Pour Me A Story, vol. 2
feat. Nitzan Bluvstein
greetings, pals! we’re back with the second edition of Pour Me A Story, the newsletter that allows me to shout some of your good news from the rooftops, if this was a rooftop in a city with a population of like 150.
ANYWAY. I’m super humbled by the response to last week’s inaugural edition and I’m glad to hear that folks enjoyed it. of course, what goes hand-in-hand with mild appreciation for a debut product? extreme panic about living up to expectations! behold, I extremely Went Through It on Twitter earlier this week.
in any case, the first word is always the hardest one to write, and we’re way past that, so let’s forge on. some positive stuff in brief from me this week:
yesterday The Baby celebrated her half-birthday. it’s somewhat unfathomable to think that she’s been out in the world (and that we’ve been parents) for six whole months — half a year! — and yet here we are. it’s just wild to watch human development take place before our very eyes. she’s a real goofball and loves to laugh, and is pretty good (knock on wood) at sleeping through the night, so it’s on to the next challenges: eating solid food and crawling. say your prayers.
I hit a pretty big-deal work milestone and was able to pay some good writers to do some good writing for us, which is always a nice feeling. it’s sometimes scary, but ultimately rewarding, to be on the other side of the freelance writing arrangement now.
on Saturday I ran 7.5 miles as my seemingly out-of-nowhere running training program continues to, well, pick up speed I guess. sorry.
Anyway, We Have Company
this week’s guest is another twitter pal and All Around Good Human, Nitzan Bluvstein. Nitz talks basketball for a living and occasionally makes the timeline extremely angry with her food opinions, but she’s also co-founder of an extremely cool initiative called the Want Not Need Fund, which encourages folks to forego a little luxury purchase in favor of helping out organizations in immediate need of funding. like I said, super cool. check it out at the link up there. well do that later, after you hear about her good things going on.
AC: hello friend! how’s it going there in Los Angeles, or as it’s more commonly known, the Big Apple?
NB: Hahahahaha what kind of question is this. That’s my answer to your leading question. Write that. Also I’m in the Bay Area so this is already off to a terrible start. Write that don’t edit any of this out, including this part where I’m telling you to not edit.
AC: this is all going in there, this newsletter has no rules. wow why did I think you were in Los Angeles?
NB: No that’s perfect I love that completely and because I was until like August/September. But I’m probably going back to LA in a bit.
AC: that would explain my confusion. right on. now that we’ve established that I’m a terrible interviewer, we’ll move right along. things have been bleak all over lately, but have there been some good things going on for you too?
NB: Yeah! I think for the most part I’ve found good by trying to work on a lot of the bad. That sounds really high-horse-y but it’s not. It’s just that everything is a fucking mess for the world right now so I’ve been trying to find space in the solutions at least on a local level. And spending a lot of my time on that has been really good for me mentally. I’m also really busy with a ton of work projects. So as a freelancer that’s such a huge win.
AC: staying busy has gotta be among the top 3 coping strategies for 2020. I think weed and booze are up there too. the old saying is like “think global, act local,” so that’s awesome. what kind of things have you been tackling?
NB: Oh man when I get busy I stop drinking because it just helps me stay efficient so that’s so true. And I’m no activist, or organizer, and still so new to understanding how important local politics are. And because of how everything in LA overlaps, I’ve met a lot of great activists and organizers through NBA Twitter in one way or another. So I’ve paid a lot of attention to the organizations in LA, what they stand for, what they do etc. And then trying to get involved in local campaigns like phone banking a TON for Nithya Raman, who is one of the most incredible individuals that I’ve had the privilege to support. Or finding time to phone bank for Measure J, which is a huge step in allocating funds in the city budget towards necessary community services and alternatives to incarceration in the city, if it passes come November. Basically the point there is: I’m not an activist so I’m not going to be the one to tell myself or others where they can be most helpful -- but I pay attention to organizers who are so fucking good at directing people and their energy to where it’s needed -- and then making myself familiar with it and jumping into it where I can.
AC: extremely huge props to you for that. I’m certainly the archetype of the “I joined Twitter for sports scores and now I want to defund the police” so I think that, for all the platform’s ills, a lot of good education and action can come out of it. switching gears slightly: how did you feel about how the NBA season ended up working, and are you hopeful or wary for next season?
NB: I was honestly so impressed and shocked. I was really loud about thinking it was a mistake to come back. And uh I still feel like it was a mistake for a lot of reasons, because I didn’t view the risk as making sense, but I was also so stoked when everyone left healthy. I also still have a lot of feelings about the fact it was in a community that is or was struggling to get proper testing and the NBA had rapid solutions, but that is a completely other conversation about resources in this country, I guess. And I’ll only be hopeful if the players and staff and communities being visited are kept safe. Capitalism will capitalism no matter what I say, and bubble basketball was so fucking good, but there’s still a part of you that’s bothered when you’re thinking about the risk vs the reward.
AC: could not have put it better myself, I agree with every point you made there. I guess we’ll see what happens next time around (lol in like two months probably). okay just two more, I promise. firstly: what is your most aggressive food take that results in more booing than agreement?
NB: Hahahahaha WELL I used to dislike wings, but in my defense I just don’t like messy foods because I used to have a ton of insecurity about eating around other people. But that is much better now so I get the wings thing completely haha. Since that one isn’t an option anymore I’m gonna go with not liking Oreos and ice cream that much or thinking they’re overrated, really. And it’s not that I don’t like them, I just think it’s a waste of eating, because I don’t like sweet foods. And then I’ll have them and I’m like okay? Why does anyone crave stuff tasting like this? So yeah I’m an asshole which is fine.
