10 things of interest #17
culture essays, tv recommends, and that one cookie recipe
Hello and welcome to episode #17 of 10 Things of Interest!
For the new readers who have joined On the Verge this month, welcome welcome, please wipe your feet at the door, we don’t like muddy shoes in this house. Grab a cup of tea and a complimentary snack.
To satiate my obsession with lists, at the end of each month, I do a round-up of things that have tickled me, brought me to tears, or intrigued my curious little heart. You’ll find work from other writers on Substack, culture pieces, recipes, TV shows, and books.
Let’s dive in shall we?
Sharper on Apple TV — Intriguing twists and turns, and at a plot twist, I yelled “What the fuck!” at the TV. The simple description of it teases a plot that keeps you on your toes: “Motivations are suspect and expectations are turned upside down as a con artist takes on Manhattan billionaires.”
In a trend-setting, buy-on-demand society, I love
’s frankness in “Buying clothes won’t make you fashionable.” She highlights that “personal style is a lifelong project” and provides two simple ways to break through that habit: channelling restraint and ensuring repetition.I started this thread on hosting a BYOC (Bring Your Own Cookie) party and Megan from
said she’d bring Italian ricotta Christmas cookies. She kindly provided a recipe which I couldn’t resist adding to my list of things to bake this season.In her essay, “my modern love essay changed my life,”
reflects on the unpredictable journey of becoming a writer, from early years of bad writing, multiple rejections, and failed historical novels to finally getting a breakthrough with a essay published in The New York Times' Modern Love column. She concedes that “maybe this is what it is to be a writer—subjected to the whims of fate and randomness and stupidity and luck. Or simply what it is to be alive.”I just stumbled upon
Substack: Receipts from a Bookshop. I’ve loved reading her comedic and bubbly energy while she reflects upon running her Bookshop, Storytellers, Inc.- shares how she honoured her mother in a service, incorporating heartfelt tributes from family, friends, and even fans who were touched by her humour and strength. It was so beautifully done, and I can’t imagine the depth of that loss. She writes in her introduction: “What is most important is keeping their spirit alive with the type of send-off they would appreciate whether that be religious or secular, sombre or silly.”
In “Why Can’t I Access the Word ‘Woman’?”
dissects how modern culture has expanded “girlhood” with trends like “girl dinner” and “hot girl walk,” which often feel fleeting and consumer-driven. Instead, she opens up the reader to a more playful, less serious self-image of “womanhood” that avoids the perceived heaviness - highlighting that there’s space to redefine it in a way that merges strength, self-assurance, and playfulness while resisting societal expectations for defining us as the inferior sex.I’ve become obsessed with Freewrite. It’s a digital typewriter designed as a “distraction-free drafting tool for focused writing.” If I had what my fiancé and I call “silly money” — money we can throw away on anything, I think I’d like to invest in one of these.
- guest published on SmallStack and in her piece, “Enough to be happy,” she explores how modern life, with its overwhelming demands and constant push for more, detracts from genuine fulfilment, leaving us disconnected from the values that truly matter. She grapples with the question of determining “What is enough?” and considers the possibility that “the only thing standing between me and enough to be happy is, in fact… me?”
One of my favourite things to read is a good critical analysis of current popular trends. Despite my sensitivity to such things, I unfortunately tend to buy into them very easily — you could genuinely market me anything and I’d probably fall into the trap of wanting it — so when I get to read these think pieces, it tends to give me a fresh perspective on something that I would normally not think twice about.
is one such writer, giving a great dissection of the Pilates culture in, “The Body Pilates con.”
So many good recs! Mikala's and Haili's pieces look right up my alley
okay so Freewrite is PRETTY COOOOOL!!!