The Weekly Edit: The Slow Down

Oct 4, 2019

All week, I’ve felt like I was getting sick.  Headache.  Chills.  Sore throat.  That generally run down feeling.  But so far, nothing.

I spent most of last winter battling flus, and colds, and mystery respiratory illnesses.  (What can I say?  The Montana Capitol is a petri dish of disease during the session, and no one stays home when they’re sick.)  I’m trying my damnedest to stay well this winter — vitamins, water, sleep, exercise, hand washing, etc., but it feels like I’m fighting a losing battle.

So this weekend, I’m just going to slow it down.  I have books to read, some cleaning to do, some podcasts to listen to, and there is no reason that I need to leave this house.  Because it feels like my body needs a break.

This is the first fall/winter we’ve spent in this house, and we’ve discovered that the HVAC system isn’t up to the challenge.  Some rooms are too hot, others too cold.  My office is particularly chilly.  So how do I stay warm inside the wine fridge?  A heating pad and a desk chair sweater.

While the MM. LaFleur Morandi is my go-to super warm sweater, these two also make appearances depending on the outfit.

BB Dakota Ribbed Moto Jacket ($88)

LOFT Marled Open Cardigan (also in petite and plus, $60)

Republican lawyer George Conway has penned nearly 12,000 words for The Atlantic making the case that the President’s erratic behavior makes him unfit to serve.  While I don’t want to engage in a political debate, I do want to point you toward the latter fifth (?) of the article, which discusses what constitutes a “high Crime and Misdemeanor” in Constitutional terms.

In this section, Conway uses The Federalist Papers and the minutes of the Continental Congress to discuss what the Framers understood the phrase “high Crimes” to mean, and what they would have considered impeachable offenses based on how they viewed the role of the President.

If you want to turn specifically to this section without doing a word search through the piece, you can Ctrl+F for the phrase “practical mechanism for addressing.”  That will take you to the top of the section.  What the Framers understood the phrase to mean isn’t something I’ve ever heard discussed before, and given the propensity for cable news talking heads to misunderstand the law and the Constitution, I found it illuminating.

Do you suffer from dry hair?  This Alterna Caviar CC Cream infuses moisture without weighing hair down.  It was the only way to keep my hair extensions from turning into straw before the wedding.  And even after, it really helps with split ends and dry damaged hair.

Looking for a drugstore dupe?  Several messages boards recommend Pantene’s 10-in-1 BB Cream (though I can only find it sold as a two-pack on Amazon).

The producers Three Uncanny Four are out with Broken, a podcast about the many crimes of Jeffrey Epstein.  How a man could keep teenage girls as sex slaves while maintaining relationships with some of the most powerful people in America is mind boggling.  The Broken podcast dives into the allegations against Epstein and examines who else may have been involved in the trafficking of young women and the cover up.

And if you doubt that it’s possible that politicians, billionaires, and celebrities could know about a pedophile and keep it a secret, then you should give Crime Junkie’s episode about North Fox Island a listen.  Because the protection of powerful pedophiles is nothing new.  (But be warned both of these podcasts contain descriptions of terrible crimes against children and young women.)

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  1. Elizabeth says:

    I would love a career update post-wedding! I saw that you’re practicing family law now — that seems like an interesting turn! Do you think you’ll work on another campaign soon, or is the blog taking priority? Love your outfit recs! xo

    • Belle says:

      I’m cobbling a few things together right now. I have a couple of political clients running in MT in 2020 — one statewide, one smaller race. And I’m working with a friend who has a family law practice on contract, since I’ve done that kind of work before. I’m trying to settle into something more permanent, but I’m discovering that the end of the year isn’t the ideal time to be looking for full-time legal work. I interviewed for a job I really wanted a few weeks ago, but the office decided not to fill the position, which was a disappointment.

      • E says:

        End of the year is def the wrong time to look for a job, so take heart it isn’t you. I moved states at the end of October and hit the pavement hard looking for work. Was disappointed at the slowness at the end of the year and definitely internalized some of that. Sure enough, as soon as the year changed, I had loads of interviews and started a full time gig by March 1. Good luck!

        • Belle says:

          That’s what a few other people in town have said also. I have a couple of people who have told me to come back when they get their new budgets for 2020.

  2. Tammy says:

    For cold prevention I swear by Garden of Life raw zinc. I take at minimum one each day and double up if I’m about to go on a trip, public transport, or feeling a cold coming on. If I am feeling really bad, I’ll take it a few times a day and it really helps cut down on recovery time. It also seems to help with my breakouts as well.

    • Anna says:

      I swear by zinc, though I think they recommend that it not be taken for more than two weeks at a time. I use zinc lozenges as soon as I feel a cold coming on. FWIW, I haven’t gotten sick enough to need a day off in years (and that’s not cuz I’m trying to be a hero or anything, just nothing has turned into a full cold) .

    • Terri says:

      Tammy – are you familiar with any other Garden of Life raw products? Recently in addition to zinc their iron was recommended by a local homeopath.

  3. AlmA says:

    FWIW, Crime Junkie has been accused of extremely serious plagiarism accusations from writers and other podcasters. I’d caution against recommending her work.

    https://www.vulture.com/2019/08/crime-junkie-podcast-plagiarism-scandal.html

    • Belle says:

      Thanks for sharing, I hadn’t seen this. Though I do wonder how you would write or produce a wholly original crime show when the vast majority of the subject matter has been covered before. That being said, they should credit the sources, especially since they talk about how much research they do.

      • AlmA says:

        A few podcasters posted side by side comparisons of their episodes with the plagiarized Crime Junkie episodes. One podcast in particular (Trace Evidence) used to post transcripts of his episodes per reader requests and at least one of the plagiarized Crime Junkie episodes was a reading of the Trace Evidence transcript nearly word for word.

        I do agree that the subject matter all comes from the same sources; however the situation here is not retelling the same story from a source by multiple podcasts. She was just copying others’ stories and transcripts and recorded herself reading them.

        • Belle says:

          Damn. Thanks for pointing that out.

        • Al says:

          Everybody should post their sources and give credit where they get their information, especially if they are making money. However, the podcast I find pretty egregious is My Favorite Murder. They “state” their sources but they literally just read from sources, tv shows, mag articles etc. How is what they are doing any better? They are making bank on other people’s work and regurgitating it on a podcast with millions of listeners. They rarely have any original information. If Crime Junkies posted their sources but continued to read other people’s work, would that be equal? Obviously podcasting is still a little wildwest, but with the money involved nowadays, the industry should be under more scrutiny.

  4. Kelly says:

    I’ll have to check out the Atlantic article. A deep, historical dive into current events is what I want to read but haven’t gone looking for.

    And I had the weird “feel like I’m getting sick” thing a few weeks back. Started up my allergy meds because ’tis the season. Kinda feeling better but also feeling like the meds are giving me weird side effects this time around.

  5. Janine says:

    Thank you for The Atlantic article. I have been trying to look beyond the political grandstanding and objectively ascertain whether the offenses are impeachable, and that portion of the article was, in fact, illuminating.

  6. Kim says:

    Are you listening to “What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law”? A UC Davis constitutional law professor, Elizabeth Joh, and Roman Mars use Trump’s tweets as a starting point for discussing certain aspects of constitutional law. It’s not only about Trump; they discuss the history of the particular closed or idea and look at other judgements that have been made by the Supreme Court (in most instances) and lower Courts (when the Supreme Court hasn’t heard a case on the subject).

  7. Teddy says:

    I cannot agree with you more on the George Conway article. It was an excellent read, if for his citations alone. Definitely a must-read!

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