Happy Friday!
When this week began, I didn’t know what to say about Orlando or if I should say anything at all—because I’m not a member of the LGBT, Latino, or Muslim communities. Who cares if one more straight, white liberal feels sad about this?
Reading the victims’ obituaries and survivors’ accounts, it’s easy to feel helpless and jaded, like my country is going down the toilet. The massacre in Orlando is brutal evidence of twin plagues that will destroy the US if we let them: gun violence and hatred. To many of us, it’s obvious that more firearms, and fear, are not the way out of this mess.
As the week went on I realized, with the help of my LGBT co-workers, that my silence wasn’t just rendering me helpless, it was hurting them. What happened in Orlando wasn’t just an attack on their community—it was an affront to all of us. Regardless of race, religion, or sexual preference, plenty of Americans want a safe, inclusive, and loving society.
Now is the time to do something. There are simple, powerful ways to make a difference. The first step is saying you care.
Use books to immerse yourself in different communities—and share your favorites. Stories from worlds outside our own can be huge eye-openers, not to mention great reads. They also remind us how much of the human experience is universal.
LGBT summer reading. One of my favorite recent reads was Ali Smith’s 2014 novel, How to Be Both, which cleverly intertwines the story of a British girl named George in the 1960s, with that of Francesco, a fresco painter in Renaissance-era Italy. (I found it at Daunt Books’ magical Marylebone location in London.)
It didn’t occur to me that it might be categorized as LGBT fiction until Quartz’s Thu-Huong Ha compiled a short list of seminal books in the category in honor of Pride Month. The list proves no gender or sexual preference has cornered the market on “weird, soul-filling, heart-crushing, irrational love.” I would also recommend Man Alive, a true account by Quartz’s Thomas Page McBee that reads as smoothly as fiction.
Muslim summer reading. Fatema Mernissi’s Dreams of Trespass transported me inside the walls of mid-century Moroccan harem. Quartz’s Nushmia Khan suggests The Forty Rules of Love, which combines the story of Rumi—a spiritual leader of Islam, and one of the world’s most popular poets—with that of Ella Rubenstein, a Jewish housewife-turned-literary agent who lives in Massachusetts.
A feast to break the fast, aka iftar. We’re in the middle of Ramadan, a time for peaceful introspection, when observant Muslims fast every day between sunrise and sunset. As Quartz’s Aamna Mohdin points out, this year is especially challenging for those in the northernmost parts of the globe, where fasts can last for 20 hours, since Ramadan falls over the summer solstice.
Some savory and sweet treats from Turkey, Syria, and India to break the fast: rose lemonade, mango lassi, spinach and feta borek, red lentil soup, kibbeh, and dates, so many ways: chocolate-covered, pistacho-stuffed, and blended into shakes.
If you’re trying to get to Cuba “before it changes,” you’re too late. But it’s for the better, says Quartz’s Latin America reporter, Ana Campoy. Ana returned to Havana last month after having first visited the city in 2001. One of the first changes she noticed was that her mojito (that’s her stirrer below) had fresh mint this time—a luxury nowhere to be found 15 years ago.
Ana also reports that the transportation (Coco-taxis), food (guava pastries), and shopping (handprinted posters) are better, and that hope has replaced the frustration she remembered. For an audio visit with Havana’s entrepreneurs, check out the “Cuba Libre” episode of the Quartz’s podcast, Actuality.
“Fruitful monotony.” Resist the urge to over-schedule this summer! It’s okay to let your kids—and yourself—get bored sometimes.
According to psychoanalysts, that’s how we figure out what interests us.
Have a great weekend!
On Monday at 9pm EST, HBO will debut Suited, Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner’s new documentary about the founders and customers of the Brooklyn bespoke tailoring shop Bindle & Keep, which found a niche making suits for clients who are transgender or don’t conform to gender norms.
The trailer is a tear-jerker, and a reminder how powerful clothes are to forming our identities. Gendered fashion has always been pretty arbitrary: men used to be the ones in heels, and pink was considered the suitable shade for little boys.