A Few Things | Dec 18
Our holidays start in earnest on Friday. How about you?
Olive landed in Paris yesterday, so that means five of my kids are currently in France! Olive is staying with Betty for a couple of days to enjoy Paris, and then the two of them are taking the train to Rouen on Friday. We will meet them there to enjoy the famed Christmas Market, and then head home for our holiday celebrations. Hooray! Ralph and Paola are spending a magical Christmas in Mexico with Paola’s extended family — and we might get to see them in January.
Our holiday decor is up, but I still want to do one more project. I want to go forage some cuttings and create a hanging flower arrangement. If I manage to get it done, I’ll be sure to share pics!
In The News
Here are a few things I’ve been wanting to share with you.
-From the Marshall Project — Hospitals reported women for positive drug tests after giving them drugs for childbirth: medications used routinely for pain or in epidurals, to reduce anxiety or to manage blood pressure during cesarean sections. This is so maddening.
-In Wired — Designer Babies Are Teenagers Now—and Some of Them Need Therapy Because of It. “People don’t always realize they are creating a human being and not a piece of furniture.”
- In The Mercury News — OpenAI whistleblower, age 26, found dead in San Francisco apartment. I sure with the media was interested in why there are so many dead whistleblowers these days.
-From NBC — Colleges are warning students to be back in the US before the start of spring-semester classes in January, because travel bans are predicted to happen immediately after inauguration. The ban is likely to include citizens of the countries targeted in the first Trump administration: Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Myanmar, Sudan, Tanzania, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen, and Somalia. New countries could be added to this list, particularly China and India.
-From The Guardian — Why do we kiss?
- From Vanity Fair — We can’t just tune him out. “Eight years later, the legacy media looks like a shrunken husk, with 2024 election night viewership down more than 25% from the last presidential race and a growing perception that the likes of Joe Rogan are ascendant while the old guard is diminished.”
-From The Atlantic — Decivilization May Already Be Under Way. I’m very irritated with this article. This warning about "decivilization" didn't come after aschool shooting. It didn't come after the January 6 insurrection. It only came after the killing of a health insurance company CEO wasn't received with national mourning. Rebecca Solnit describes this and similar articles as “triumphs of obliviousness and elite panic.”
Lately on Design Mom
3 Recipes To Amp Up a Holiday Cheese Platter
Which one is your favorite?
This is such a stunning piece. And you can make it yourself! It’s not too late to make one to gift either.
Homemade Marshmallows! With Flavor Options!
Just in time for your holiday hot cocoa bar. So pretty and so delicious.
Experiences Make Great Last-Minute Gifts
Hello there gift shoppers! We’re a week away from Christmas. There’s still time to order online if you have the option of speedy shipping. Might I suggest these 94 ideas?
Alternatively, consider this a little reminder that you can gift an experience — like a gift certificate to a show or a restaurant or a class — and it’s easy to do last=minute. Buy it, print out an info page, and put it in an envelope. Or, if printing is one step too much, just forward the confirmation email. Done and done! It’s simple and it’s thoughtful.
Think: concert tickets, a blowout, or even an Office Hours meeting with me.
Speaking of experiences:
Get $200 Off an Alt Summit Ticket!
November sort-of evaporated for me, you know? And I never asked my Alt Summit team to put together a Black Friday sale. So we’re having a mid-December flash sale instead. And it ends TODAY!
You can get $200 off your Alt Summit ticket! Regular price tickets are $745, so with the flash sale discount, the price is just $545!
Click here for the registration page. Choose Individual Ticket, then register with the code ALT2025 to get $200 off!
Take note: Regular ticket prices will increase to $945 on January 6th, and $545 is an amazing deal! That price includes access to three full days of speaker sessions, hands-on classes, sponsor meet-ups, parties, and perks. Comparable conferences charge $2500 or more, and don’t offer near the engagement, learning, and networking experience that attendees find at Alt Summit.
I know you’ve been doing shopping for everyone else, and now, here’s your chance to buy something just for you.
Wondering if Alt Summit is for you? Honestly? If you’ve noticed the event, and been curious about it, and wondered if it was for you, then yes, it totally IS for you. Women attend Alt Summit for all sorts of reasons. To connect with other like-minded people, to find new paths and partnerships, to learn new skills, to start or build a business, to grow a community, to find inspiration, to get a break, to have a lot of fun with smart, interesting, generous women.
I think you’ll love it! And I’ll love getting the chance to meet you. Don’t miss out on this great ticket price.
That’s all for now. I hope you are having a good week. Feel free to comment about anything I’ve written above, or whatever is on your mind.
kisses,
Gabrielle
Gabby, are you going to do a piece on the Gisèle Pelicot story? I was wondering if you have any unique perspective on it living in France or if people there have been talking about the story and following it a lot.
I can’t believe that another whistleblower committed suicide and major newspapers are not all over it.