainability. The graduate students and the professors live in a zero waste community that they created. She teaches during Spring and Fall. In the summer months, she packs up her SUV, leaves town and goes climbing. I told her I wanted to run a marathon but was stuck at mile 5. She is in the big league. ‘How did you scale up?’, I asked. She replied “ I don’t know. I just love climbing and do it as much as I can. “ I was expecting her to talk diet secrets, yoga poses and protein powders. But come to think of it, it is the right answer. During the colder months, I stop being active and blame the weather. “There’s no such thing as bad weather, just soft people”, says Bill Bowerman, the founder of Nike. I don’t intend to be a soft person this year. Its a good time to set fitness goals for Fall/Winter.
“If you have time to chatter, Read books. If you have time to read, Walk into mountain, desert and ocean. If you have time to walk, Sing songs and dance. If you have time to dance, Sit quietly, you happy, lucky idiot.” ― Nanao Sakaki
Homogenization of Personal style.
For those who like peeking into closets.
Find your own seasonal essentials. Don’t get told what your essentials are, by people who want to capitalize on a certain vulnerability.
“It’s a photo that I wish didn’t exist but now that it does I want everyone to see it. What started as an opportunity to photograph a cute little sea horse turned into one of frustration and sadness as the incoming tide brought with it countless pieces of trash and sewage. This sea horse drifts long with the trash day in and day out as it rides the currents that flow along the Indonesian archipelago. This photo serves as an allegory for the current and future state of our oceans. What sort of future are we creating? How can your actions shape our planet?”
Garance Dore on why she left the fashion industry.
Don’t you want to know how other people are trying to do denim better than you?
I don’t want to know how other people are trying to knock me off. That’s a bit disturbing. But I don’t give a fuck. I don’t care. There’s nothing that could make me jealous. Sometimes if there are good jeans I see, the price is not correct. I believe you not only need a good cut and good fabric, but the price has to be human. Otherwise, I could do tons of incredible things. But if the price is not human, the mission is not accomplished. The same thing goes for bags for women. Anybody with a regular amount of talent can do a beautiful dress. Okay, maybe not anybody, let’s say 100 people on the planet. But if these dresses are three or four thousand dollars, it’s only going to be possible to buy for a very small elite of the world. Frankly, even if I have the means to buy a pair of jeans for $1000 dollars, I wouldn’t do so, because nothing about that is appealing to me.
– Jean Touitou, A.P.C founder.
Harao Miyazaki : Exceptional story teller. The characters are like all of us – clumsy, brave, timid, driven, lazy, ambitious, … real. If you are new to his films, start with Spirited Away. My neighbor Totoro is my second fav. I would have given anime a chance much sooner had I not labeled it ‘cartoonish’ and ‘for kids’. There is one particular film : Princess Mononoke where the antagonist : Lady Eboshi is not really a bad person but a bad-ass role model of sort. There is no easy good Vs bad but a balance waiting to be discovered. I also want to dress like her : mix navy & maroon.
Blue Garment of the month : linen maxi dress, denim maxi dress, A.P.C striped top.
Vintage garment of the month : woven handbag, evening clutch, Kelly bag ( !!! ), Chloe maxi dress, burgundy clutch bag.
Virginia Woolf’s shopping tips.
New Blog Discovery : Instant Vintage written by Alice. I love her sense of style and humor. These three outfits are pretty darn perfect : 1, 2 & 3. #fallStyleMuse
I heard you deleted the Internet from your phone. And that you deleted Twitter and Instagram and e-mail. No way that’s true, right?
It is! Whenever you check for a new post on Instagram or whenever you go on The New York Times to see if there’s a new thing, it’s not even about the content. It’s just about seeing a new thing. You get addicted to that feeling. You’re not going to be able to control yourself. So the only way to fight that is to take yourself out of the equation and remove all these things. What happens is, eventually you forget about it. You don’t care anymore. When I first took the browser off my phone, I’m like, [gasp] How am I gonna look stuff up? But most of the shit you look up, it’s not stuff you need to know. All those websites you read while you’re in a cab, you don’t need to look at any of that stuff. It’s better to just sit and be in your own head for a minute. I wanted to stop that thing where I get home and look at websites for an hour and a half, checking to see if there’s a new thing. And read a book instead. I’ve been doing it for a couple months, and it’s worked. I’m reading, like, three books right now. I’m putting something in my mind. It feels so much better than just reading the Internet and not remembering anything.What about important news and politics?
