Colleen Taylor's blog2020-06-24T03:10:00ZColleen Taylorhttps://colleen-taylor.com/Copyright 2008-2018 Colleen TaylorOn favorites, and America's everlasting dreamhttp://www.colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/1972020-06-24T03:10:00Z2020-06-24T03:10:00Z
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><img src="//colleen-taylor.com/blog/images/https%3A//pictures.abebooks.com/NSRB/1674817010.jpg?width=250&height=358" alt="" width="250" height="358" /></span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">At my age, I've outgrown the notion of "favorites." (Can we outgrow it as a society too? People sometimes ask my toddler to name her "favorite" color. I know they mean well, but she always seems so stumped by the question, but I don't want to encourage her to conjure a fake answer. She's two! All colors are awesome.)</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">That said: I'm currently re-reading Thomas Wolfe's <em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Can%27t_Go_Home_Again">You Can't Go Home Again</a></em>, which I decided was my favorite novel when I read it one slow sunburned summer at age 19 or 20. And I have to say, it's still got it. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">An excerpt:</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 22px; color: #33054b;"><span style="font-size: 24px;">I believe that we are lost here in America, but I believe we shall be found.</span> And this belief, which mounts now to the catharsis of knowledge and conviction, is for me—and I think for all of us—not only our own hope, but America’s everlasting, living dream. I think the life which we have fashioned in America, and which has fashioned us—the forms we made, the cells that grew, the honeycomb that was created—was self-destructive in its nature, and must be destroyed.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 22px; color: #33054b;">I think these forms are dying, and must die, just as I know that America and the people in it are deathless, undiscovered, and immortal, and must live. I think the true discovery of America is before us. I think the true fulfillment of our spirit, of our people, of our mighty and immortal land, is yet to come. I think the true discovery of our own democracy is still before us. And I think that all these things are certain as the morning, as inevitable as noon.</span></p>
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<a href="https://colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/197/on-favorites-and-americas-everlasting-dream?new=true#new">Comment</a>
Getting too bourgeoishttp://www.colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/1962019-09-22T03:08:06Z2019-09-22T03:08:06Z
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: CrimsonText, helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"><img src="//colleen-taylor.com/blog/images/https%3A//media.architecturaldigest.com/photos/5d656e123bd1f20008758815/master/w_1600%252Cc_limit/AD1019_DISC_PAULIN_BEN_MOORE_01.jpg?width=433&height=325" alt="" width="433" height="325" /></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino; letter-spacing: 0.2px; font-size: 22px; color: #33054b;">“We don’t want to be fixed in something that doesn’t move. In French we call it getting too bourgeois.” </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; color: #000000;">--Alice Lemoine, whose chic and relatively minimal family home was <a href="https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/furniture-master-pierre-paulins-legacy-lives-on-in-benjamin-paulin-and-alice-lemoines-paris-apartment">featured in</a> the October 2019 issue of Architectural Digest (which is lately my favorite magazine into which I escape from my very bourgeois life)</span></p>
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<a href="https://colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/196/getting-too-bourgeois?new=true#new">Comment</a>
The online clamorhttp://www.colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/1952019-04-20T16:49:35Z2019-04-20T16:49:35Z
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 5, 75); font-family: nyt-imperial, georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; font-size: 19px;"><span style="font-size: 22px;">"At the time,</span> like many of her friends, she was frozen, unsure of how to proceed. In Oakland, where she lives, it felt like everyone she knew was asking themselves, 'What is the point of what I am doing? Am I adding anything to the world?' At the same time, it felt difficult to distance oneself from the online clamor long enough to formulate an answer."<br /></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><span style="color: #000000;">-- from the <span style="color: #00ccff;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/books/attention-books-jenny-odell.html"><span style="color: #00ccff;">NYT Book Review</span></a></span> of Jenny Odell's </span><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="color: #000000;">“How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy." I really, really liked <span style="color: #00ccff;"><a href="https://medium.com/@the_jennitaur/how-to-do-nothing-57e100f59bbb"><span style="color: #00ccff;">the essay she wrote</span></a></span> which apparently led to the b</span>ook. If I can pry myself away from the Internet for long enough maybe I'll actually read the book too.</span></span></p>
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<a href="https://colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/195/the-online-clamor?new=true#new">Comment</a>
"I can walk away."http://www.colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/1932018-07-24T15:19:10Z2018-07-24T15:19:10Z
