Yesterday, I saw a discount Harry Potter posing for photos in the dark and another full grown man in his mid-thirties in a Spiderman suit. An elderly man wearing black rollerbladed across the West Side Highway in the dark with his arms up. A dog skateboarded in Union Square. The Brooklyn Bridge was shut down because of protests. A man in one of those bike rickshaws decided to plunge his patrons into the unending traffic as he charged per minute (he ain’t no fool). Welcome to Manhattan in October 2023.
The month of October is often filled with delightful things and nature’s glorious scenes. The tiny skinny leaves have turned yellow and are carpeting the sidewalks. Some trees remain green in the background, still confused with the weather and fluctuating temperatures.
Yesterday was a summer day, and today, it is rainy and cool, and a perfect day to watch Frasier or Just Shoot Me!. I have candles lit and the playlist Autumn Jazz playing in the background.
The apples are ripe and delicious. I have a nice plate of them on my table, minus the smaller one that weirdly exploded in the sack. I learned, this year, that there are more than 7,000 varieties of apples. One of the most interesting names I heard was the King David apple. Speaking of King David, the attacks on Israel this month has shocked many of us to our cores. The violence on civilians and also nonsensical hate everywhere made October a month of grief. And speaking of loss, we also lost Matthew Perry yesterday. The world can’t catch a break.
It has been a busy month. I have been doing a lot of recordings, videos, and prep for conferences and other things coming soon for Modern Witnesses, my passion project. Our gift guides there are dropping soon. I keep brainstorming around our gratitude challenge, and other fun upcoming things.
October… Traffic was wild. Pizza wait times were unheard of. Trader Joe’s looked like the hunger games.
I spend mornings and evenings trying to pick out gifts for those in my life. I have to say, this year, I am really at a loss as to what to get for people. Also, in the midst of so much tragedy in the world and the fact that the world is teetering on the edge of something– it feels like we have so much.
The month was so busy that I didn’t read as much as I usually do. I did finish Blackout by Candace Owens, which was excellent. It is one of those books that belongs in the permanent library.
I am excited to try Tasha Franken Studios pilates, this upcoming month. This week, I will get the opportunity to meet someone I have admired for a long time (years). I am taking very seriously the post of the month called Daring to be Alive.
Below are some of my favorites from the month. There are less quotes, as I read less, and more talks– the ones I listened to on a packed train on my way to the office. Happiest November. I have a feeling it will be a month that feels like a blur. I will be weaving in and out of different trials. The holidays are upon us! Time to read the almanac…
Quotes
“In a world of cortisol spikes, make feeling safe in your body a priority.” @theholisticvenus
“When we lie, we become unhealthy. When we believe a lie, we become unhealthy. When we live a lie, we become irreparably unhealthy because humans are designed for truth.” Erwin McManus
“Truth emerges out of trust, and trust emerges out of trustworthiness.” Erwin McManus
“There is no difference between communism and socialism, except the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism –by vote.” Ayn Rand
“You know something is truth not because it is objective but because truth becomes a subjective transformational power that changes you.” Erwin McManus
“The only people I would care to be with now are artists and people who have suffered: those who know what beauty is and those who know what sorrow is. Nobody else interests me.” Oscar Wilde
“A writer is a world trapped inside a person.” Victor Hugo
Articles + Stuff
Free Press: (Two Murders) The Cost of ‘Luxury Beliefs’
Woke Ideology is a Murderous One by Noelle Mering
This month, I started reading Mind Shift, and this accompanying series was fire:
This one was my favorite:
This tribute to Len Goodman made me cry:
People Who Intrigue Me
Chef Benny Rivera (of CityCakes)
Candace Owens
“November comes, and November goes. With the last red berries And the first white snows. With night coming early and dawn coming late, ice in the bucket and frost by the gate. The fires burn, and the kettles sing, And earth sinks to rest until next spring.”
Clyde Watson
May your November be lived fiercely. xx
GABRIELA YARELIZ 