Good morning!
This is Issue 71.2 of Digestable, your thrice-weekly mouthful of things happening in the world.
Today’s news, fermented:
First and foremost, ~a very happy birthday~ to our tarot queen Caro!
Secondly and aftmost, (??) some tidbits for the weekend.
A beautiful series of articles about living in cities full of toxic waste
One of a few Black farming communities in the midwest is fighting a gas pipeline that would run through their land
A new report puts forth even more evidence that we really really need to keep dirty energy in the ground
Harvard is finally! divesting from fossil fuels
Today, I woke up to a clear blue sky, not a cloud. It was cool and breezy. This, I think, is some of the most objectively beautiful weather—but at this time of year, it’s eerie, a mirror to the morning of tomorrow 20 years ago, waking up in Brooklyn.
Read more about how 9/11 impacted millenial Muslims, who look back on how the event shaped their lives.
Hoping you all feel held this weekend, just like a lobster in an undersea basket of sponges.
(via)
~Caro’s Tarot~
Hi friends! It’s been a minute since we’ve caught up. How are you? I’ve missed you! And I’ve missed my tarot deck too if I’m being honest…It’s been a busy summer. Is it me or did September suddenly sneak up on us? So yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve taken an intuitive temperature check. Between the energetic rush that the summer brings, and major life changes, I have neglected a useful companion, tool and resource: the cards.
Reflection and introspection only help us grow, help us learn from the past to inform the present to influence the future. Tarot coupled with journaling have helped me feel grounded during one of the most uncertain times we have experienced as a society. The first global pandemic in a century. Certainly a once in a lifetime disruption. The pandemic brought out grief, exhaustion, anger, frustration…but it also brought humility, gratitude, and appreciation. Tarot guided me through those tough moments, it guided me through major change.
It’s only fitting we meet again on the heels of big changes in my life. See, I have another confession…today is my 28th birthday! Wow 28 – seeing it written down doesn’t scare me as much as I thought it would. My return to tarot has coincided with a moment I feel is quite appropriate and well positioned for some reflection. And I’m bringing you along for the ride! Our reading today is going to focus on embracing change, asking questions with an open mind, and practicing being non-judgemental with ourselves and our past.
I am going to share three promptings for a three card spread you can do at home, but today we will draw a card for the first question only. I see the first question as being an inquisitive step towards change. OK here we go:
1. What are you ready to let go of in your life?
2. How do you find balance in your process of change?
3. What is the fire that drives your expansion?
4. BONUS: pull a card that signified guidance from your ancestors
OK so now, what are we collectively ready to let go of in order to make space for change?….
The Star — what a powerful card to receive on our first reading back! The Star tells us,
“Darkness has turned into light. The star is peaceful and content in her nudity, she has been born anew and became stronger from her trials. She is free and unburdened, not trying to balance or control anything, but is happily pouring her cups full of life, energy and love out into the world. The ibis, symbol of creativity and inspiration, flies high in the sky above her, and the stars shine brightly for her. Despair has turned to hope. Your wounds are healing, your scars are fading, so bask in this time of peace and serenity. You don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to, let yourself be free and accept these calm moments. The earth and everyone around you will rejuvenate you, comfort you and fill you with joy. You are a shining beacon of possibility, so dream big and wish on that shooting star.”
Wow y’all what a powerful response from the cards. In order to usher in a season of change, we will have gone through a process of emergence from a possibly tumultuous time. Either way, the path to change comes and starts with letting go of control. So lets embrace and accept the peace, balance, and the healing light of The Star.
*Hot Goss*
Brought to you by the superb Latifah Azlan.
In the last 48 hours, we've received a whole stack of baby announcements coming out of Famelandia so let's all send the heartiest of congratulations to Kylie Jenner, Olivia Munn, Alicia Vikander,and Jennifer Lawrence -- and their respective partners -- for all this good (some scandalous!) news!
I usually don't care for the Great Celebrity Baby Bump Watch but the advent of Tik Tok has really unleashed some masterful sleuthing among plebiean celebrity gossipers, and it's actually kind of both alarming and impressive how detailed some of these people are. For example, the rumors around Kylie's second pregnancy have swirled for a few months now. So most people who have been following KylieTok or KardashianTok closely weren't surprised by the news, which broke earlier this week through a video Kylie posted on her Instagram.
Basically, close Kardashian-Jenner observers noticed something was amiss in early August, around the time of Kylie's 24th birthday, which was uncharacteristically low-key and quiet compared to her usual celebrations. Knowing how famously secretive Kylie was with her first pregnancy, fans began suspecting that it could be the case that Kylie had something she was hiding, especially because most of the guests who attended the celebration did not post any photos of Kylie herself on the night of, although they did update their followers on how the birthday dinner unfolded. But the craziest thing to me about how closely Kylie's fans were watching her every move was deriving her pregnancy from tracking her nails. That's right folks, who knew that those plates of keratin found on the tips of your fingers could be the key to unravelling a secret closely guarded from the world?!
This theory first came up on Tik Tok through a video by Caroline Klein (@carolinecaresalot), who went viral about a month ago after uploading a video speculating that Kylie was pregnant after noticing irregularities around the nail art in photos Kylie was posting on her Instagram at the time. Caroline basically noticed that Kylie's manicures in the photos that were being uploaded to her Instagram were significantly different from the photos and videos that were posted on other people's accounts, including Kylie's older sister Kim Kardashian. This led the Tik Toker to conclude that the photos being posted on the celebrity's social media accounts were taken before she got pregnant, in order to throw fans off the scent.
This is the kind of celebrity watching that both scares and inspires me. I love the gossip enough to write a column about it three times a week but would i ever start taking notes on Kylie Jenner's nails or TimotheÉ Chalamet's hairline to see if something was going on? Doubtful. Also, if this is what people are able to achieve with an Instagram account and an iPhone, I shudder to think what the state of US surveillance programs and intelligence agencies will be in twenty years... a terrifying thought, tbh.