I’ve been having a hard time concentrating while reading the last few months. Though it’s undoubtedly directly related to my time spent on TikTok, I also know from past experience that the right book will have me reaching for my Kindle instead of my phone. And so, for better or worse, I let myself abandon three novels in a row, each at various stages of unfinished, so that I might find the one that would break this vicious screentime cycle. The winner? The Birthday Party by Laurent Mauvignier, a gripping literary thriller dense with long, recursive sentences and prose just complex enough to make me feel like I’m rehabilitating my broken attention span in the process. A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down—in book form.
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Inspired by the confusing but compulsively edible popcorn at Nitehawk Cinemas, a friend of mine got me into the idea of using citric acid on home-cooked dishes, like crispy salt and vinegar chip-inspired roast potatoes and dry marinades. If you’re feeling a little adventurous in the kitchen, give it a whirl. A one-pound bag costs less than $15 and can also apparently also be used to clean your grouting and descale appliances, should you run out of culinary ideas.
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Speaking of food and to celebrate the tail end of strawberry season, we’re offering 10% off Wyld’s best-selling Strawberry Calm Gummies through the rest of this weekend. I like to take one on Sunday afternoons—especially when I have what I like to call “a tight chest” and/or what you might know as the Sunday Scaries—but they offer a gentle, soothing high whenever you need it. Use code ############### at checkout.
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As someone who was raised Catholic, this post really spoke to me, but it’s an excellent lesson to keep in mind for any future “travels” regardless of your religious affiliation.
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Yesterday may have been Independence Day for America, but for the nearly two million people serving time in our nation’s jails and prisons, it surely felt like anything but. Over the last 50 years, the incarceration rate in this country has grown over 500%, and though there has been some decrease in the past few years, an incredible one in four women—and one in two Black women—have an imprisoned family member. These women are often the sole support system for both their incarcerated loved ones and those that rely on them outside of the system. We’ve worked with a few nonprofits and groups that touch on this topic, such as the Women’s Prison Association and National Bail Out, but I want to highlight an organization we have yet to partner with: the Oakland-based Essie Justice Group. The nation’s “leading organization of women with incarcerated loved ones taking on the rampant injustices created by mass incarceration” has a new collaboration with For Everyone Collective, a great second chance company we’ve also recommended here before. Designed and printed by formerly incarcerated people, $4 from every tee purchased goes toward supporting the Essie Justice Group’s mission. The shirt comes in both a classic style in white and a yellow crop top version that I wish was not cropped because that’s the one I’d buy, but I’m not currently looking to liberate my stomach for everyone to see.
-DW
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Independence isn’t quite as simple as being released from prison. Finding a job, a home, a place in the world—these are all difficult things to do generally, but exponentially more so with a criminal record. The high rate of recidivism is due in no small part to the lack of opportunities given to the formerly incarcerated, as well as the lack of training they receive while behind bars. But a workplace development course called Bike Path run by the nonprofit Bike New York is helping get men and women back on their feet and on their way in life. According to this Gothamist article by Arun Venugopal, the three-week course, which launched in 2019, helps the formerly incarcerated get certified as bike mechanics. And “thanks to the steady growth of the Citi Bike program across the five boroughs, the program boasts a nearly 100% job placement rate.” I’ll say that again: 100% job placement rate. That’s incredible, especially considering the unemployment rate for those who’ve been in prison is said to be around 60%. I always knew that expanding biking in cities was good for the environment and for the people, but I never considered how it could also serve as a chance for successful reintegration back into society.
-DW
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Lastly, for a slightly different angle into all this, I feel like the news of Trump appointing a formerly incarcerated individual as the new Deputy Director of the Bureau of Prisons barely got noticed amongst the sea of constant “big” news. Josh Smith, who spent five years behind bars for drug trafficking, is the founder of Fourth Purpose, a nonprofit dedicated to the supposed core part of the prison system that mostly gets ignored: rehabilitation. Smith was named to the Bureau of Prisons in early June and, frankly, a lot of people—from correction officers to those serving time—seemed not to know how to react to his appointment. From my humble vantage point, having someone who brings real-life experience to the management of the system is invaluable, and I very much hope for the best. There’s no question that the status quo wasn’t good enough, so hopefully this new blood can help bring some much-needed change.
-DW
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