Friday Flowers #3

A few links to things I enjoyed this week, that I think you might enjoy, too. Plus some pictures of pretty flowers.

“I suspect it’s easier to teach a waitress to be a writer than an intellectual to be a waiter.”

I (and many other people) really loved this essay in Dirt by Becca Schuh about her years in the service industry and what it means to be both a writer and a waitress.

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“Growing up, summer vacation simply meant no school. As I got older, I would meet people who’d gone to camps, whose families could fly to Disney World or Europe, who rented cottages on the ocean. But all I and my siblings did was roam the backstreets of our town, trying to avoid trouble or go looking for it.”

Andre Dubus III wrote a touching essay for the New Yorker looking back on his uneasy feelings around suddenly having money after a life of having none.

Now might be a good time to mention that I recently reviewed Andre Dubus III’s terrific new novel, Such Kindness, for the New York Times Book Review.

“But in asking my girlfriend to spend the rest of her life with me, and with no plans to live elsewhere, I am once again reminded that this place I love dearly has not always loved me back.”

Kristen Arnett recently proposed to her girlfriend, Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya, and wrote a lovely essay for Time about what it means to be a queer person getting married in her home state of Florida.

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“Lack of options, of alternatives, of fantasies can kill you. Gomper and J.T. and I knew that better than anything. It was axiomatic for us. I'd rather suck at something than be dead.”

A powerful essay by John Wray in Esquire about how being a member of the worst metal band in Buffalo, NY saved his life.

If you’re in search of a good book, I was recently on the Today Show recommending a few summer reads—including the previously-mentioned John Wray’s new novel, Gone to the Wolves. Otherwise, that’s about it from me. I hope you get out there and enjoy the world a bit this weekend. 🍓