These are the words, images, and beers that inspired the GBH Collective this week. Drinking alone just got better, because now you're drinking with all of us.
READ. // "That’s why Midge wags her little tail when I excitedly ask her if she’s my boo boo, even though she doesn’t know what that is. (To be fair, neither do I.)" Nonverbal, interspecies communication is real and WILD. Two winters ago I was laid up in bed with strep throat and a fever during a freak snow "storm" in Atlanta. One cat draped across the left side of my chest, another down to the left of my feet, and my then-newly-adopted rescue pup to my right side. This science just proves what I always suspected: animals are so much better than us.
LOOK. // Recently, while stoned and scrolling, I stumbled upon the treasure that was Vanderpump Rules star Jax Taylor’s live Instagram story. He was floating in a pool behind the enormous Los Angeles mansion he recently purchased with new wife Brittany Cartwright (also on the Bravo reality TV show) as he mused about how many bedrooms he now has and answered truly bizarre questions from fans. Taylor's feed in general is such a weird mix of jokes about blacking out, sponcon riddled with typos, and the increasingly frequent absolutely earnest assertion. He responds to comments, like, a lot!! I love him.
DRINK. // Wild Heaven Beer’s Bestie Pub Ale
This Avondale Estates, GA brewery just opened a second outpost a couple blocks from my house in southwest Atlanta, so during a stop at the local corner store last week, I thought it'd be nice to support them. Honestly, I grabbed this one by mistake, thinking it said "Pale Ale" instead of "Pub Ale." It was fine, but I wasn't mad when my boyfriend and his friend polished it off over the weekend while I kicked their asses at Mario Kart.
READ. // Imagine 526 voters from across America and the political spectrum all in one room for a weekend. In the midst of non-stop impeachment news coverage, research institution NORC at the University of Chicago did just that "to prove that there might be a better way to disagree." Many participants admit they changed their policy stances as a result—others said they didn't. But as one participant said, "I don’t think the purpose of this conference was to change people’s minds. I think the purpose of this conference was to get people to accept each other’s points of view in a civil manner.”
LOOK. // During the course of the weekend mentioned above, the NY Times took photographs of every participant that attended—all 526 registered voters, listed in alphabetical order by first name. It's worth a scroll through—this is the voting public.
DRINK. // Hill Farmstead’s Autumna
Fall in New England is incredible, and I welcome any excuse to take in the array of colors before the landscape is blanketed with snow. On a recent trip to Vermont, I had the pleasure of sitting at in a big Adirondack chair at Hill Farmstead, while slowly sipping Autumna, their German-style Helles Fest Lager. Clean and easy to drink, it was almost as crisp as the fall weather.
READ. // "There’s something that happens when you say what you’re doing before it’s done, and most of it is not positive. You’re accountable for that version that you talk about, when it very well may undergo change. It’s usually better for me to make what I make, put it out or don’t, and then talk about it freely." I have no choice but to stan Frank Ocean. In this rare interview with W Magazine, he talks about owning his legacy, trying to be a better swimmer, Joan Rivers, and so much more.
LOOK. // Here in ATL, we have a wonderful periodic event called Streets Alive. A celebration of art, culture, and our vibrant cityscape, it imagines an Atlanta that relies less on cars to function—one that I hope resembles a near future for us here in Georgia's capital.
DRINK. // Great Divide Brewing Company's 25th Anniversary Big Yeti
Shoutout to impulse buys. This giant, fancifully illustrated can practically jumped out of the cooler at my local bottle shop, its roasty, classic flaves caressing me gently once we got home. But seriously: can we pause for a moment and appreciate this life we live in 2019? Shit can be pretty bleak sometimes, sure, but we can also walk into a store, scoop up a 19.2-ounce stovepipe of 13.5% ABV Imperial Stout, and it's no big deal. What a time to be alive.
Curated by The GBH Collective
