Notes on June
Summer mode, Dyke March scene report, bathroom reno, Val's updates!
Greetings <3 I’m writing from my sweltering hot kitchen in the middle of a heat wave that came on hard and fast, swearing that this time next year, I will have mini-splits to cool my house. This I vow!!
This month started off intense for me. I traveled to support a family member during a hard time, and then Clover and I attended a gorgeous wedding in Utah that crescendoed with a chain-reaction fainting event (the father of the bride fainted, which then caused two other people, including a friend of mine, to faint. Everyone was fine, but it was really really scary). Things settled down a bit once Clover and I returned home from our travels. In the last three weeks, I’ve gone swimming at the beach twice, the quarry once, a city pool twice, and the creek once. I’ve gone to John’s Water Ice for gelati 1,000 times already. Summer mode is here!!
Below are notes on grill-based dinners, an NYC Dyke March scene report, the dumb book I’m reading, Val’s Lesbian Bar updates, and more! For those who are new here: my girlfriend Clover and I are working to open a lesbian bar in Philly. If you want to know how it’s going, I’m afraid you’ll have to upgrade to paid! Shout out to everyone who upgraded to read my thoughts on Billie/Fletcher/JoJo boyfriend gossip - I hope you’ll stick around, especially because Clover and I going to be adding a new monthly audio feature for paid subscribers, hopefully next month! As a reminder, the income I make from this Substack goes toward our bar fund to open Val’s.
First, though:
-Let’s goooooo, Zohran Mamdani!!!! As someone who does not live in New York and is generally disillusioned with electoral politics, I was taken by surprise by how invested I got in the NYC mayoral Democratic primary race. I am so stoked that Mamdani won and am rooting for his big win in November. He really has a talent for talking policy: describing what he wants to do, why it’s a good idea, and how he will fund it, all in plain language that doesn’t imply that he thinks you’re an idiot. This is rare!! Mostly, I’m really grateful to be feeling any type of political hope in this moment. I hope that his campaign can provide a playbook for progressive mayoral candidates in other U.S. cities, and that we can get a rizzed-out socialist for mayor here in the greatest city in the world (Philly).
-NYC Dyke March Scene Report! (This is a New York Substack now [JK, never.]) This was my second year going to New York for Dyke March with a Philly crew, and it’s the most I’ve ever enjoyed any sort of Pride-y tradition. Here’s what we did this year, with my reviews: