Hello, again.
On the exodus from Meta, my 2024 reads, convincing you to cook beets, and sustainable activism
With Meta stopping fact-checking and a clear player in the “broligarchy,” the drive to move away from their platforms is real. Yet, I can’t bring myself to completely divest, for personal and communal reasons. I love knowing what’s going on with my friends’ lives and what matters to them, and there really is no competing option for that, save the annual holiday letter and remembering to text now and then. Secondly, Meta platforms continue to be a rich, timely resource for organizing information and mutual aid (especially hyperlocally). I follow many organizations and activists — both in NYC and more broadly — and that’s where a lot of info is disseminated. Plus (as has been bemoaned by many people over many years), nothing compares to Facebook Groups. I’m in several, both for neighborhoodly advice/assistance and for secondhand buy-sell-trade. All of this adds up to a full unplug feeling like it would be more net negative for me than for Meta, at least right now. Don’t get me wrong — I’d love to have a hard and fast rule against giving my money and attention to shady billionaires — but at this moment, it’s a trade-off I’m going to make given the benefits I see for my own community and connectivity. Meta’s frustrating business choices don’t get to isolate me from those I love and causes I care about.
That was a very long-winded way of saying that I’m not planning on divesting entirely from Instagram & Facebook. I do plan on transitioning from Threads to BlueSky (find me at hollyd.bsky.social) and resurrecting this newsletter, From Holly. It feels like the digital, more regular version of a holiday card coupled with a blog. It may not stick strictly to my usual format (books, recipes, miscellany) and may include some more musings like those above. But on the whole, I am still me, and I still like to talk about books and food and slow fashion and sunsets and ways we can be part of making the world more just and kind.
Thanks for being here,
Holly
Bookshelf
Having a baby really messes with your reading cadence. I am far from the first person to have that realization, but oof. 2024 was the first year in many that I didn’t meet my reading goal, but effectively managed to read my book club selections and about 500 board books. I haven’t been nearly as disciplined with reviewing on Instagram, but I have been keeping my Bookshop lists updated. Perhaps I’ll start doing bite-sized reviews there until I can find my rhythm again with my @fromhollysbookshelf page.
2024 Notable Reads
The Mistborn Series by Brandon Sanderson
A friend recommended this fantasy series to me and I listened to all 80 hours in January during those foggy newborn days after our son was born. I have enjoyed fantasy on and off since reading The Hobbit as a kid, but it had been a long time since I’d picked up a new series. I thoroughly enjoyed Mistborn and have since passed on the recommendation to several people. The setup is compelling and not too complex, so it’s easy enough to follow without feeling simplistic. Plus, the magic system is really unique and very thought-through.
The Broadcast 41: Women and the Anti-Communist Blacklist by Carol A. Stabile
First, a caveat: this book unfortunately falls into the category that regularly needles me, aka misleading subtitle. The book does focus on the women in Hollywood who were targeted by McCarthyism, but it feels fairly surface-level/incomplete in that area. What it does do well is lay bare the state-level pernicious strategies used to discredit people in an age of fear. I learned a lot about the McCarthy era that I didn’t previously know (e.g. the FBI coordinated with Hollywood to encourage police procedural dramas to positively influence public opinion). In my opinion, this book is an excellent companion/follow-up to When Women Invented Television by Jennifer Armstrong (which I strongly recommend!). The Broadcast 41 is also upsettingly relevant in our current moment of surveillance and fabricated moral hysteria.
Interesting Facts about Space by Emily Austin
The sophomore novel from Emily Austin (who wrote my beloved Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead), this quirky, honest story follows a true-crime obsessed space nerd with a crippling fear of bald men. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and it’s a little lighter than Everyone in This Room, although it does still touch on mental health and social awkwardness. It didn’t quite live up to my love for her first novel, I think I’ll be hard-pressed to read a book from Emily Austin I don’t related to & enjoy.
Radiant: The Dancer, The Scientist, and a Friendship Forged in Light by Liz Heinecke
Pretty confident that this was my favorite Show Me The Women selection of 2024. An entrancing story that reads like a novel, Radiant explores the friendship between Marie Curie & Loïe Fuller, catalyzed by the element for which Curie is known: radium. I wrote a full review on my bookstagram page, but in short, I was deeply moved by their collaboration, mutual respect, and individual contributions to science & the arts. This is one of those special nonfiction accounts that I think would appeal to folks who typically prefer fiction!
