Sometimes I have a surplus of things to write about in The Offcuts. Some weeks, I have so many influences or little snippets that I want to include they can roll over into the next one. I could say I’ve just been too present this week. Lost in the moment and not thinking about capturing it in a tangible way. How poetic. It doesn’t feel like the truth but maybe it is. What a poetic and elusive way to say I haven’t written anything, huh? I don’t want you to think I find this a drag, it’s quite the opposite. The Offcuts is like a scrapbook. Like you’re my parents and I’m showing you what I’ve done at school this week. If you’re not printing it out and sticking it on the fridge then a like, comment and share will suffice.
I started reading The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff this week. This darkly comic novel about murder and revenge has been really enjoyable so far. It strikes the right balance between being funny and insightful to life for women in rural India, striving to create better living conditions for themselves. Set to be another favourite read of 2024.
Again I am behind on my reading outside of books, but these are top of my list to read next:
Talking to My Dad From the Other Side
Nicola Coughlan Bet on Herself
“October is the month of painted leaves”
Demi Moore Is Done With the Male Gaze
I managed to get a booking for The Devonshire in Soho. Every week, they release tables for 3 weeks in advance and they get snatched up in minutes. There I was, 10:30am on the dot ready to pounce. The day has come around so when this lands in your inbox, I’ll be getting ready to make my way there for what I hope to be one of the best roast dinners of my life.
It’s nice to see that in light of absolutely every single fashion trend and accessory from the noughties making a comeback in the last 2 years (minus the hair quiff we’re all secretly waiting for), even Paul’s Boutique bags are rumoured to be getting another look in. I remember a few girls having them in high school, to the envy of everyone else. I remember their colourful patches and massive keyrings covered in charms. I did not purchase then and I will not be doing so now.
We’ve got some new words in The Merriam-Webster Dictionary. A few weeks back they announced a total of 200 words would be recognised and added. I can’t believe it’s taken THIS long for ‘snog’ to get in there. Snogging has been slag for generations. Yet selfie somehow managed to make its way in there years ago. To have snog getting its rightful recognition in this cohort alongside “shadow ban” and “for you page” is a travesty.
Yet another story this week about a man co-opting the dog work of women to successfully get a leg up. This time the culprit was John Steinbeck. He used Sanora Babb’s field notes when writing The Grapes of Wrath - piping her to the post to publish the great American “Dust Bowl” novel. It’s doubtful either way she would have achieved the success that Steinbeck did for the book. Even today, women still only win about a third of all literary prizes. Of course he’s not the only one. F Scott Fitzgerald stole numerous entries verbatim from his wife Zelda’s diaries for his writing. Similarly, Jackson Pollock’s legacy would be nothing if not for his wife Lee Krasner as Katy Hessel’s recent podcast series Death of an Artist explores. The role women have played in supporting and providing the conditions conducive to men’s creative successes continues to be overlooked.
So, this week it feels right to give voice to Sanora Babb. Here’s a passage from her memoir An Owl on Every Post. “The stars were withdrawn, small, giving no light, unlike other nights when they seemed to hang large from the sky ready to be reached for and taken into our hands.”
