Young Girls, Dying Dreams, and Cherry Bakewells
March 30th - 6th April
Hello gentle reader,
I am writing this with some of the worst cramps known to womankind. I also had too much cheese before bed last night and woke up thinking that someone was talking to me at 2am.
Anyway, this week I will discuss how Disney films taught me some weird lessons, how the cost of living crisis is more than just a monetary worry, and a good book for anyone looking to join the revolution.
Happy reading!
Now That I Think About It
When I was little there were lots of different influences that prepared me for what it would be like to be a grown up. One of the major players was Disney films. In an article I wrote for Medium, I explain how three of my all time favourite films - The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Space Jam - taught me some serious lessons about what to expect from my life and what role I would play in it.
Misogyny is an insidious force that eats away at women through small, seeimingly benign stories, actions, and ways of being. Whether it’s an over-dependency on romantic relationships, assuming the role of an emotional caregiver, or a lesson in seduction, all of these movies prepared me for life in a way that was not necessarily for my greatest good. Some day, I’ll write again about how Disney taught me many good things, but this week, I unpack a few lessons I’ve had to unlearn.
Read it here (or click here if you are a Medium member).
The ‘cost’ of living crisis - how we pay for it with our dreams
The other day I found myself googling ‘how to live well without needing a conventional job’. I’d been thinking a lot about my work history and how in many jobs I’ve had I ended up sitting at my desk feeling like most of what I did wasn’t particularly useful. Meanwhile, what I really wanted to do was sitting unloved at home. Then there’s the opposite experience of being unemployed, losing my sense of routine and self, and ‘all those things I wanted to do’ suddenly staring me right in the face. It all felt so overwhelming.
Most of us are in a constant state of trying to balance how much of our time we will have to do things we don’t want to do, in order to do the things we truly love. That trade off is going to get worse. April has brought with it a huge cost of living shift (rising council tax, energy bills, water bills, broadband, and much more) with a very small rise in the ‘liveable’ minimum wage. Businesses are complaining about national insurance contributions but no one is hit harder than the average working person.
I used to work in cyber security. When people find this out, I often see the question in their eyes before they ask it - ‘How come you don’t go back to working in cyber? You could be paid so well!’ The simple answer is - I tried it and it wasn’t for me. A few years ago, I decided I would never again give a large portion my life to something I didn’t want to do, no matter how good the money was.
However, this does put me in ✨ a position ✨. My desire to write and speak about things is not an immediately lucrative path. It is a labour of love and luck. (Why art and expression aren’t seen as careers worthy of fair and equal opportunity is an article for another day.) As our society changes, anyone in fields that are not deemed ‘important’ will be required to forgo what they would ideally like to do in replacement for what they will have to do in order to survive. This is one of the biggest tradegies of our time. Each person is an unrepeatable combination of unique skills and desires and things to contribute to the world in the form of their chosen work. In a world where there is so much wealth and so many ways to live well and organise society, we shouldn’t have to do things we don’t want to do in order to live.
Therefore the ‘cost’ of living crisis is not wholly monetary, it is paid for with the sacrifice of our soul work, as less and less people have the freedom to live their lives to full self-actualisation.
Consumption Corner
‘never spoilerise’ - plato
📕 Minority Rule (Ash Sarkar, 2025) ☆☆☆
Started this book after exploring the free audiobooks options that come with Spotify Premium. A great one for all lefties looking to understand why we’re losing and the tools the other side are using to change the narrative.
🎤 Fear& Podcast - Patreon Episode ‘Embracing Your True Self’ ☆☆☆☆
There are few podcasts that I would pay extra for, but Fear& is always worth it as it is purely a banterous experience. In this episode there was a monologue about AI art that I thought was so profound I had to share it:
“I’m worried about people’s souls. I’m not only worried about the product but the process. The process of drawing or creating or singing or taking time to master any art form is intregral to a healthy mind [..] It gets you into a void state where humans can just exist and express themselves subconsciously [..]. If we lose a new generation of artists we might lose the methods that they used to soothe and become profound people that were worthy of being listened to” - Will Neff
🎧 Caramel, Sleep Token (2025) ☆☆☆
Afrobeat??? Okay… okay…!
Weekly Stats
Favourite perfume currently: Sunflower Pop, Floral Street
Cherry bakewells consumed: 4
AHHHHHH: 7
Times the trees taught me a deep and important lesson: 3
Sun: yay!
Next week on the rickleverse
I will update you on how I’m getting on navigating the ups and downs of living a mortal life, of course!
Thanks for reading.
Love you,
Rachael
