Hand Drawn (and Hiked) by McCall

Happy Wednesday and somehow the 2nd to last Wednesday of August. Summer feels like it started six months ago and also two minutes ago. Alexa, play Where’d All The Time Go? by Dr. Dog.

Mini Musings

After I decided I wanted to crank out another edition of this newsletter before heading out on vacation, I realized I needed to focus this section on something I could easily hammer out 4-5 paragraphs on — something I’m super, super passionate about. Enter: my contempt for the multi-billion dollar industry that is……the beauty industry.

Anti-aging culture, wellness culture, diet culture — however you want to spin it, it’s still the same heap of dog poo in a Gucci belt (I said what I said). Before I dive in, though, please let me preface this with: 0% of what I’m about to say is an attempt to undercut, insult, or villianize anyone who makes the decision to wear makeup, get botox, or spend any of their money on something that falls under the category of “beauty”. I’m all for spending money on whatever makes you feel good about yourself; I’m speaking as a girl who has spent hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in her adult life on keeping her teeth straight and clean (we all have our vices). What I am undercutting, insulting, and vilifying are the people and corporations who perpetuate an industry that creates new insecurities for - by and large - women, and exploits them for profit. End disclaimer.

Have you ever noticed how ephemeral beauty is? Let me give you an example. Growing up, I was constantly bullied for having big eyebrows. Pencil thin eyebrows were all the rage and that was pretty much the complete opposite of what I was rocking with. Add some popular girls to the equation and it was the perfect recipe for insecurity. I’m not exaggerating when I say from elementary school to college, I loathed my eyebrows.

And then something funny happened — all of a sudden, this model named Cara Delevingne was all the rage, and just like that, big eyebrows were the coolest thing on the block. My freshman year of college, whenever I met a new friend, introductions were almost immediately followed by a comment about how jealous they were of my eyebrows.

There are infinitely many examples of the ephemerality of it all. Kylie Jenner gets lip injections; everyone on Instagram suddenly has lip injections. Alix Earle stops painting her nails; it’s cool to have “Naked Nails” — the list goes on and on and on. We’re all subconsciously told that our life will be perfect if we hit the beauty ideal of the moment, as if said “ideal” is a giant target we can hit if we just buy the right combinations of serums and foundations; when in actuality that target is half a centimeter wide and moves 80mph in no particular pattern. As a result, our sense of femininity and self worth becomes so wrapped up in our desirability.

The best way I’ve ever seen it described is in this two minute monologue from Hunter Schafer. “Honestly, it would be a kind of sensual experience if it wasn’t so fucking terrifying.” Please, please, please do yourself a favor and watch it.

Everywhere we look, there’s this pervasive (and dare I say, slightly sexist) idea that a woman’s prime is 18-24, and she’s borderline geriatric the day she turns 30. And if we actually look like we’re past the age of 30, well, we’ve failed. And the beauty industry specializes in promising us that it can keep us in our prime! Forever!

So, what happened to…. aging? You know, that one thing that we’re all guaranteed to do if we’re lucky enough to live a long life. Whenever I’m hiking and see an older woman with her sun-cracked skin, giant smile, and wrinkles, it makes me so happy — and so excited to be that when I’m older.

At the end of the day, I would feel endlessly lucky to live to 50+ years old and have my skin tell the story of a life well lived. The lines next to your eyes that have been deemed “crow’s feet” by god knows who? Those are from smiling and laughing. The crease between your eyebrows that I see so many ads about getting botox for? I got that from squinting in the sunshine and furrowing my brows when I’ve been deep in thought.

I hope my body is able to feel the love I give it every day and let me hike, bike, play soccer, ski, and do all my favorite activities well past my “prime”.

If you enjoyed any of this rant, do yourself a favor and subscribe to The Unpublishable. Jessica Defino sends out weekly emails about exactly this, except they’re way more eloquent and insightful.

Artiste In The Making

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about growth — specifically as it relates to art. When I was in Lake Powell last month we all got talking about what our biggest fear in life is. One of my friends said “being stagnant” and we all collectively took a breath.

