#114: Books, Baseball, Ballots, & More!

UPDATE

Hey there!

I’m all over the place today so the newsletter is going to be too.

A Win Worth Parading

The Dodgers won the World Series! I’m taking this as a personal F.U. since they beat my soon-to-be town. (Are all the New Yorkers cringing that I just referred to it as a measly “town”?) Clearly Freddie is upset I’m leaving and wanted to show me exactly what I’ll be missing. Mission accomplished, Mr. Freeman! I miss you already.

Not many people know this, but my pilgrimage from LA to Brooklyn is actually in honor of the Dodgers legacy. I’m just honoring it in reverse 67 years later. Shall we take a poll on whether I’ll be able to handle the wrath of Yankees fans while walking around in my Dodgers World Series Champions t-shirt next year? Am I brave enough to try?

Seriously though, I cried watching the Dodgers win and the Yankees lose. I love these pinnacle moments in sports when the stakes are so high and some of the toughest, most respected men in our country tear up and smile and hoot and holler and celebrate and grieve and congratulate each other and mourn together. It’s a really beautiful, emotional spectacle I feel grateful to witness.

Adam, Me, Noah, and Gabby (my sister!) at Game 5 of the National League Series: Dodgers vs Padres

A Milestone Worth Celebrating

Respectful Smartass officially has 600 subscribers! Thank you so much for being here. I’m chuffed, honored, and frankly moved that so many of you show up to our not-so-little digital community. I love writing! I love that you read my writing! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!

A Vote Worth Casting

I know, I know. You’re getting this from every direction. But there are 600 (!) of you reading this from 45 (?!) different countries. I would be remiss not to use my platform to encourage our American readers to vote, at the very least.

If you’re a frequent reader, you likely know which way I lean politically. But just to make it absolutely clear, I’ll be voting for Kamala Harris for President and Tim Walz for Vice. As a woman, Midwesterner, and American, I’m proud to cast my vote for candidates who stand for hope, women’s rights, and canned soup-based casseroles.

Find your polling place, learn about same-day voter registration, and get the answers to all your ballot questions at vote.org.

Don’t forget to vote all the way down your ballot! There are plenty of legislative seats and local propositions being decided in this election. Please, in this case, also sweat the small stuff.

And remember, no candidate is going to perfectly align with your values and views. Just choose the best option from the choices available. There’s plenty more we can do outside the ballot box to ensure change is made and our rights are protected. Voting is only the beginning.

A Book Worth Buying

My friend Jody published her debut book, Transangelicism, this year, and I was lucky enough to catch her on the West Coast leg of her book tour. She is brilliant and vulnerable and deeply interesting, and so is her book. You should buy it!

Me and Jody at Village Well Books in LA after her reading

Here’s the blurb for Transangelicism: memoir of a transgender ex-vangelical:

Frontwoman Jody Galadriel Friend of queer Appalachian doom punk legends Public Universal Friend brings you her debut work of surrealist bio-mythography, queer humanist liturgy, traumedy, grimoire, or whatever you wanna call it.

Through a veil of transformation from which few live to tell the tale, Transangelicism tells the story of one raised to be a southern, evangelical, betrothed church music leader turned trans lesbian divorcee who asked some questions, lived some life, started a band, and wrote it all down in case her past self may find it tucked in her jacket pocket along the way.

This is Transangelicism.

Thank you so much for reading!

ily bye,

Ariana