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
I didn’t get to read a whole lot of fiction last year, but of what I did, McBride’s novel stands out. As I wrote in my bookstagram review, reading Heaven & Earth felt like sitting fireside with a bunch of neighborhood elders who are recounting long-ago stories with dramatic flair and blurry edges between truth and folklore. Set in the 1920s in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, the book outlines the events leading up a crime that is hinted at in the book’s opening. However, the story’s richness comes from the varied cast of characters that reflect the neighborhood’s shifting demographics and cultural norms, specifically the hesitant camaraderie between the Black and Jewish residents skirting the normative white, Christian society that surrounds.
Money, Power, Respect: How Women in Sports Are Shaping the Future of Feminism by Macaela MacKenzie
I picked this read to coincide with the Paris Olympics, and I wasn’t disappointed! MacKenzie delivers a compelling, thorough, enjoyable account of the ways that women’s sports reflect our cultural narratives around gender. She illustrates the disparities in the ways we treat women athletes (compared to their male counterparts), but even more importantly, she covers the inspiring group efforts orchestrated to address these inequities over the years. I’d suggest this title to anyone interested in gender dynamics and sexism (including effective organizing strategies!), regardless of your interest in sports.
Agatha of Little Neon by Claire Luchette
My first exposure to this book was a review shared by one of my favorite bookstagrammers (Cheryl, @librarian.in.the.woods); we tend to align on taste, and she had such good things to say. Agatha of Little Neon is a quiet, subversive, empathetic story about a group of modern-day Catholic sisters who are reassigned to a halfway house called Little Neon in Rhode Island when their parish in upstate New York shutters the daycare where they work. Agatha is one of the sisters, and the book reads almost like her journal, but isn’t structured in the traditional “Dear Diary” + date format. Agatha is both naive & discerning, trying to reconcile her sincere calling to serve God and the ways that the Church lets people down. This book made me laugh and made me cry. It wouldn’t be a great fit for people who need a propulsive plot or tidy endings, but if you are someone who enjoys ruminative, quotidian literary fiction that explores the complexity of the human experience, I would heartily recommend.
The Equivalents: A Story of Art, Female Friendship, and Liberation in the 1960s by Maggie Doherty
Holy moly, this book was interesting. The Equivalents deep-dives on a group of women who were part of the inaugural class of fellows at the Radcliffe Institute for Independent Study. The Institute was devised in an effort to reach women for whom motherhood had curtailed their artistic pursuits. They mostly sought women who had PhDs in their field, but a subset were admitted thanks to “equivalent artistic achievement.” At the center of the group is the poet Anne Sexton, and author Maggie Doherty spends much of the book examining Sexton’s intense friendship with fellow Equivalent Maxine Kumin. The entire account is written with conscientious scholarship based on recovered correspondence and transcripts. I was truly enthralled by the ins and outs of these women’s relationships as well as the boldness — and relative success — of the Radcliffe Institute’s experiment (giving artists a “room of one’s own”, and some funding).
*Note: Links listed above are to Bookshop, where I'm an affiliate. I make a small commission off any purchases using those links, and Bookshop uses its profits to support local bookstores. If you have a favorite indie shop, please purchase from them instead!
Kitchen
I have certainly mentioned this before, but Ruby Tandoh’s Cook As You Are is just phenomenal and you should get it. Not only are the recipes wonderful, but the tone of the book is so approachable and kind, with tips, tricks, and permissions all over it. I’ve lost track of the number of people I’ve gifted it to as this point.
Below is the Earthy Beet & Lentil Stew recipe from that collection. And before you skip ahead because you dislike beets or find lentils boring, I beg you to give this a try (or, as Ruby writes, “I would really encourage you beet-skeptics to give it a try. You can leave them out or replace with grated carrot if you’re absolutely adamant that you won’t like it. I won’t be angry, just disappointed.”) It’s delicious and hearty and not hard to make. We fondly call it “Vampire Stew” because the beet color combined with baby-led weaning makes our little guy look, well, like a vampire.