All of my one year ago memories in Google Photos are from my first ever art pop-up at Lekker Coffee in RiNo (the greatest coffee shop ever, please check it out), and it’s naturally prompted a lot of reflection about how different my life was a year ago. Selling in-person art started with forming a close relationship with the owners of Lekker, which resulted in them following my art Instagram and saying “hey, you should sell your stuff here sometime!” when I grabbed a coffee one day.

I didn’t even know I needed a Denver Sales Tax License (I pinky promise I got one and back paid all my sales tax) or a Special Event License. I googled a few photos of what a merch table at a farmers market or a concert should look like, ordered a few t-shirts, hats, and prints and put my game face on.

We all know on some level that running towards the things that scare us is one of the best ways to live your life. I walked away that day with newfound confidence: confidence that led me to apply for my first ever Holiday Market in Denver and break into the Denver Market scene.

Deep down, I certainly fear being stagnant; looking back on time a year ago and realizing my life is exactly same as it was back then. I wouldn’t say that fear is my motivator, though — it’s how much I love growth and change. It feels good to learn, think differently, question who you are, iterate, and grow. It often feels like our sense of self is set in stone, especially in our 20’s, but everything about us is transitive and malleable. I’ll leave you with one last photo.

The Wild, Wild West

Drumroll please: Welcome back to Avalanche Fun Facts!

As I read my avalanche book and (attempt to) prep for my first ever ski season in the backcountry, the most effective way for me to commit all of what I’m learning to memory is to teach it, so I hope you’re getting as much out of reading this as I am from writing it. As promised, today we’re covering Intermountain/Transitional avalanche climates.

Transitional avalanche climates lie in between maritime and continental zones and, roughly speaking, show a mixture of their characteristics. The transitional avalanche climate zone covers a broad area that includes the ranges of the Intermountain West, as well of much of the Northern Rockies in Idaho and western Montana, Utah’s Wasatch Mountains, and by some categorizations, the southwestern Colorado Rockies.

These zones are colder than maritime climates, milder than continental ones, and receive similarly mid-range amounts of fairly light and dry snow. Avalanches are typically direct-action slides resulting from the weak layers of fresh snowfall or windblown snow, or stem from fairly persistent weak layers days or weeks after their formation. Altogether, this climate contains a hybrid of avalanche behavior, with a consequently moderate level of typical avalanche danger.

If you’re reading this and thinking “What are you talking about? I saw 473928423 tweets about Interlodge in Utah this year.” - please know Utah was absolutely hammered this year with Alta receiving a record-breaking 900+ inches this year. If you don’t have a reference for typical snowfall in inches, just know that 900+ in absolutely f*cking insane.

Keep in mind, too, that the above are definitely brushed in broad strokes. Climate variability within and across seasons—including patterns set by global-scale ocean-atmosphere teleconnections such as the El Nino-La Nina cycle—ensure the breakdown of transitional, continental, and maritime climate zones isn’t cut and dry. Transitional mountains often seesaw between maritime and continental weather patterns or even whole seasons.

PS: I promise I didn’t give up hiking as a hobby altogether. My hiking partner/resident bad-ass friend and I have some big September plans, so get ready for a spicy month.

What I’m Noodling On

📰 I loved this article about the power of awe. “And there are some new experiments coming out now that seem to indicate when we experience awe in the presence of someone else, many pathways in our nervous systems kind of align. And that may be, one of the ways through which we end up kind of feeling connected to each other. So I do actually recommend trying to experience awe with other people.”

🎧 In an attempt to ready myself for Mt. Joy at Red Rocks on Thursday, 8/17, I was ripping this live recording from their 2021 Red Rocks show. I can hands down say they were the best show I saw at Red Rocks all of 2022

🎙️ Yet again, I’m plugging Katie’s work. This episode of the Money with Katie show featuring Jessica Defino about the Hot Girl Hamster Wheel is just…. chefs kiss

This edition kinda turned into a heater, eh? If you need me, I’m (hopefully) on a kayak somewhere in the middle of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Don’t txt!

- McCall 🌻

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