Old Enough to Remember

Weekly Reads 13.10.2025

After a week with the plague, I am happy to report the light at the end of the tunnel was indeed an exit and not an oncoming train. I am no longer tethered to a tissue box, and I can once again venture out into the world. One such outing was to meet a friend for a bit of post-work window shopping followed by dinner at a seen-and-be-seen kind of restaurant in Georgetown.

We started our evening by checking in on the new J.Crew location which, though shiny and perfectly curated, left us feeling as though we’d been served flat champagne. We’d both ooh-and-aahed over the recent digital catalog, so it was deflating to find the clothes were lovely from afar yet awkward up close. Tops were too short, fabrics too flimsy, and fits not quite right. All attributes a digital photo will conceal from you. Never mind! This disappointment bode well for our wallets, and so we set off to check in on the kind folks at other shops along the street.

As we chitchatted amongst racks of clothes and then over dinner, we shared thoughts about the places we had vacationed or products we loved and recommended. I was reminded of the days when “influencing” was not a job. When social media wasn’t a thing, phones were nailed to the wall, and recommendations for a restaurant or vacation destination came without a referral code.

Oh dear. Here comes the good ol’ day talk.

While technically not a Millennial, I greatly identify with the social media posts and reels of those Millennials arriving at their early 40s. You become so immersed in life that you don’t realize how much around you has changed until you hit a milestone or some annual marker like a birthday. A moment of reflection brings you the realization that entire industries ebb away to be replaced by new ones — like influencer marketing or that small computer in your pocket that you call a phone.

I’m at an age where time feels so warped. 2002 really doesn’t seem all that far away, and yet it was ages ago. I still find myself genuinely surprised when I realize how much older I am than so many people around me. I don’t feel decades older than my colleagues and hairstylist, and yet I am literally two decades older. It’s sobering to recount all the things that just don’t exist anymore – things like rotary phones or those cigarette machines stationed outside the restroom in a steakhouse.

For some reason, I so badly want to ask my grandmother how she felt about the changing world around her when she was my age. As she watched technology rapidly replace so many aspects of her younger days, did she also feel a slight ache? Did she also feel a sense of fear at the back of her throat as she watched people’s behavior change as a result of all those new-fangled gadgets that awarded people more time or status? Maybe. Or maybe not. This could just be a me-thing.

Being off the couch and back out in the wild this week reminded me of the importance of the tangible. Sure, the Internet is glorious (it’s how I’m coming to you now, after all), but things are moving so fast lately that it’s hard not to get caught up in typhoons of anxiety and dread. Witnessing someone’s mannerisms in person invokes a vulnerability you won’t find via a digitized experience. No matter how good the camera, nothing replaces the experience of being in a place to feel the temperature of the air and smell its newness.

In a time widely described as divided and tense, it’s good to remember our fuses become remarkably longer when we’re speaking to someone in person versus in the comments.

Now to correct my daily screen-time average by staying away from screens. It was appallingly high as I was couch ridden!

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I need Ellie to report back to us on if the internationalization of the Trader Joe’s bag has made its way to Paris.

Tony Soprana apparently said, “‘Remember when’ is the lowest form of conversation,” and it tracks. If you’ve ever been the new person in a group and that line comes up, you know you’ll be sidelined while everyone else rehashes the same conversation they’ve had a dozen times over. When I saw this list of questions to ask your friends, I bookmarked it. May you and I never be accused of starting a conversation only half the table can enjoy!

If you’re into jewelry with customizable charms, this Talisman Bar from the Parisian jeweler Goossens might be up your alley. Really lovely pieces!

As the temps move into that glorious range of cool and crisp, you might need a bit of refresher on cozy clothes. These new flowy long sleeve shirts from Rhoback look perfect for mornings on the porch, afternoon walks, and pumpkin patches.

This WSJ article about a road trip through Maine in search of the country’s rarest apple varieties was interesting. (Gift link)

I’m still not sure how I feel about a decidedly un-human AI system named Diella being appointed to a cabinet position in Albania’s parliament. Does this play out well for humanity?

After some far-out fashion from the most-recent Paris and New York fashion weeks, I very much appreciate how the clothing in the latest lookbook in Massimo Dutti’s collection for men feels timeless. One could see Cary Grant in a few of these pieces!

A gorgeous hotel in London.

New term of the week: Deep Casual Hosting. Somehow this decidedly low-stress take on hosting people still feels like work. Maybe we just start a style of hosting called, “The Door’s Open” and see what happens?

More and more, life feels blurred by AI. Is that photo real? Is that baby real? (Like, someone literally told an influencer that her baby looked like an AI baby this week). It’s starting to feel hard to trust anything digital. Including text messages from friends who increasingly sound like ChatGPT.

“AI shows up most obviously in functions like smart replies, autocorrect, and spellcheck. Research out of Cornell looks at our use of smart replies in chats, finding that use of smart replies increases overall cooperation and feelings of closeness between participants, since users end up selecting more positive emotional language. But if people believed their partner was using AI in the interaction, they rated their partner as less collaborative and more demanding. Crucially, it wasn’t actual AI usage that turned them off — it was the suspicion of it. We form perceptions based on language cues, and it’s really the language properties that drive those impressions, says Malte Jung, Associate Professor of Information Science at Cornell University and a co-author of the study.

This paradox — AI improving communication while fostering suspicion — points to a deeper loss of trust, according to Mor Naaman, professor of Information Science at Cornell Tech. He has identified three levels of human signals that we’ve lost in adopting AI into our communication. The first level is that of basic humanity signals, cues that speak to our authenticity as a human being like moments of vulnerability or personal rituals, which say to others, ‘This is me, I’m human.’ The second level consists of attention and effort signals that prove ‘I cared enough to write this myself.’ And the third level is ability signals which show our sense of humor, our competence, and our real selves to others. It’s the difference between texting someone, ‘I’m sorry you’re upset’ versus ‘Hey sorry I freaked at dinner, I probably shouldn’t have skipped therapy this week.’ One sounds flat; the other sounds human.” (Source)

Aside from That One Album Everyone Keeps Talking About, a tremendous number of new good songs debuted this week! Here are a few of my favorites:

Khalid gave us yet another perfect song for driving or cooking or anything else you have to do today. Here is a link for his latest single Nah.

Andy Squyres, one of my favorite songwriters released an EP, and I am finding new lyrical gems each time I re-listen to the first track, Dancing in the Kitchen.

More Avett Brothers entered the world! Here’s a surprise collab with Mike Patton that will work just nicely as the soundtrack to my next evening by a fire in the Solo Stove.

Always delighted to see Jervis Campbell release a new song into the world. This week he released “good grief!”.

I haven’t a clue how I was unaware of the fact that Bill Evans Trio recorded a song called “Elsa” (my high school nickname and current Starbucks moniker). Thankfully some record label chap had the bright decision to make money off old music by “remastering” a few tunes. “Elsa” is pure piano perfection.

Do you have to work today, or if you are Stateside are you enjoying the day off? Here’s to a gentle week for the both of us.