Issue X: Parts Unknown: Vancouver
except all i've eaten is crafty
As of Monday and until the end of August, I will be in Vancouver. That’s in Canada! It’s been a crazy week so I have not had the time for my usual ventures, like deep diving into Bernadette Peters’ Breyers ad. Here’s some observations about my new temporary home:
Bikers have too many rights here.
Pedestrians have too many rights here. Turning takes forever if you’re behind a doormat Canadian driver (unlike me, who is ready and willing to play chicken with them).
Kombucha is hard to come by.
I don’t think I’ve seen a single cop. It’s nice!
I have seen dozens of crows. A story- I saw an adolescent crow trapped in a corner of my building’s rooftop garden and struggling to fly back up. He would have figured it out eventually, but I felt so bad watching him fail over and over so I came over to help. I’m getting lots of caws from a crow nearby. I yell back “I’m trying to help!” He stops cawing. I know crows are smart and assume he’s understood I mean well. I step forward, trying to offer my arm as a stepstool. Crow is cawing again, definitely at me. I walk away and start to look for a stick or something for my friend, and the crow swoops down on me, cawing at me, and literally chases me around the garden and back into the building.
and finally a video taken shortly before disaster….
good reads
Intelligencer | ‘They Slave Us’: Prison Workers on Life Behind Bars by Nia Prater
“Every time somebody stops at a stop sign. Every time somebody stops at a yield sign. Every time someone looks at a highway sign. Anytime you’re looking at the majority of signs that are anywhere, those are made by the blood, sweat, and tears of people that are housed at the Department of Corrections and they’re working for Corcraft industries.”
Vulture | I Saw the TV Glow’s Ending Is Full of Hope, If You Want It to Be by Emily St. James
If you are a trans person, the ending is somehow both your worst nightmare (a life you have no agency over) and full of an immense, beautiful hope (because there is, despite it all, still time).
Despite My Efforts Even My Prayers Have Turned into Threats by Kaveh Akbar
Will his goodness roll over to my tab and if yes, how soon?
We Need Congestion Pricing, and Kathy Hochul Blew It by Justin Davidson
“If that happens, New York will have squandered its best shot at remaining a world-class metropolis.” That’s precisely what’s happening now, not because the MTA is botching the job, but because Hochul and a few other politicians panicked
SEEN/READ
05/31
06/01 GILMORE GIRLS
06/02
06/03 MADAME WEB, HAIRSPRAY
06/04 Moby Dick
06/05 Wicked
06/06 THE GREAT
letter to the editor - issue x: 1999 is another land
Hey Gabby!
Anything else for the HeadleyHeads?
Sincerely,
Head HeadleyHead Horacio
Hello!
I do have a heads up for you- a recording of the 2001 Dreamgirls live concert with Lillias White, Audra McDonald, and Heather Headley is on Spotify!!! This can’t have always been the case, I’m sure of it, as someone who’s been down the “Appears On” section of Headley’s Spotify page more than once.
Hard to Say Good-bye,
Gabby