Bring out your mittens + some links

• It’s getting mitten-y in here! Below are the pairs that have arrived since my last newsletter request.¹ If you’ve knitted some mittens, please send ‘em on.

  

  I’m keeping the rest of this short so that I can get this back on the knitters’ radar before the deadline. So — links:

• The Mom Tribe can be a force for good. FWIW: I’ve held many a stranger’s baby or diaper bag or stroller or whatever² because I know how stressful it can be to juggle all of that. Plus being a helpful human means we can all move along more efficiently. Kindness and speed!

• Rats’ nests are underrated archives.³

• Rebecca Onion, a very good writer, attempts to unpack guns, American culture, and dudes.⁴

• Even though the host’s ASMR-adjacent voice drives me a little bit bananas, this Criminal podcast captures just how wild the Oneida Community was.

Hope your August is pleasant enough, y’all. Carry on.

1. Short recap: I’m collecting human-sized and made from wool mittens that will be sent to Ukraine. The deadline to get them to me is August 28. My address is 41 Cedar St., Oneonta, NY 13820.

2. Being a middle-aged white woman helps strangers trust me. I know this and use this power (mostly) responsibly.

3. There is a growing field of nest study, as it turns out. I wonder what historic treasures are in my Older Kid’s room...

4. Teaser quote: But for those on the outside, they can sound a bit more like tales told by a sauced guy who won’t leave you alone at the bar. Then again, Field Ethos—a magazine that printed an essay that approvingly described an old codger as having a “ten-apology punch card from metoo.org”—will probably love the fact that I said that.