I was reading all this Trump stuff, and it doesn’t feel like we’re reading news for the reason we used to, which was to get a better sense of what’s going on in the world and to enrich yourself by being aware. It seems like we’re reading wrestling rumors. It’s like reading about what happened on Monday Night Raw. When you take a step back, it all just seems so sensationalized. Trump’s gonna get impeached! No, he’s not. None of that shit’s happening. But you are going to read all the articles. So if you take yourself out of it, you’re not infected with this toxicity all the time. Also, guess what? Everything is fine! I’m not out of the loop on anything. Like, if something real is going down, I’ll find out about it.– Aziz Ansari.
( I can really relate to this. Being on the internet has been sending me on an emotional roller coaster and weighing me down. I have been needing a run at the end of the day to cheer me up/get me breathing again. I finally got a proper news subscription that I read once a day. I don’t want the extra stress that doesn’t contribute to a solution. I don’t want to hear the opinions of people who are not experts in the field but will yell the loudest. )
This one man and this one speech gives me so much optimism for the future. I wont become a pessimist. I wont quit. “Considering everything, now is still the best time to be alive. It wasn’t handed to us. People challenged the norms and fought to get us here. Roll up the sleeves and get to work”, he says. Aye aye captain !
To Universe with Love!! Nice Archana
Thank you
You are welcome
Archana! Thank you for the mention here. This made my day.
I always look forward to these posts of yours. There is so much interesting content you pull together. I read that Aziz Ansari article a couple of weeks ago and found his take on disengaging with the internet and social media to hit very close to home. It inspired my own step back from it.
Have you seen the Exactitudes website? It’s a very similar photo essay of sorts about the homogeneity of personal style. Very interesting to see all these photos together.
Ofcourse ! I cant believe I havent read you blog all these years. I chat in the comments. You wear your clothes in style – its very inspiring.
Comedians seem to be the most wise people on the internet these days. Its the only way I can handle news – with some good jokes served on the side. Strange times !
Checking out Exactitudes. Its left me hypnotized !
I grew up watching Ghibli films so I am very biased when it comes to them, lol. They’re better than Disney movies, imo. Not only the art but also the stories and the complexities of the characters.
Personal style is personal, but being a unique individual through fashion is almost impossible, imo.
Oh I agree. Unless you make your own clothing or buy from the designers who
are game changers or collect pieces from all over the world, we all wear the same mass produced stuff. Somehow, cant seem to accept it though. If I saw someone dressed just like me, I would be alarmed instead of thinking “yay, we are of the same style tribe.”
Please suggest your fav Ghibli films ? I have only watched these three and cant wait to watch more. Any other anime film directors you admire who belong in the same category ?
Really? I don’t mind people who wear the same thing as me, like if we coincidentally bump onto each other on the street, I’d just shrug it off. I don’t think I am an unique individual when it comes to fashion or style and I don’t try or want to be one.
My Neighbour Totoro is my feel good film. Other favourites are The Wind Rises, Only Yesterday and Howl’s Moving Castle. Makoto Shinkai is another pretty well known anime director, his most recent work is Your Name (and it broke Ghibli records back in their home country, box office wise). His art is nice, but I personally feel his stories are a bit generic. Ghibli has more soul. My fave director is Satoshi Kon, who unfortunately passed away due to terminal illness. One of his work, Perfect Blue, was copied heavily by Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan. I love Tokyo Godfather, Millenium Actress and Paranoia Agent, basically every single thing he had done. It’s a pity he died young, the guy was amazing.
Anime is just a medium, tho, whether it’s childish or not depends on the content.
Lets make this question of the week for my next week’s post.
I loved My Neighbour Totoro. To see her take care of her sister when her mom was ill … it broke my heart. My mom had stage 3 cancer recently and we had to go through a year of pain. The story spoke to me.
Added all your recommendations to my IMDB watch list. Will watch as the weekends go by.
I dont think I watched any anime since I was a child. Not even the pixar movies. I did take my teenage nieces to Beauty and the Best last spring and hated the experience. It came to me as a shock that such good films exist while I watch mediocre cinema ….
I mean, Beauty and the Beast is just a cash grab for Disney. It doesn’t help that they cast a very untalented actress just because she has a bookish image. The project is all about money.
I am really sorry to hear about your Mum, Archana. How is she? I hope she is getting better.
Hi Archana,
I recommend two films, ‘Your Name’ and ‘The Girl Who Leapt Through Time’ – they will blow you away and leave you a breathless and emotional mess.
