Books & bras, reasons to learn a language, and American photographer Nan Goldin

The Week That Was

Nov 04, 2024

‘The Week That Was’ is a free weekly newsletter that includes a selection of things on my mind (books, art, culture, slow life(style), global affairs, learnings, travel, etc.) as well as articles and podcasts I enjoyed during the week, an album of the week, and other recommendations. If you enjoy these topics, consider becoming a paid subscriber. For $5 a month, you can access the rest of the We, Renaissance Women content, including my monthly book round-up, travel guides, life(style) essays and interviews, and the country bulletin series.

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1. Bra Fittings & Time in Nature

My birthday week officially came to an end this afternoon as my boyfriend and I returned from our weekend getaway to a Postcard Cabin in Barber Creek, Michigan. It was a lovely weekend in nature, complete with a two-hour hike along the beach in the sunshine, time spent in Saugatuck, bonfires, and reading in a comfy bed with a huge window surrounded by trees. I’m going to write a whole post about the experience soon, but, long story short, I loved it.

Earlier in the week, I went for a birthday dinner with friends at the Ralph Lauren restaurant on Michigan Ave. I’m rarely in the area, so I always forget about the restaurant/coffee shop, which is (unsurprisingly) perfect.

As I was in the area, I did a very grown-up lady thing and booked an appointment for bra measurements at Nordstrom. To no one’s surprise, I was wearing the wrong size, and I rectified the issue on the spot with some Simone Perele. The whole experience was quick and actually quite fun, so I’m unsure why I postponed for so long.

And (because I am now such a grown-up lady), in addition to proper-fitting bras, my birthday gifts to myself were a pair of comfy slippers and a Le Creuset honey pot with dipper. I’m wild.

This week, I published 32 life thoughts for 32! You can have a read of it here.

32 Thoughts For 32

Jennifer Heyside

Oct 31

Hello! It is me back again, but this time I am…DRUM ROLL…32 years old. Woah, where have the years gone? I like the literal sound of this number, though, which has to mean something, right? Regardless, there is no negativity about welcoming a new year around here. Every October 28th, I will be thrilled to welcome another year of life.

Read full story

2. Secondhand Birthday Books

I would not be properly celebrating my birthday without some additions to my bookshelves. One evening, I looked at my ever-growing ThriftBooks wishlist (my favorite online secondhand book store) and selected four books from my interests: women’s history, social innovation, classics of women’s literature, and women’s travel writing.

Women’s Work: The First 20,000 Years by Elizabeth Wayland Barber. A history book illuminating the vital role women held in pre-industrial societies specifically focused on their work with fabrics and textiles.
Lean Impact: How to Innovate for Radically Greater Social Good by Ann Mei Chang. Outlines ways to infuse innovation techniques learned from the private start-up sector into sectors traditionally working to make societal change.
Plum Bun: A Novel Without a Moral by Jessie Redmon Fauset. First published in 1928 and considered an important contribution to the Harlem Renaissance, this novel is about a young Black woman's journey toward self-acceptance while passing as white in 1920s New York City.
The Illustrated Virago Book of Women Travellers, edited by Mary Morris. Celebrates 300 years of female wanderlust and the theme of escape with writings by 47 women travellers, including Mary Wollstonecraft on Scandinavia, Edith Wharton on Marrakech, and Willa Cather on Le Lavandou.

During our time in Michigan, we visited The Book Nook of Saugatuck, which always has a small but eclectic selection of secondhand coffee table books from the elegant homes of the neighbourhood. Last year, I purchased a vintage Laura Ashley interior decor book, and this year, I found Mario Buatta: Fifty Years of American Interior Decoration, which celebrates the decades-long career of interior designer Mario Buatta.

Mario is known for reinventing the “English Country House” style for Americans, and the (large) book is filled with outrageously stunning rooms. The colours! The prints! The antiques! I am looking forward to many cozy Sunday afternoons flipping through these homes.

3. Women Artist: Nan Goldin

*Self-portrait with milagro, The Lodge, Belmont, MA* by Nan Goldin, via The Guggenheim

It’s been a few weeks since we last discussed a female artist, so today, let’s focus on the American photographer Nan Goldin.

Born in 1953 in Silver Spring, Maryland, near Washington, D.C, Goldin became known for her black-and-white photographs of her friends at The Other Side, a drag bar in Boston, in her words, “to pay homage” to those whose “third gender . . . made more sense than either of the other two.”

*Ivy wearing a fall, Boston* by Nan Goldin via The Guggenheim

After graduating from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Goldin moved to NYC, where she began photographing the post-punk new-wave music scene, the city's vibrant, post-Stonewall gay subculture of the late 1970s and early 1980s, and the heroin subculture of the Bowery neighborhood. These subjects led to her most famous work, The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, a 1985 slide show exhibition consisting of over 700 images taken between 1979 and 1986.

In her foreword to the exhibit book, she describes it as a "diary [she] lets people read" of her "tribe."

“My work has been about making a record of my life that no one can revise.”

See more of her works here.

*Trixie on the Cot, New York City*, 1979 by Nan Goldin via MOMA

In addition to her art, activism within her community has played a large role in her life. In the late 1980s, she was heavily involved in activism around the AIDS crisis. Then, in 2017, after her addiction to Oxycontin and near-fatal overdose of fentanyl, she founded the advocacy group P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now) to hold the art community accountable for its collaboration with the Sackler family of Purdue Pharma.

You can read more about this work in this article.

While researching Nan, I realized that a couple of years ago, an Oscar-nominated biographical documentary about her and her life was released, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022), which I plan to watch this week!

4. Vote and breathe…

Vote and breathe. I’m nervous…please, please, please, Kamala win.

5. Why We Should Learn Other Languages

For many people, learning another language is one of those hobbies/goals that they would like to do but often have trouble actually doing—especially as they get older. As I continue on my language-learning journey, I have been thinking a lot about why we study languages and the intrinsic benefits that come from the practice, even if we are nowhere near fluent.

Personally, I just find it a lot of fun. Peeling back the words and grammatical structures awakens my childish wonder, and there is such a sense of accomplishment when you are able to express yourself a little bit more than you were a month ago. It’s undoubtedly a challenge, which I also enjoy, and I am motivated by the idea of being able to read books in their original words and speak the local language when travelling.

I also find that learning a language helps you gain insight into different ways of thinking and requires understanding nuances and cultural context. All of which are positive muscles that we should be continually exercizing. Studies also show that learning a new language improves memory, problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and overall enhanced brain health.

In other words, language learning offers a rewarding journey of personal and intellectual growth, which is why I continue to chip away at it.