We’re preparing for a hurricane headed toward New Orleans right now, and if you’re from a non-hurricaney place, let me tell you something about hurricane prep: It’s very boring. You’d assume that maybe there’s a little drama or big sense of purpose, but you’d be wrong. It’s just buying groceries and getting gas and putting away outdoor furniture. You know what it is? It’s just being forced to do all your errands and chores at once.
That’s all I have to say today. I need to go figure out where I put the extra batteries. 😤
— Ashley
let me tell you about this book
Mmm mmm mmm, we love some juicy secrets.
I won’t even brush by them here because spoiling them for you would be an actual1 crime, but please know that they’re heartbreaking and dramatic and cringey and in at least one case very smdh. And while the many secrets of The Arsonsits’ City are enough on their own, what really makes them tasty is the way Hala Alyan unravels who knew what and when they knew it — each reveal more devastating than the last.
Here’s a bit of the publisher’s synopsis:
The Nasr family is spread across the globe—Beirut, Brooklyn, Austin, the California desert. A Syrian mother, a Lebanese father, and three American children: all have lived a life of migration. Still, they’ve always had their ancestral home in Beirut—a constant touchstone—and the complicated, messy family love that binds them. But following his father's recent death, Idris, the family's new patriarch, has decided to sell.
The decision brings the family to Beirut, where everyone unites against Idris in a fight to save the house.
“Across the globe” is more than a little bit of stretch and, more importantly, I didn’t feel like this was a book about a family uniting against its patriarch to save a house (though it’s not not about that). My read was more about identity — what it means to be a mother, a father, a daughter, a son, a sister, a brother, a husband, a wife, a friend, a lover, an artist, a queer woman. It’s about what it means to come from war-torn places and how your place of birth, religion, and money define your life within them. It’s about what it means to leave home and go back, and what home really is.
let me tell you about these cats
Please listen to this while you read.
Case #: X682193311
Date: 03/22/21
Status: OPEN
Local police dispatch received several calls in regards to vehicles idling in the 3000 block of Marais Street, New Orleans. Callers reported no driver or other person in sight and doors frequently left ajar. In three incidents, callers reported seeing “nothing but a couple of cats.” Responding officers were consistently unable to find a person on the scene or find the vehicle’s owner during the issuing investigation. One officer captured this image at the scene and texted it to his commanding officer: “just a couple of cats?”
Bureau agents initiated an investigation on 03/02/2021 following a call from a resident of the 3000 block of Marais Street. Caller reported that she went to a street-facing window in her home to see why a vehicle was idling outside. When she looked out the window she reports seeing a man crawling underneath the residence across the street via a hole in the foundation siding. In a follow-up interview on 03/03/2021, caller confirmed that it was the same residence and hole pictured in the attached officer’s cellphone photograph.
Further interviews conducted with neighbors on 03/03/2021 revealed no additional witnesses to corroborate the caller’s report, but several people interviewed reported hearing unusually loud purring. Agents repeatedly attempted to contact the owner of the residence in the photograph but were unsuccessful for several weeks. No incidents were reported in the area during this time period.
On 03/21/2021, agents were contacted by the original caller, who reported lights on inside the residence across the street and visible movement inside. Agents responded and were able to quietly approach the residence and locate a small gap in a curtain through which they could see inside. Agents observed 8 people sitting and standing in a small room. All of them were knitting and none seemed to speak or blink or make any other kind of movement. Through a doorway, a 9th person could be seen working over a stove. There was audible purring. Agents moved to the front of the residence and knocked on the door. There was no answer but the purring ceased. Agents were unable to force entry.
let me tell you about this matching set
When I say I’ve been on a hunt for a good matching set, I mean I have been prowling the internet for weeks like a dry-eyed assassin with a very dumb score to settle. I have a couple skirt-shirt sets but I’ve been itching for something a little more casual, with shorts or pants.
So anyway here we are.
This Zara set ran me about $56 in all, is very comfy, is a little orange, and has the bonus benefit of matching all the lime green stuff I just bought. In fact, I’m in something of an orange-and-lime-things spiral. (See also: nail polish purchases and a maybe futile hope that this set will be restocked in my size.) It’s hard to tell from the picture but the stitching pattern is very Fun Single Auntie In NoCal. My one complaint is that the collar is pretty wide and sits oddly on my shoulders, but maybe that’s more of a me-problem.
Anyway, matching sets are the new jumpsuits. Same basic idea, less getting naked to go to the bathroom.
made up