While you do that, consider my favorite quote from the (surprisingly attractive?) man himself:
“You often complained to me that people ‘Don’t understand you!’ Goethe and Newton did not complain of that… only Christ did, but he was speaking of His doctrine and not of Himself. People understand you perfectly well. And if you do not understand yourself, it is not their fault.”
Respectfully yours,
I spent a little more time than I expected this morning reading The Cut’s article on The Most Covetable Things from Joan Didion’s Estate Sale. The unexpected bit came mostly because if you got me really drunk I would probably admit to you that I’ve always sort of thought Didion was kinda (whispers) overrated. Amazing pages, terrible fans.
To be a white girl who whispers “I looooove Joan Didion” communicates to me that you are someone who has Very Big Feelings but definitely had a boyfriend in high school, and go around saying “That’s so funny” instead of laughing like a normal person. The Emily Ratajowskis of the book aisle, if you will. And all that is fine! Girlbosses can read! Emma Roberts can have her book club, as a treat! But I have a hard time taking this kind of person seriously. This is obviously not Joan Didion’s fault, but if I’m going to pass on the entire Beat poets because too many men have told me I have to read them, I figured I’d apply the same rule to the female equivalent. Besides, my tastes veer more towards Fran Leibowitz basic.
Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, the auction. I’ll say this about Joan Didion: she had one chic estate. They include fancy things (Celine sunglasses, a set of pink glass teacups) and useful things (reading glasses, a six-piece Le Creuset set). There are also, unsurprisingly, a lot of books. It got me thinking about what I would have for sale in my own estate sale. When I die, which I hope will be soon, who will take off with my twelve hundred fountain pens? My aesthetically pleasing productivity cube? My Timothee Chalamet pinup posters?
With all this in mind, here’s 5 things you’ll find in my estate auction:
1) Empty, decrepit tube of Weleda Skin Food Original Ultra Rich Cream. Also recommended by writer Stephanie Danler, the most aggressively thirsty Joan Didion acolyte I know. Hey, a throughline!
Estimated value: $10
2) The Princess Diaries, books 1-3. Literally tearing apart at the seams, as any well-loved book should be, this is a foundational text for my personality, writing style, and taste in men.
Estimated value: 25 cents.
3) Five broken French presses. This remains my favorite method for making coffee, and yet, even though it is literally fool proof, I truly don’t know anyone who has an intact French press.
Estimated value: $45
4) A CISCO Systems baseball cap from the eighties that I stole from my mom—my most prized possession currently. That is, if I’m not buried with it, because I do love the idea of becoming a skeleton in a baseball cap.
Estimated value: $150
5) Deck of Tarot Cards Curse on your family included!
Estimated value: $300, but the buyer must be a practicing witch so I can ask her questions from the afterlife.
6) Ironically, 6 unused notebooks, 2 of them also black Moleskines.
Estimated value: $1,000
7) Two untouched, never used mates with corresponding bombillas. The metaphor pretty much writes itself with this one.
Estimated value: $50
Estimated value: priceless
10) Cursed pile of SEPTA tokens. Every time I think I’ve gotten rid of the last of them, I’ll reach into the pockets of a pair of pants I haven’t worn in years and find another one. A regular monkey’s paw of the 21st century.
Estimated value: negative billion dollars.
Yours in life and beyond,
For a while now I’ve subscribed to Kimberly Drew’s Something I Saw Today newsletter, where she emails a picture of an artwork per day. Years on, this is my favorite missive: a painting of James Baldwin by Beauford Delaney. For some reason I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. Actually, there are a couple of reasons! That yellow suit! That smirk! The texture background! Yellow Wallpaper who?
I especially love how Delaney’s use of color gives a playful spirit to depict an impressive intellectual mind. The usual move is present great minds in black and white portraiture, and Baldwin has certainly had plenty of those. Still, it’s refreshing to see him surrounded by color, buoyed by a world he so obviously loved. It’s often (and justly so) that we bring up heavy things when we talk about Baldwin, but it’s hard not to look at this painting and feel cheerful. The lesson here, I think, is that you can have both.