<p><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino; color: #33054b;"><img src="//colleen-taylor.com/blog/images/https%3A//hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/hannahgadsby-10-1532124654.jpg?width=515&height=290" alt="" width="515" height="290" /></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino; color: #33054b;">“I’m too old—not too old, but I’m tired—to put a lot of energy into something I don’t really want to do. And I am genuine when I say I can walk away.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">-Hannah Gadsby, the (perhaps now former) stand-up comic on deciding to leave comedy for good after her very successful show <em>Nanette</em>. Via her interview with <em><a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/07/nanette-hannah-gadsby-netflix-interview-standup-comedy">Vanity Fair</a></em></span></p>
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<a href="https://colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/193/i-can-walk-away?new=true#new">Comment</a>
A certain way to behttp://www.colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/1892017-11-17T19:49:46Z2017-11-17T19:49:46Z
<p><span style="color: #33054b; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><img src="//colleen-taylor.com/blog/images/https%3A//media.gq.com/photos/5a008e5103714b6ea9a917e8/master/w_800/Kevin%2520Durant-Man%2520of%2520the%2520Year-1217-GQ-FEKD07-01.jpg?width=348&height=482" alt="" width="348" height="482" /></span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #33054b; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">"Unlike LeBron James, who'd grown up in the spotlight and had years to get used to an unsettling level of fame and attention, or Steph Curry, who'd grown up wealthy, in a family that passed along a measure of security and knowledge about life off the court, Durant was learning as he went. </span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #33054b; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">'I wasn't no phenom growing up,' he told me. 'It was just my mom, my brother, my godfather, and my grandma. My games wasn't packed out in high school. I didn't even play at night. So this shit is all new. As it's happening, I'm experiencing it for the first time.</span> </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #33054b; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"><span style="font-size: 24px;">I wasn't taught a certain way to be growing up. I got taught right from wrong, and how to be fair. Anything else, I had to figure out.'"</span></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"> </p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">--From GQ's <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/kevin-durant-is-just-heating-up-profile">recent profile</a> of Kevin Durant. I've been watching more basketball recently, and Durant is definitely a favorite. The Warriors are very lucky to have him.</span></p>
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<a href="https://colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/189/a-certain-way-to-be?new=true#new">Comment</a>
"She writes finely, but no one ever sees her"http://www.colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/1882017-11-15T19:49:27Z2017-11-15T19:49:27Z
<p> </p>
<p><span style="color: #777777; font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 1px;"><img src="//colleen-taylor.com/blog/images/https%3A//chiedere.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/emily_dickenson-colorful.jpg%3Fw%3D495?width=241&height=354" alt="" width="241" height="354" /></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #33054b; font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 1px;">"I must tell you about the character of Amherst. It is a lady whom people call 'the myth.' She is a sister of Mr. Dickinson, and seems to be the climax of all the family oddity. She has not been outside of her own house in fifteen years, except once to see a new church, when she crept out at night and viewed it by moonlight. No one who calls upon her, no one who ever calls upon her mother and sister, ever sees her, but she allows little children once in a great while, and one at time, to come in, when she gives them cake and candy or some nicety, for she is very fond of little ones. But more often, she lets down the sweetmeat by string out of a window to them.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #33054b; font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 1px;">She dresses wholly in white, and her mind is said to be perfectly wonderful. She writes finely, but no one ever sees her. Her sister, who was at Mrs. Dickinson's party, invited me to come and sing to her mother sometime and I promised to go & if the performance pleases her, a servant will enter with wine for me, or a flower, & perhaps her thanks; but just probably the token of approval will not come then, but a few days after, some dainty present will appear for me at twilight. People tell me 'the myth' will hear every note -- she will be near, but unseen.</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #33054b; font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 1px;">...Isn't that like a book? So interesting. No one knows the cause of her isolation, but of course there are dozens of reasons assigned." </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"> </p>
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 1px;">I liked the recent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/14/t-magazine/artistic-recluse-jd-salinger-thomas-pynchon.html?_r=0">article about artistic recluses</a> in<em> T Magazine,</em> which referenced this letter that Mabel Loomis Todd wrote to her parents in 1881 upon moving to Amherst and learning of her new neighbor, Emily Dickinson.</span></span></p>
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<a href="https://colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/188/she-writes-finely-but-no-one-ever-sees-her?new=true#new">Comment</a>
"I don't need the likes."http://www.colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/1862017-03-03T00:45:46Z2017-03-03T00:45:46Z
<div class="article-body article-body--social-outset content" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 3rem; color: #000000;" data-track-type="article-body" data-reactid=".3ts1o6m6f4.1:$layout-component.2.0.0.0.1">
