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W42ST Daily 8/11/2020
I hadn’t seen Amy for a few weeks. An actor, she’d slipped away from the city as ‘rona shut down the theaters – and her source of work. But she was back and, I don’t know how else to say this, but she was looking fucking incredible.
Her skin was clear, she was tan and lithe. She’d definitely lost weight. There was an unmistakeable twinkle. She was sexy and she knew it.
“I haven’t been drinking,” she told me, a little sheepishly. “I don’t know – this might be it for me.”
We sipped on our seltzers and she explained. As lockdown had become the new normal, so had opening a bottle of wine at lunchtime. Sometimes earlier. What did it matter? She was the only one in the apartment – and what else was she going to do?
So she was taking a break from the booze. Maybe a permanent one.
When I next saw her, she was positively glowing. And the experiment with sobriety had become a lifestyle. She’d joined a group of like-minded humans – not AA (“the patriarchal system didn’t sit well with me,” she said) but something called This Naked Mind, Annie Grace’s challenge to what she calls the old, tired conversations about alcohol addiction.
She’d also found a “bible” – a book she was “blown away” by, she said – the best selling, feminine-centric Quit Like a Woman by Holly Whitaker.
As I spend the next few days with Amy at her lake house in Vermont, I’m using this opportunity to join her in making the radical choice to not drink. Since March, it’s been a rare day that I haven’t enjoyed a little alcoholic something to ease the pain of quarantine and the stress of a business in mid-pivot. I could do with some clarity. And more mornings without a cloudy head. And, frankly, I want a piece of that hot girl, clear skin, twinkly-eyed action.
The sober curiosity movement is growing. I’d love to hear your thoughts/experiences. Reply to this email and let’s start the conversation.
NEW YORK STORIES
In the beginning, it was so easy. Regular FaceTime workouts with my buddy on the roof. Citi Biking around Central Park in the evenings as the fireflies flirted in the undergrowth. Zoom yoga at lunchtime. I had this quarantine exercise thing nailed, bitches!
But four months on, the city heat melts my yoga mat the minute it hits the tar, my body has forgotten what a waistband feels like, and that early enthusiasm has given way to a more general malaise. A kind of meh-xercise regime.
I’m sure (I hope) I’m not alone. How to get my muscle mojo back?
The answer, says Mark Fisher, the #1 Jedi trick, may surprise you.
WHAT WE’RE READING
Meet Nyani – the world’s largest bronze gorilla statue is coming soon to Bella Abzug Park.
Checking out which face masks are best – here are the results.
The most ridiculous bar foods that comply with the drinks mandate. Anything to add, Hell’s Kitcheners?
The MTA has called on Apple to help solve riders’ iPhone mask issues.
It’s too darn hot – and it’s set to last until at least tomorrow.