photo by David Willardson, 1980

I'm back with another edition of filter the fluff

Let's get to it.



The Blindspots of Mostly White, Mostly Male Restaurant Critics


"From being asked for a drink by white patrons to being told a different wait time for a table (or told there are none at all), restaurant dining rooms too often act in accordance with the same racial hierarchy as the rest of the world...  
I’ve been handed the dessert wine menu at a bar because the bartender assumed I liked sweet wines, and been asked, “Have you had a Negroni before?” when ordering one — and even after assuring them that yes, I had, still suffered through a lecture explaining the concept of bitter flavor profiles. Experiences like these are constant reminders to people of color that they’re an “other” in dining spaces."

Korsha Wilson penned this piece for Eater about what restaurant criticism would look like if it truly represented diners of more diverse races.

*****

My Beauty Uniform: Ingrid Silva


"When Dance Theater of Harlem was founded, the director Arthur Mitchell decided the company should wear skin-colored shoes and tights. But I wear Chacott shoes, and they don’t make them in my skin color. Most brands don’t. So, I use Black Opal foundation to paint my shoes. I use their Ebony Brown shade, which makes the shoes match my skin perfectly on stage. I’d been doing this for ten years — spending almost $1,000 a year on foundation for my shoes."

Ingrid Silva shared her beauty uniform with A Cup of Jo and seriously opened my eyes to the lengths people of color go through in the professional dance world.

*****

When Two Bank Accounts Become One


"Pooling resources can help create something called “financial togetherness,” and that’s the special sauce. “Financial togetherness means that people feel like they have shared financial goals.” 
“That sense of togetherness is a strong factor in loving, happy relationships, even if it comes from activities that don’t sound particularly romantic. The more mundane aspects of merging money together influence how people feel like they are a ‘we’ instead of a ‘me versus you.’”

Charlotte Cowles writes for The Cut about sharing bank accounts with your significant other. It seems that more and more people are against the idea these days, but there's new research that says it may be better for your relationship in the long run.

*****

The Instagram Aesthetic is Over


"Culture is a pendulum, and the pendulum is swaying. That’s not to say everyone is going to stop posting perfect photos. But the energy is shifting. 
A year ago, an influencer could post a shot with manicured hands on a coffee cup and rake in the likes—but now, people will unfollow. According to Fohr, 60 percent of influencers in his network with more than 100,000 followers are actually losing followers month over month."

Taylor Lorenz claims those picture-perfect insta feeds are about to be a thing of the past, and I am thrilled. via The Atlantic

*****

Inside The World Of Stay-At-Home Moms Who Blog For Profit


"What’s different about this specific blog ecosystem is that the product many of the bloggers are selling is guides to setting up your own affiliate-linked blog or Shopify site, where you can sell your printables. The content of those printables and blog posts themselves seems secondary.  
If you look at it from the right angle, this type of blogging begins to resemble a cousin of multilevel marketing (MLM). Successful bloggers at the top of the figurative pyramid can earn income through newer bloggers sharing links to their products (printables or “blogging tools” and guides), while those less established bloggers earn a small affiliate commission."

I was absolutely fascinated by this piece Kathryn Jezer-Morton wrote for BuzzfeedNews on bloggers who make upwards of six figures selling printables and affiliate linking their favorite items.


*****

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