My dearest spectral anomalies:
HAPPY SUMMER!!! It’s ALMOST ACTUALLY fucking SUMMER because my kids ARE FINALLY OUT OF SCHOOL and this has been A YEAR. I am desperately ready for a vacation and TBH sleeping in for one extra hour and letting them play X-Box and eat microwaved garbage all day with no homework, no Zoom, no fucking soccer practice is VACAY, BABY! I’m so desperate for summer fun that I sat in my frigid San Francisco yard this weekend in a bikini and finished this Isabelle Allende book just so I could snatch that feeling.
The Arctic Sunbathing also gave me time to stare out at the Sutro Forest and think about all the creepy shit that has gone down in there because that is my next HLAS topic!! I started reading up on Adolph Sutro and he seems like a cool guy, which is a refreshing change in the annals of old rich men. His link to the story is tangential – he planted that forest – but if anyone knows about Sutro’s ghost cruising around I’d love to hear from you!
I’m doing a lot of family stuff this summer, so you may not get a newsletter every other Wednesday for the next couple of months. Rest assured I am spending my time doing important shit like eating pistachios and watching 90 Day Fiance with my sisters. And tanning. Please support me in these goals.
In the meantime, enjoy this round up of fun summer news stories – no dead children! No government sanctioned murder! Just weird shit I have collected over the past couple of weeks to share with my weird friends.
Xoxo
Court
Internet Finds
This is the most “US Government” position ever. Don’t lie to us! We know that THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE! Have you been following this shit? If not, now is the time to start. You should watch the 60 Minutes interview, too. You have to suffer through two minutes of Marco Rubio but your reward is two very good looking fighter pilots (one of them is a woman, don’t @ me).
I love this series about the badass bitches of history, along with gorgeous illustrations. Anne Theriualt writes in a funny first person voice that I relate to.
Illustration by Louise Pomeroy
Remember San Francisco serial killer The Doodler from a month or so ago?? Kevin Fagan, the reporter who did the podcast and accompanying multimedia piece, was on Reddit to answer questions. Thanks to HLAS’ AMAZING DESIGNER Dante for this one!
God, I love the Victorians. So much death, so much angst, so much drama. Lest you think we are any better – spiritualism flourishes after mass casualty and trauma events, like, you know, the panini we just went through. Thanks to list member Lara for this one!!
UGH THESE VICTORIANS THO. Do you know about the workhouses? They were basically orphanages for fully grown poor people. If you needed government aid, you had to check yourself in, be separated from your family, shrug off your whole identity, and work at meaningless tasks to prove you were A GOOD POOR. And then maybe your body would go to “science” without your permission. Sorry I said this would be a fun newsletter but this research really is fascinating!
OH HEY the trifecta!
(1) Ancient
(2) decapitated
(3) remains.
This is a fascinating look into ancient Roman penal and burial practices!