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.// “Two people die in this story, one old and one very young. Two people kill in this story too, and one of the killers is also one of the victims. They’re connected.” We may not need more tragic tales than we receive daily, but you'll find redemption in this one.
LOOK.// A brief, pre-COVID moment in time with a breakdancer in New York City.
DRINK.// Edward Teach Beer Co’s Peach Wheat
I recently spent a day on the North Carolina coast—as much vacation as I'll allow myself these days—and this fruit-forward Wheat Ale brought a smile to my face. Simple and recognizable, it’s everything you want on a hot and humid day: a liquid reflection of your season.
READ.// “The rhythm of walking [...] suggests that the mind is also a landscape of sorts and that walking is one way to traverse it. A new thought often seems like a feature of the landscape that was there all along, as though thinking were traveling rather than making.” I'm reading Rebecca Solnit’s Wanderlust, a collection of essays about walking, and it couldn’t be a more appropriately timed book for me. This excerpt from one of her essays explains the phenomenon I’ve experienced in which the physicality of walking seems to dislodge thoughts and revelations as though they were merely caught on some rough snag in my mental space, or hidden from view awaiting a change in perspective. If you’ve been taking long walks lately, you likely know the feeling.
LOOK.// Robert Speker is the activities manager at Sydmar Lodge Care Home, a nursing home in Edgeware, England. Residents' activities have been limited during the pandemic, so Speker created a new project in which he photographs residents as they recreate the covers of classic albums—Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.,” Taylor Swift’s “1989,” Blink-182’s “Enema of the State.” The photos have become a Twitter sensation, for good reason.
DRINK.// Philipsburg Brewing Co’s Haybag American Hefeweizen
I appreciate classic Hefeweizens, but their texture can be heavier than I’d like in warmer months. The summer solution for me is Haybag American Hefeweizen from Philipsburg Brewing Co in charming Philipsburg, Montana. It’s closer to an American Wheat Beer with its dryness and lighter body, but with perceptible fruitiness from the yeast. It threads a needle for me, offering rustic wheat flavor, Cascade hops, and refreshingly prickly carbonation.
READ.// “The rich have always used racism to maintain power. To hate someone, to discriminate against them, and to attack them because of their racial characteristics is one of the most primitive, reactionary, ignorant ways of thinking that exists.” Assata Shakur wrote these words in 1987 as a political refugee living in Cuba. She’s still there, and her autobiography, Assata, is essential reading for anyone questioning the intentions of the police and how racism is both systemic and insidious. I bought this book from Semicolon, which is a Black- and women-owned bookstore in Chicago.
LOOK.// I love rewatching old favorites, and it turns out there are a lot of underlying factors as to why someone might find comfort in viewing one of their favorite shows or films over and over. This week, I rewatched “Veronica Mars”—including the new season that debuted on Hulu last year—and I was not disappointed.
DRINK.// Rishi Tea’s Sparkling Botanicals
Rishi Tea recently launched a line of RTD sparkling botanicals. They’re perfect for folks who love sparkling water but want something a little more fun to sip on, and come in distinctive flavors like Grapefruit Quince and Dandelion Ginger. They make sitting at home—and staying away from large gatherings and restaurants due to rising coronavirus infection rates—much more bearable.
Curated by The GBH Collective
