Friday Bitch and Brag
A weekly post covering the good, bad, and freakin' ugly
My favorite teacher was my high school drama teacher, Ken Greenman. Mr. Greenman looked a lot like Mandy Patinkin: tall white guy with a full beard and glasses. He dedicated every Friday’s class to what he called Bitch and Brag. We’d all sit in a circle and each person had an opportunity to share something from the past week. You could complain or bitch about a problem, or you could brag about a personal achievement. Students were expected to respect the sanctity of the circle and not share anything that was said during that time outside of the room. I think we were also encouraged to only offer any advice or feedback if it was specifically requested; the idea was to have a safe space to share our feelings.
In thinking about how I want to use this Substack newsletter, I realized that a Friday Bitch & Brag would be an excellent addition: it can act as a roundup for the past week, with a few select items under both the Bitch and the Brag categories. I’ll keep these posts free for subscribers. So if you want to keep reading, click that Subscribe button.
Let’s circle up!
Bitch: On Thursday I kept seeing tweets about some rules or list, and once I had time to check, I found the reference – a list from The Cut, which is part of New York Magazine, of new rules that they created. Some of these rules are ones I agree with, such as it’s never too late to send condolences (#13), giving gifts when you feel inclined and not obligated (#21), accommodating those who continue to mask and social distance (#22), and always stripping the bed when you stay over at someone’s house (#77) - my mother INSISTED on this last one. But some – okay, a LOT - of their rules are bullshit and read like they were written by the intern who had to pick up the slack for all the associate editors who thought their Equinox workout was more important than arriving to work on time and providing actual mentorship and editing. This behemoth has 140 rules. 140! Even Moses knew to stop at ten.
Brag: I got myself the prettiest new electric toothbrush, a pink Philips Sonicare 4100. The last few years I have been dealing with dental drama and it has been anxiety inducing, stressful, and expensive, in that order. My friend Jodi Angel, who is a phenomenal writer with a novel coming out next month, posted on Facebook about her surprisingly good dentist visit after years of not going, and mentioned that she’s used Sonicare toothbrushes for years. I learned a long time ago to take Jodi’s advice when it comes to fiction writing, so why not on dental hygiene, too?
Bitch: My birthday is next week (February 8, to be exact) and ever since I hit my late 40s, I feel like my hot flashes go into overdrive in the weeks leading up to my birthday. As I told my cousins last night in our group text, it’s as if my hormones are saying, “Hey girl, your birthday’s coming up! Wanna party? We have lots of fireworks for you! Enjoy!” Fireworks are ILLEGAL here. Hard pass.
Brag: For a couple of years, I’ve been following Jeanna Kadlec on Twitter. She’s a writer and astrologer, and her content is relatable, fascinating, and amusing, sometimes all at once. Her Astrology for Writers newsletter, which focuses on using astrology as a tool to support both the creative and business side of writing, turns four this weekend and she’s running a sweet 50% off sale on annual subscriptions (regularly $50, now $25). I bought myself a subscription because it’s my birthday month, I love writing AND astrology (I’ve been studying astrology for 20+ years, and yes, I’ll write more about that another time), and I am on fire to get my novel REPPED and SOLD. The sale ends in a few days, so if working with astrology to make the most of your writing intrigues you, be sure to check it out.