“Who gets remembered — and how — inherently involves judgment. To look back at the obituary archives can, therefore, be a stark lesson in how society valued various achievements and achievers.
“Since 1851, The New York Times has published thousands of obituaries: of heads of state, opera singers, the inventor of Stove Top stuffing and the namer of the Slinky. The vast majority chronicled the lives of men, mostly white ones; even in the last two years, just over one in five of our subjects were female.”
One of my favorite things I read in honor of International Women’s Day yesterday was the introduction to The New York Times‘ new feature, “Overlooked,” where they started by adding 15 obituaries for women: “Charlotte Brontë wrote “Jane Eyre”; Emily Warren Roebling oversaw construction of the Brooklyn Bridge when her husband fell ill; Madhubala transfixed Bollywood; Ida B. Wells campaigned against lynching. Yet all of their deaths went unremarked in our pages, until now.” Others included in the fifteen were Diane Arbus, Nella Larson, Qiu Jin, Mary Ewing Outerbridge, Henrietta Lacks, Margaret Abbott, Ada Lovelace, and Sylvia Plath. It’s hard for me to imagine that these women’s deaths weren’t considered to warrant an obituary at the time.
The plan is to make Overlooked a regular part of the Obituaries page, eventually expanding the scope beyond women.
What notable things did you read this week? Here are some links I hope you’ll enjoy…
For months I’ve been eeking out the last dregs of the Le Labo Santal 33 shampoo I collected from the Parker Palm Springs. The smell made me so happy. I actually found that Target’s Kristin Ess brand shampoo is similarly pleasing (and cost a fraction) so I would alternate between the two and assumed I would eventually transition entirely.
But then, in a moment of weakness on the Nordstrom website, I put two other luxury shampoos in my cart: an Aesop Equalising Shampoo that has a wonderful Eucalyptus scent, and a Scrub Shampoo from Le Labo that makes me want to wash my hair all the time. I’m obsessed with it right now: it smells amazing (notes of basil) and my hair feels clean, but soft like I’ve used conditioner. It feels a little spa-like, a special treat. And who doesn’t love scooping goop from a jar?
The folks at West Coast Craft slid this into a gift bag and it’s straight out of an episode of Portlandia. I read the label aloud to Aron and had a hard time keeping a straight face. First, it has its own “harvest story”: “Wildharvested” (one word!) “in the Cascade Mountains of the Pacific Northwest.” And then there are the ingredients: “Saponified Organic Olive Oil, Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Jojoba Oil, and 100% wild-harvested fragrance,” which consists of tree pitch, fire-distilled herbs, steam distilled plant oils, and lichens. (Lichens!)
Well, hello there, mountain man who just rubbed on a little olive oil and lichens after that long, hard hike to collect some herbs in the Pacific Northwest.
But my goodness if it doesn’t smell amazing! Aron has expressed that he will feel a deep loss when it runs out. Who’s laughing now?
There’s also generally a neutral face wash nearby for me, a body scrub, and a razor.
Do you have any extravagances when it comes to your shower shelf? What are you using and loving?
Early last fall, we went in with a table of friends and bid on a cake at our school auction—it was a tall, decadent chocolate peanut butter cake with drippings down its sides. We couldn’t resist.
I’ve been wanting seconds ever since, but wondered if I could make the base even richer, without making the dessert too heavy. I also wanted a more petite dessert, better suited to a dinner party.
So for the cake, I used one of my favorite recipes from college. A friend brought back a “flourless” chocolate cake recipe from her year abroad in Bologna: Torta di Cioccolato (from Cucina d’Amore). It is at once light and rich, made from an aerated chocolate custard.
