- A Full Life
- Posts
- Amalgamation of Links
Amalgamation of Links
McCall Moore
November 13, 2024
A Full Life
Gooooood morning, folks. For the last month, I heeded the advice of a great friend and deleted all the social media apps off my phone and only had Substack downloaded. Along with a lot of my generation, I worry (deeply) about my attention span and found myself not wanting to read articles when friends send them my way.
Instead of doing the classic millennial move and hopping back onto Instagram to tell all my friends about it, I figured I’d share my favorite articles here.
Here’s an amalgamation of links, articles, and cool stuff I found over the last month. It all generally helped me feel happier, less alone, and more understood, so hopefully some of it has the same effect for you.
Backcountry Chronicles
Some Personal News: after nearly four years of saying “I’ve gotta get all my art stuff organized,” I finally took the plunge and bought a cart for all of my supplies. A moment for the seagreen, please. I love her dearly.
Now, onto the essays:
The Pain Gap: a reflection on toxic relationships and decades-old hurt that so often (not always, but so, so often) is inflicted upon women by men — and the ways in which we frame guilt within those dynamics. When a younger woman dates an older man, she just should have known better. When the question of the gray zone is brought up, scrutiny almost always falls upon the woman. To quote the author, “We wonder why she entered the relationship, why she chased older men, why she didn’t listen to her gut. By admitting hurt, she becomes guilty until proven innocent; men, on the other hand, are exonerated by their nonchalance.
For every ten-minute Taylor Swift song, there is a Jake Gyllenhaal confused by all the fuss around a decade-old fling; the worst kinds of pain are rarely mutual.
What Happened!? Vol. 1: one of the most interesting things I’ve read in a while. The author, Rachel Cohn, goes on a few dates with a guy she calls “Marathon Man” and thinks it’s, by all accounts, going amazing. Rachel even lets herself think “maybe this is my person!” — so you can imagine her shock when she gets ghosted after four dates. A few months later, she and Marathon Man sit down for coffee and discuss why, in his own words, things didn’t work out. My biggest takeaway? When we walk into a first date, it’s us, the other person, and allllll of our past traumas and fears in the room.
In retrospect it is obvious to me that something in our dynamic shifted at precisely the time I sent that good luck message. Whereas once there had been two people pumping energy and urgency into our budding relationship, now there was just one. We agreed to just be friends.
When’s The Finger Waving Gonna Start at White Women? I read this one before the election and thought about it for a solid three days afterwards, particularly this quote:
There are women who take a great deal of pride in not supporting anything that could be labeled as a “women’s issue.” Political pick-me’s who will blame women being insufficiently tough and/or womanly, depending on the issue, for anything that could be solved or prevented by a just and human-centered system. These women don’t need abortion rights, because only the wrong kind of woman needs an abortion. They don’t need equal pay, because they don’t want handouts because they’re women. “I’m not a feminist” is a boringly popular TikTok prompt for a reason.
The Imagined Victimhood of Conservative Women: don’t let the title mislead you on this one. In essence, it’s another think piece about Ballerina Farm, but also so much different than every other think piece I’ve read on the topic. The block-quote below is my last-ditch effort to get you to click and read the entire thing.
There is a fantasy that exists among primarily left-leaning women that we are somehow bound to one another in some sort of Ya-Ya sisterhood. We’d like to believe we have an allegiance to one another that is more powerful than any other identifier — race, class, religion, or creed. Presumably, this stems from the notion of a common enemy — controlling, often violent men. It’s a nice idea, but it’s also incredibly naive. It may be a tough pill to swallow, but a considerable number of women, particularly white women, would much rather align themselves with wealthy, powerful men than they would with women. It does not require coercion or manipulation; it is a decision.
Alas, the non-essay content:
Watching: The trailer for Teton Gravity Research’s new film, Falling Into Place, all about Kai Jone’s career and his bounce-back post injury.
Reading: Florence Given’s new banger, Women Living Deliciously. I don’t know what I did to deserve being alive at the same time as Florence Given.
Revisiting: this AMA on Reddit from Rob Sheffield from five months ago that I somehow completely missed. Rob is, hands down, my favorite author in the entire world. I’ve eaten up every single word Rob Sheffield has ever written (not an exaggeration in the slightest). Something about his writing is just…. so beyond perfect to me. Rob has taken on the herculean task of writing a book about Taylor Swift’s life. If you’re thinking “….there’s no way,” please know that he already successfully wrote books about the lives and careers of The Beatles, David Bowie, and Duran Duran — on top of writing for Rolling Stone for 10+ years.
Thinking About: this chart from Axios Denver about adult loneliness in Colorado, specifically. Obviously everyone can speculate about why CO is on the lower end of this (although, I hate that ~40% of adults feeling lonely is the ‘low end’) and I’ve got my hypothesis (cough, cough: hobbies).
Per Axios Denver
Can’t Look Away From: The Zach Bryan / Brianna Chickenfry / Dave Portnoy drama. Have I ever listened to Zach Bryan’s music? No. Do I listen to Brianna Chickenfry’s podcast? Nope. Did I listen to the entire 1.5 hour episode of BFFs where Brianna and Dave tore into Zach Bryan? Yes, of course.
Stoked About: my favorite artist in the world released a book!! If you’ve somehow missed it, I’m obsessed with Bella McGoldrick. She draws hyper-realistic work with colored pencil. Her work is incredible and where I can only hope to be with my own drawings in a few years. It also doesn’t hurt that she’s Australian and is just effortlessly chic in that Americans-could-never-dream-of way. Bella was deported from the United States for selling art through a gallery that was doing some sketchy business dealings on the back-end, but because she was involved with the gallery, she was just as guilty in the eyes of the U.S. Government. Visa Issues is the story of her life and her life’s work.
Listening to: this episode of the Rich Roll podcast with Adrian Ballinger. Adrian did the “Everest No O’s” expedition back in 2016 that was sponsored by Snapchat (that’s how I heard about him) where he successfully summited Everest without supplemental oxygen. His wife, Emily Harrington, is a beast in the climbing world, too.
Obsessed with: these satirical statues of Trump going up all around the country.
Artiste Break
Not quiiiite finished, but here’s a sneak peak at the latest drawing. Like I said before, I’m on a mission to draw all the little items that make up a big day in the backcountry. First was my Skida beanie and next was my Kinco’s. I’m thinking of drawing a Gu packet next, but hit reply and let me know if you have any favorite backcountry essentials.
That’s all for this week. Keep your fingers crossed for good snow so I can get back to talking about skiing on here.
- McCall 🌻
Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here so you don’t miss the next one!