AC: WHEW. that was the most unrelatable passage I’ve ever read on my phone. as a person whose parents literally owned a candy store when he was a kid, I am just gonna pretend you didn’t say that. alright finally, do you have anything you’d like to gratuitously plug? the microphone is yours!
NB: HELL YEAH. GO FOLLOW @WANTNOTNEEDFUND ON LITERALLY ALL SOCIAL CHANNELS AND BY THAT I MEAN IG AND TWITTER. It’s a mutual aid fund I started with Shivani Banfal, who is an incredible organizer human creative super wonder etc of a person. And I know YOU know this because you were such a huge supporter early on, and you still are, which let me take a second to plug that as well because it’s beyond appreciated. But the basic premise is we try and encourage people to recognize when they can redirect their “wants” to help fund other people’s “needs.” For example, if you just made coffee at home for a month instead of going out for it, that’s $80 right there. I’m pretty sure one of the organizations we partnered with earlier this year made food and grocery boxes for each family that lasted like a week, for LESS than that. Or if you skip a sneaker drop, that’s $150. That is how much some states give teachers for supplies for a whole YEAR.
So I just think it’s good to recognize when you have the privilege and the ability to spare some of your wants, it can go to great needs. And I don’t think this is a novel concept, I think people have thought all of this on a personal level, but it’s difficult to know where to donate sometimes. So that’s also where we come in, we find local and grassroots organizations and organizers that don’t get a lot of the national attention, that know how to stretch a dollar, that understand most what a community needs -- and we rotate them each month. So basically any month you donate to WNNF you know that your funds are going to someone in a community working hard to make a difference and they know where your funds can support the most needs.
AC: little do you know, but I mentioned WNNF in your intro — I knew you’d do it better justice than I. super happy personally to support it, and I look forward to some of the things you guys have going on over the holiday period! and thank you very much for taking some time out of your Thursday to chat, especially after that disastrous start.
NB: Thank YOU for letting me chat about all this. I love the sound of my own opinions flowing onto a page. (Editor’s note: That’s just the sound of me copy-pasting from iMessage.)
Some More Good Stuff
one of my former Saturday brunch bar regulars sent me a text earlier this week. Jeffrey and I used to have a great old time hanging out and bullshitting the day away, even if he would good-naturedly complain that I didn’t bring him his beers fast enough. nobody ever accused me of being a good employee.
but! I digress. Jeffrey fulfilled a goal — nay, a DREAM — 17 years in the making when he was finally able to visit the final resting place of one of his heroes, one Frank Sinatra. Jeffrey ate at Melvyn’s in Palm Springs, a known Rat Pack hangout with two tables reserved for Ol’ Blue Eyes depending on whether he wanted to bask in the attention of other diners or a more intimate meal with a lady friend.
Jeffrey capped off his communique with a picture of himself and a mysterious cocktail perched poolside on a sun-lounger in 72-degree California weather while snow piled up on a below-zero Colorado day. it appears, folks, that he poured ME a story.
Worthy Consumables
in this segment, I figure I’ll just share some things that I enjoyed watching or listening to or eating or drinking over the past week? I dunno man I’m kinda making this up as I go along.
after the aforementioned 7.5-mile run last Saturday, I sat down to enjoy myself a beer that is in very rare supply outside of the Northeast. I lived in Maine for a couple of years and Maine Beer Co.’s Lunch IPA is among the top 5 things I miss about Vacationland. if you can get a hold of some, or if you have good twitter pals who might send you a bottle, I recommend you do so.
something else I’ve enjoyed this week, if we’re talking consumer goods that are literally material, are two pairs of new sweatpants. we got our first taste of winter last weekend with a few inches of snowfall and some extremely below-freezing weather, so I figured it was time to bulk up the wardrobe as it pertains to spending 23 hours a day indoors. I grabbed a couple pairs of Nike Club Fleece joggers and folks, they’re great for sitting on the couch typing sneaker blogs (or whatever you do for work) or sitting on the couch watching TV. great year for sweatpants and couch manufacturers, this one.
Might I Have A Word
here are a couple of pieces I’ve really enjoyed reading lately.
The Mystery of the Immaculate Concussion — I was in the newspaper business in Florida and Colorado when this story was starting to unfold and IT. IS. WILD.
The (Mostly) True Story of Vanilla Ice, Hip-Hop, and the American Dream — Jeff Weiss is a scholar of hip-hop and a terrific storyteller. learn some stuff about Robert van Winkle!
I’m Irrationally Attached To The Highlander My Wife Gave Birth In — my online pal Casey Taylor tells the story of his wife casually delivering their third child in the front seat of the car. anxiety-inducing but, like, in a good way!
Parting Note
like I said, I’m still working this out. but this will probably be the space where I leave a song of some sort.
I mulled this over for a while, because obviously the next few days (and the next couple of weeks, potentially) are on something of a knife-edge for this country. my first instinct was to avoid turning the “divisive” dial to 11 in the second edition of this newsletter, but as far as I’m concerned there’s only one right side of history here.
so please, please: if you’re in the United States reading this and you haven’t already, get out and vote on Tuesday. the current presidency might not have any impact on your life personally, but every single day in this country people are suffering and dying because of decisions made (or not made) by this administration. we have a chance to stem that bleeding, even just a little bit, and look after people other than ourselves. because as far as I’m concerned, there’s only one way to do that right now.
“We the youth. We the people of this country. We got a voice too. We will be seen, and we will be heard.”
thanks again for spending some of your day with me, gang. I love to be able to bring some positivity to your inboxes, and I hope it’s a worthwhile addition to your influx of email. hang in there y’all ✌🏻
— adrian
This is probably the best way to describe the radicalization of our generation: “I joined Twitter for sports scores and now I want to defund the police“