Bringing Back Asbestos

Plus, the tech founder with 106+ children, cocaine in Nantucket's sewage, new theories on election hacking, and stronger woman characters on the rise.

Life Lately

Happy Friday! We are in the middle of a heat wave here in Normandy. It’s unusual for June, but who knows what’s actually usual anymore with a changing climate. I grew up in the desert of St. George, Utah, so I’m familiar with very hot summers. But there is a big difference with heat waves here in France: here, no one has air conditioning.

We manage pretty well despite no A/C. We open the windows at night when the temperature drops, then close the shutters tight in the morning to keep the cool air in, (and keep some of the heat out). Thanks to the thick stone walls, our lower floors stay pretty comfortable.

Other things that help: keeping a glass of ice water at hand, cold showers, and bottles of facial mist — which is like having a personal mist-er. (This facial spray from Avène is my favorite, and we also use the Evian version which is super affordable here.)

We have more guests coming today, and also on Monday, and I’m a little nervous about making sure they’re comfortable in the heat — we haven’t figured out the ideal heat mitigation methods at the Small House yet — but I know it will all work out.

The warm weather has summer on our mind. Flora June’s school year finishes at the end of next week, and then we can start our summer break in earnest.

Tomorrow is a fun French holiday: Fête de la Musique. There are many concerts happening in every big and little town, all over France. Flora June is playing oboe in an orchestra performance, and Oscar is teaming up with our niece Sophie, and our friend Gijsbert (who heads out our renovation) for a gig as well.

And since it will be solstice, maybe we’ll take a midnight dip or a forest walk or something else to mark the day.

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A Few Things

Here are a few things I’ve wanted to share with you:

-From the AP — The Trump regime is considering repealing the ban on asbestos. Is this what MAHA means?

-In People — The co-founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, has 106+ children. But don’t worry it’s totally fine and normal because when he dies they’ll all split the inheritance. More commentary on this story:

-From Nantucket Current — How much cocaine is in Nantucket’s sewage? And what about fentanyl and other opiates? The town is about to find out.

-From This Will Hold on Substack — She Won. They Didn't Just Change the Machines. They Rewired the Election. How Leonard Leo's 2021 sale of an electronics firm enabled tech giants to subvert the 2024 election. And here’s Part 2 by the same author.

There are so many new articles that have come out about the election being corrupted. Are you following this story? Do you have opinions? Here’s another report presented in slides.

-In Deadline — Film Trailer Research Reveals “Young Male Audience Turning To Softer Men, Stronger Women Characters”.

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That’s all for now. I hope you have a bon week-end, and I hope that WWIII doesn’t happen.

kisses,
Gabrielle