Spring! It’s so close we could taste it this past weekend. I took a long walk from my house over the Brooklyn Bridge to baby Belle’s first birthday in Tribeca. Now my phone camera roll is an endless scroll of cherry blossoms, tiny green buds and purple crocuses (croci?) I hope wherever you are, you were able to get a good view of the worm moon rising.
Allison C. Meier who is behind the excellent newsletter NYC Microseasons writes: “The now-digital Old Farmer’s Almanac notes that the name can be traced back to the 1760s, when “Captain Jonathan Carver visited the Naudowessie (Dakota) and other Native American tribes” and reportedly recorded the Worm Moon name. As opposed to in Europe, where the names for the moon largely referenced the gods of Roman mythology, in North America, Indigenous people have long named the full moons in response to the seasons. ICT reports that the Diné name for the March full moon is “Wóózhch'ííd,” an onomatopoeia for the first screech of eaglets; the Oneida name is “The Day Is Cut in Two” for the even division of night and day; and among the Dakota names is “Sore Eyes Moon” for how the brightness of the snow exhausts vision.”
I did not know the connection between lipstick and bullets but the uncanny resemblance is… quite literally by design. In between the two world wars, factories made tubes for lipsticks instead of bullets in order to preserve their skills, since both techniques are remarkably similar. As artist Cindy Baker writes, “Bullet factory workers encouraged to wear lipstick. Free lipstick provided by cosmetics companies to bullet factory workers. Creation of demand for lipstick by newly-out-in-the-workforce women. Creation of demand for lipstick by women whose men have returned home and taken over their jobs. Bullet-shaped lipstick swivel tubes. Lipstick-shaped bullets. Women working in bullet factories. Men working in lipstick factories.”
Read about the 4B movement of South Korea, radically challenging the patriarchy in a country where the government has launched an online “National Birth Map” showing the number of women of reproductive age in each municipality. 4B is shorthand for four Korean words that all start with bi-, or “no”: bihon (no heterosexual marriage), bichulsan (no childbirth or child-rearing), biyeonae (no dating), and bisekseu (no heterosexual sex). Happy International Women’s Day!
I was so saddened by the passing of Judith “Judy” Heumann. She was a lion in the disability rights movement — fighting to become New York City’s first teacher in a wheelchair and eventually serving in the Clinton and Obama Administrations, spearheading the passage of major legislation. She had been a camper and counselor at Camp Jened, a summer camp for disabled people in the Catskills and was featured in the documentary, Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution. May her memory be a blessing.
Our beloved Clinton Hill Fort Greene Mutual Aid needs your help! From the last newsletter, “unfortunately, due to low funds, we must cut distributions from the Groceries & Essentials Fund by 50% this month. Whereas we are usually able to give $50 to a household of one and $100 to a household of two or more each month, March distributions will be $25 for a household of one, and $50 for a household of two or more.” If you would like to donate once or on a recurring basis, you can do so via ioby, Venmo (@bklynneighbors - last 4 digits are 1139), Paypal or Google Pay (bklynneighbors@gmail.com) or CashApp ($bklynneighbors).
Eli Lilly is capping the cost of its insulin, four long months after writer Sean Morrow’s fake tweet caused their stock price to plummet. The life-saving drug, which generations of my family have relied on to live, will still cost more in the U.S. than anywhere else in the world. Never forget, the scientists who discovered insulin over a hundred years ago sold the patent for one symbolic dollar — as inventor Sir Frederick Banting declared “insulin does not belong to me, it belongs to the world.”
Charlie Kaufman, the wild mind behind “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “Being John Malkovich”, was celebrated at the Writers Guild Awards and his speech was a scorcher. He quoted the poet Adrienne Rich, the first and only person to date to decline the prestigious National Medal of Arts in protest of government’s plan to end funding for the NEA. “Art means nothing if it simply decorates the dinner table of power which holds it hostage.” Words I’m keeping in my head as I dive into a rewrite this week on my next feature… and a writer’s strike looms ahead… The whole speech is below and well worth a watch.
Next week I’m planning a field trip with some friends to donate blood at the bank by me. This will the first time I’m finally allowed to give blood in the US since I grew up in Paris for over fifteen years. The FDA ended their rule last year that anyone who lived in France for five or more years between 1980 and 2001 couldn’t donate due to theoretical exposure to mad cow’s disease. New York City is almost out of blood right now and just declared its first "blood emergency" of 2023. If you’d like to join me, write back to this letter - the more, the merrier!
I leave you with my new favorite poem by Nicole Sealey, discovered via
's wonderful newsletter .Till next time,
ASK