PIGEONS ARE FINALLY GETTING THE RESPECT THEY DESERVE
and i tried the new italian restaurant in bed-stuy
Happy Wednesday. Today’s letter looks back in time: 2002 Tegan + Sara, 2014 sex work advocacy, and 1979 Carrier Pigeons!
WHAT I’M INTO
Press Play: “Not Tonight” by Tegan + Sara
This is one of Tegan + Sara’s lesser-known songs, which later lent its name to the twin duo’s Not Tonight 2024 tour. They’re Canadian! Their music (especially tracks from So Jealous and If It Was You) transports me back to my high school playlists, yet still feels fresh.
Sara found inspiration in The Hotel New Hampshire to write “Not Tonight,” saying she was thinking about one of the characters in the story when she wrote this and “Terrible Storm.” At times, the string arrangements in "Not Tonight" evoke the early sounds of Vampire Weekend.
In the back of your car, I’ve traveled nowhere…
Borrow from your public library: Playing the Whore: The Work of Sex Work by Melissa Gira Grant
Did you know that most legislation meant to protect sex workers ignores the sex worker's voice? Two Saturdays ago, lit by the late afternoon sun and caustic light from the pool, a friend dried off on an Adirondack chair. He mused aloud about whether sex work would be decriminalized before the tech industry could produce a near-human sex robot. Two of us concluded that technology always seems to outpace government, but one held out hope for decriminalization coming first.
The conversation reminded me that this book was on my summer reading list. Melissa Gira Grant is a journalist who worked as an OG webcam girl to subsidize her writing career. We tend to expect memoirs from people who have ever identified as sex workers, but the book is not about her. In challenging that expectation, Gira Grant highlights our voyeuristic tendencies. She writes with tenacity, curiosity, and a critical eye on the politics and economics of sex work, dismantling myths and highlighting how the “whore stigma” perpetuates violence against sex workers. And packs it all up in an accessible 140-page book.
Anti-algorithm news: Before email + cell phones, foreign correspondents used carrier pigeons to deliver news by Alan Cowell (Air Mail)
I cry about two things every month: Leika the dog and how we treat pigeons. Anyone who knows me knows this. We domesticated pigeons. We gave them important jobs. Then we tossed them to the street and dubbed them flying rats. You could scoop a pigeon off the street, deworm it, and have a pet. I’m this close to doing it.
Which is why I loved this author’s reflection on carrier pigeons. Cowell was the last Reuters correspondent to use them. Reporting from a remote area in Zimbabwe, he had to use pigeons trained to fly to Bulawayo to deliver news that would then be transmitted to Reuters. They didn’t like to fly alone (who does?). He describes sending the birds off with a kiss,
Then, deftly restraining the pigeon’s legs between index and middle fingers, with a thumb over those straining wings, you planted a tender peck on the bird’s head and, with two hands, tossed it aloft.
Pigeons are getting the rat PR treatment. It started in 2022, with the JW Anderson Pigeon Clutch. Thom Browne introduced pigeon couture in 2023. That same summer, an influencer rescued a pigeon and now takes her for martinis and errands. Last week, SDM informed me that OnlyNY is selling a cast iron pigeon for your office. Caroline Calloway wants to rescue a pigeon. Long live pigeons.
Also! A follow-up and update from last week’s anti-algorithm news! Ballerina Farm have published their version of events, which we can accept as their truth. I have edited last week’s anti-algorithm section to reflect that Hannah and Daniel felt judged and like Agnew had an agenda. Agnew also published a follow-up. Given the new information, I apologize for assuming Agnew did not come with ulterior motives. The rest of my assessment holds.
WHAT I’M GRATEFUL FOR
Living on the coast: I don’t think I could be happy in a land-locked city, because I was born and raised by the sea. Whenever the weather’s nice and I have more than 3 free hours, you can find me at the beach. I spent the afternoon at Arverne-by-the-sea on Monday, ate a grilled chicken super burrito, and then worked from Local’s until it was time to go home. A perfect start to the week.
Grilled halloumi: I always forget I love grilled halloumi until I see it on the menu somewhere, and then I eat it twice a week until I forget about it again.
Pool parties: The only thing better than living near a beach is living near the beach and near a friend with a pool (or having your own pool, but that’s never been my life so I can’t speak to it).
WHAT I’M UP TO