Elizabeth
Thank you so much ! Added to my list. Will let you know after I watch.
I always look forward to your posts–so much real substance compared to other blogs out there. Thanks for weeding through all the internet garbage so I don’t have to! 😛
Oh boy ! I realized that as soon as I hit publish. I was calling out on garbage links while providing links of my own ! oh well ….
A Cup of Jo and reading my tealeaves are my fav sources for reading material. They link some every weekend.
I love Sonya’s comment on climbing and loving what you do. It is so true, when you find something you love, it does not feel like “work” or “exercise”. You push harder because you truly enjoy it. I feel that way about running. I actually find the cooler months a refreshing time to run. This morning I woke up early to frost on the ground. I put on my gloves and toque (Canadian word?? wool hat) and enjoyed an exhilarating run in the cool fresh air, watching the sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean. There was no better way to start the day. Heading into fall/winter is a great time to set fitness goals to give yourself that extra little push (: good luck!
On another note, after reading through many of your previous posts, my family and I watched the documentary True Cost last night. It was very eye opening to many things I had not considered before. My 11 year old son was especially troubled by it. Although some of it was heavy, I think it is important for him to consider these issues as he grows up in a time where kids get more and want more stuff than ever before. Anyway, I’m looking forward to your upcoming post on seeking out clothes with the second hand/consignment approach.
Thanks for all the inspiration. Have a great weekend!
I always think of Sonya when I need the inspiration. She was so down to earth about it. She would never talk about climbing in-terms of grades to be passed but as something to love. I ran my first marathon in the dread of winter on the Las Vegas strip in the night. I really enjoyed it. But I dont enjoy biking home from work with the cold wind freezing my face. I havent been enjoying the cold weather for a while now. Wet and damp makes me feel miserable. I stopped distance running to only do things I love. Short sprints. Hikes. Yoga. Bike rides for pleasure. Long walks while listening to a book. etc. Its so easy for me to hybernate once winter comes by. I want to push through it and make this year different.
I am ever thankful to True Cost for speaking to people the way it did. Gosh, isnt it hard for a 11 year old to consolidate all that information ? I have seen adults who were left in tears after watching it and ones who couldnt get through the entire documentary …. I have a lot of hope for the next gen. The science projects that i see from schools are all around problem solving for the sake of the planet. It gives me so much hope.
Thank you Jen. Now, I really cant back out of writing that post on second hand shopping. Will get to it.
I very much enjoyed the Hans Eijkelboom photos! I’m not sure I find the prospect of looking like everyone else so bad though… I don’t work in fashion, but in science and medicine, so if I look competent and I look good I don’t particularly care if what I’m wearing looks like the same uniform as my colleagues. Additionally, when I see old photographs (like the recent Walker Evans exhibit at SFMOMA), I usually think people in old workwear look great, even though they’re all wearing very similar clothes. Similarly, men in tuxes look great.
Perfectly valid point. Its not bad at all. We all wear neutrals, classics, staples, … or what ever we call them in the same cuts from the same stores …. Just interesting to see it all side by side.
I like workwear too. never made this connection. Thank you for bringing it up. ( I love the comments out here. Always breaks my little bubbles 🙂 )
I like reading the comments here too.. please keep writing! You’re gaining fans 🙂
I LOVE the studio ghibli movies! My daughter fell in love with Spirited Away when it first came out, and then with Howl’s Moving Castle. She watched them over and over again in the way that children do. I think that for her, Spirited Away spoke to that confusion children feel about the adult world.
I was reading your other post about camping and the woods too. I face a similar divide – a love of nature, and a love of clothes. Recently I’ve found some shops in Cape Town which sell very good quality second hand clothes, and I feel as though I am in love. I have a lot of what I need but with clothes, it is like love for me. Clothes and books, I don’t seem able to give up! Camping and living with little teaches me what I need, and I know I have so much more. But, ah, I dream!!
I am trying to get my husband to sit down and watch the movie with me. He also writes it off as ‘kids stuff’. Someday, I will duct tape him to a chair, get my popcorn ready and watch Spirited Away again.
Clothes are not the biggest contributors of our carbon footprint. Hopefully if this brings us a lot of joy, there are other areas we can cut back to make up for it. Less air travel, using public transportation, zero waste, buying second hand, …. raising environmentally conscious kids, eating plant based food, …… That is what I tell myself. Also, we may need to time to ween off. I had 28 years where I was the perfect consumer. I hope to improve with time.