Earthy, Smokey Lentil & Beet Stew
From Ruby Tandoh’s Cook As You Are | Serves 4
Ingredients
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 medium onions, finely diced
• 9 oz fresh beets (~ 1 bunch)
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed or finely grated
• 1.5 tsp smoked paprika
• 1.5 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp oregano
• 0.5+ tsp chili powder (to taste)
• 2/3 cup (125 g) dried French green lentils
• 1 x 14-oz can chopped tomatoes
• 1 x 14-oz can red kidney beans, drained
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce or tamari
• 2 tsp cocoa powder
Directions
Heat the oil in a large, deep pot over medium-low heat. Add the diced onion and a pinch of salt. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure they don’t stick & burn. The onions should soften and become translucent.
Meanwhile, prepare the beets. Wash and trim off the roots & stems, then grate. Note from Holly: if you have a food processor with a grater attachment, use it! If you like, you can use the beet leaves, too. Wash them well, roughly chop, then add to the stew with about 5 minutes left on the cook time.
Add the grated beets to the onions, stir to combine, then cover. Let the veggies sweat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the garlic, paprika, cumin, oregano, and chili powder. Stir well, and cook for 1-2 minutes, until the garlic has lost its raw pungency and the spices start to become fragrant. Then, add the lentils, canned tomatoes (with liquid), red kidney beans, soy sauce, and cocoa powder. Stir to combine, then add 2.5 cups of water and bring to a simmer. Cook for 25 minutes, partially covered. Stir regularly to make sure the lentils don’t stick. If it starts to dry out (it will sputter and puff rather than quietly bubbling), add a splash more water. When it’s ready, the beets and lentils should be tender.
Add salt to taste & serve warm.
Note from Holly: we usually serve over rice, with a dollop of sour cream and a side of naan.
Miscellany
In previous iterations of this newsletter, this section has been mostly randomness & whimsy, a place to share some of my other interests, with the occasional activism sprinkled in. While I am not going to commit to one format forever, I have a very strong feeling this will fall much more in the activism category for the foreseeable future. That said, I promise to still incorporate fun and joy (after all, it’s kinda key to fighting hopelessness).
There’s a company based out of LA called SUAY that is committed to curbing fashion waste. In the wake of overwhelming amounts of textile donations that followed the devastating fires, they announced their intention to keep the excess out of landfills, processing it for repurposing & resale (or meaningfully recycling when needed). You can sponsor a bag for $20. Fast fashion and over-consuption are huge global issues, and SUAY’s efforts will make a difference even once LA has recovered from the first and those initial donations are processed. Did you know that just a few weeks before the wildfires in California, Kantamanto, the world’s largest clothing resale market had a massive fire? I suggest following The Or Foundation which covers the very real cost of our disposable attitude towards clothing and the ways it deeply impacts developing countries.
The world feels so heavy. Several of my favorite activists to follow (brittany packnett cunningham, Imani Perry, and Mariame Kaba) have all reiterated something along the same lines that is so wise: the constant onslaught of bad news is a strategy to leave us hopeless, overwhelmed, and numb. Pick 1-3 areas you care about, stay tuned to that news, and do what good you can. For me, the specific areas I’m focusing on are immigration/asylum, climate change, and freedom of information (library funding, book bans, state-controlled media outlets, etc). What areas are of particular concern to you?
In that same vein, I have been trying to hone my news sources and intake strategy. I get a lot out of following activists, journalists, and organizers, but also want to follow some news outlets. I’m currently giving Ground News a try, and also appreciate Gothamist (for local NYC news), ProPublica (for investigative journalism), and Democracy Now! (for international news). I’d love to hear your favorite channels & strategies.
Finally, consider following my friend Tammy’s new newsletter: Tammy’s Tidbits. She is a badass leader and overall thoughtful human. She founded She’s the First and co-wrote a book I deeply recommend (especially in this moment!) called Impact: A Step-by-Step Plan to Create the World You Want to Live In (Bookshop is backordered, but you can check your library or order directly from the publisher).
And, a few moments of delight to round things off: the Prince Rupert drop, a father-daughter hiking duo stops for dance breaks, and the spaghetti-tree hoax.
Lastly, I know that Substack has it’s own issues (Austin Channing Brown talked about her departure in this post), but I wasn’t ready to start a whole, new thing (see: low bandwidth). That said, I may move over to a different blog/mailing list service at some point, and if I do, I’ll just bring ya along. Just noting here so you aren’t surprised down the line if one of my updates comes from a new platform! See you in a few weeks.
With love,
Holly
