April Edit: Gas Station Tacos, Good Reads, and Spite
Everything I loved and read between (you wouldn't believe how many) crises in April
One of these days, I'll write something about why April 2025 was a key part of my villain origin story. It'll probably be some of the best writing I've ever done—there's just so much material. I'm in a hilariously weird/bad season where I'm juggling many random life things that will make for one hell of a story, but I'm a seasoned expert at laughing to keep from crying. More on that later.
Between the March edit and this April one, I had many great essay ideas and finished writing none of them. I did do a lot of other fun, lovely things, though, so until I get my thoughts together, let’s talk about what I actually liked about this month!
I (and thousands of other nerds) had fun with the Read Your Color assessment. It will surprise no one that I'm a blue reader.
I've been loving Glossier You Fleur as a spring fragrance. Every time I've gotten a "you smell good" compliment recently, I was wearing it (sorry, other scents...).
Despite not finishing any of the aforementioned essays, I attended this Writers' Accountability Supper Club a few times, and it was a lovely way to get some words on some pages. It's on break right now, but back on May 13 if you want in!
Independent Bookstore Day sparked a lot of joy. I visited Brave + Kind Bookshop for their Black Girl Book Fair event and Charis Books & More because they're a fave right around the corner.
I loved browsing the library as a palette cleanser after doing things I didn't want to do—like going to the grocery store or the police station (again, more on that later).
I'm walking again! Mostly back on the Atlanta Beltline. I've given up on trying to make any walking trail in the suburbs comparable, and I'm often near a beltline entrance anyway.
I bought a Baggu medium crescent bag because I wanted a casual bag that could fit my e-ink reading tablet, and it has been so perfect.
At home, most notably, I tried to recreate the vibes of my favorite dishes in Japan by making this curry recipe, fired up the grill for the first time this season for this Middle Eastern-inspired herb and garlic chicken, and was delighted with the taste of this pastrami-spiced steak.
I reunited with some of my favorite gas station tacos in Atlanta.
Finally checked out Bonafide Deluxe and thoroughly enjoyed one of their too-expensive sandwiches (the Hot Italian) and normal-priced cocktails (the Rapid Transit.
Quick shoutout to the dill pickle Slim Jim!
I finally read my first 5-star book of the year—Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar, which follows the life of a newly sober Iranian-American poet. He becomes obsessed with the idea of martyrdom and making life and death mean something, which leads him on a trip to Brooklyn to visit a terminally ill artist living out her final days in a museum.
I read my first Jamaica Kincaid novel, too: Annie John, a simple but touching coming-of-age story about a young girl in Antigua who has a complicated relationship with her mother.
April was National Poetry Month, and I read Make Believe: Poems for Hoping Again, a beautiful collection by Victoria Hutchins.
It was a big Kacey Musgraves month overall, but "Rainbow" was on repeat.
I played a lot of Infinity Song. They make great, dreamy soft rock music that feels like Spring to me.
My "out of spite" playlist also got a lot of play.
These Friend Forward podcast episodes about the role of proximity and perception in women's friendships and communal vs. exchange relationships were so good.
Only the theology nerds will care about this one, but this podcast episode with Brian Zahnd on penal substitutionary atonement theory was a good (and relevant) listen around Good Friday/Easter that fed my interest in historical atonement theories.
The Languages Lost to Climate Change: A fascinating and depressing long read about how climate catastrophes and biodiversity loss are endangering languages across the globe.
How to be a good friend when no one's hanging out anymore: As a fellow person who takes friendship very seriously, this post made me feel less alone. (And yes, of course, I have my own essay in the works about this very thing.)
The Cross at a Crossroads: Christianity’s Reckoning in Modern America: Another long but very good one about whether current trends in American Christianity are more of a collapse or realignment, and the new forms of faith communities that are rising up and offering a redefined vision of what religious life can look like.
There’s no such thing as ‘background music.’ Here’s how your playlist affects your brain: Explores how different ways of listening to music—active, passive, habitual—can enhance focus, creativity, and productivity by engaging different areas of the brain.
New section alert! One of my friends, who is less chronically online than I am, requested a section with social media posts I created that month (because she wants to see them but will miss them if she's not online much).
TBD if this section will be a hit and be allowed to stick, but here's what I posted in April (or at least the highlights):
A video on author and book recommendations for Black Women's History Month (my best-performing video in a while!)
A video about my April reading TBR/list of hopefuls (I actually read most of these)
My review of the 800+ page book, The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois
Random thoughts on the "Things I do as a Type A/B person" trend and why I relate to both
This video that answers the question, "Where are you in life and friendship right now?" for me / Dill pickle Slim Jims / These shoes that I can't find for a reasonable price anymore / The incredible multitude of ways I was done dirty in the month of April / This video that describes my marriage to a T / Every butcher in Atlanta I used to visit and need to run back to / All the farmers markets that await me
Thanks for reading!