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<p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 3rem; font-size: 1.8rem; line-height: 2.6rem;" data-reactid=".3ts1o6m6f4.1:$layout-component.2.0.0.0.1.$0.$17"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 22px; color: #33054b;" data-reactid=".3ts1o6m6f4.1:$layout-component.2.0.0.0.1.$0.$17.0"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="//colleen-taylor.com/blog/images/http%3A//assets.bonappetit.com/photos/58b45fe440524d192ac825b6/5%3A7/w_2056%2Cc_limit/Main_H44A9950_rev.jpg?width=370&height=518" alt="Debbie Solomon" width="370" height="518" /></span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 3rem; font-size: 1.8rem; line-height: 2.6rem;" data-reactid=".3ts1o6m6f4.1:$layout-component.2.0.0.0.1.$0.$17"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 24px;">"I’m getting paid. I don’t need the likes."</span></p>
<p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-bottom: 3rem; font-size: 1.8rem; line-height: 2.6rem;" data-reactid=".3ts1o6m6f4.1:$layout-component.2.0.0.0.1.$0.$17"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #33054b;" data-reactid=".3ts1o6m6f4.1:$layout-component.2.0.0.0.1.$0.$17.0"> -- I really enjoyed <a href="http://www.bonappetit.com/story/rihannas-personal-chef">this interview i</a></span><span style="color: #000000;"><a href="http://www.bonappetit.com/story/rihannas-personal-chef"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;" data-reactid=".3ts1o6m6f4.1:$layout-component.2.0.0.0.1.$0.$17.0">n </span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;" data-reactid=".3ts1o6m6f4.1:$layout-component.2.0.0.0.1.$0.$17.0"><a href="http://www.bonappetit.com/story/rihannas-personal-chef"><em>Bon Appétit</em></a> </span></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #33054b;" data-reactid=".3ts1o6m6f4.1:$layout-component.2.0.0.0.1.$0.$17.0">with Rihanna's personal chef, Debbie Solomon; especially her reasoning for not oversharing the perks of her lifestyle and career on social media.</span></span></p>
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<a href="https://colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/186/i-dont-need-the-likes?new=true#new">Comment</a>
The way the world workshttp://www.colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/1842016-12-06T01:15:47Z2016-12-06T01:15:47Z
<p><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino; color: #33054b;"><span style="font-size: 22px;"><img src="//colleen-taylor.com/blog/images/http%3A//media.gq.com/photos/58404eb8d0b2e2f33d3221dd/16%3A9/w_1280/1216-GQ-FETF01-01-tom-ford-02.jpg?width=514&height=289" alt="" width="514" height="289" /></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino; color: #33054b;"><span style="font-size: 24px;">"So he says this next thing,</span> <span style="font-size: 18px;">and it doesn’t come off as lascivious, the way it might have years ago, but thoughtful and aware: Yes, he says, all men should be penetrated at some point. And not as in emotions. He means: All men should be fucked.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #33054b; font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;">'I think it would help them understand women,' he argues. 'It’s such a vulnerable position to be in, and it’s such a passive position to be in. And there’s such an invasion, in a way, that even if it’s consensual, it’s just very personal. And I think there’s a psyche that happens because of it that makes you understand and appreciate what women go through their whole life, because it’s not just sexual, it’s a complete setup of the way the world works, that one sex has the ability to literally—and is expected to and is wanted to—but also there’s</span><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 18px; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> an invasion. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino; color: #33054b; font-size: 18px;">And I think that that’s something most men do not understand at all.'"</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px;"><em><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">-- Tom Ford, who always gives good interview, <a href="http://www.gq.com/story/tom-ford-interview-nocturnal-animals-moty">profiled in GQ</a> by Taffy Brodesser-Anker (who always writes<a href="https://longform.org/archive/writers/taffy-brodesser-akner"> great profiles</a>)</span></em></span></p>
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<a href="https://colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/184/the-way-the-world-works?new=true#new">Comment</a>
"You were allowed to think what you wanted"http://www.colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/1832016-11-09T01:23:13Z2016-11-09T01:23:13Z
<p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia,;"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="//colleen-taylor.com/blog/images/https%3A//static01.nyt.com/images/2016/11/08/nyregion/08NYTODAY1/08NYTODAY1-master768.jpg?width=519&height=346" alt="" width="519" height="346" /></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #33054b; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;">“I had my idea, and I was treated nice no matter what. You had your privacy and you were allowed to think what you wanted to think.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">I really liked <span style="color: #33cccc;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/08/nyregion/new-york-today-104-years-old-and-still-voting.html"><span style="color: #33cccc;">this short NYT interview</span></a></span> with 104-year-old Polish émigré Rose Orbach on how remarkable it felt to vote for the first time as an American citizen in 1956. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; color: #000000; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">There is a certain feeling I always get inside the voting booth -- this mix of autonomy and productivity. Reading this made me think about how special it is.</span></p>
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<a href="https://colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/183/you-were-allowed-to-think-what-you-wanted?new=true#new">Comment</a>
"I am decisive, you know."http://www.colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/1812016-02-02T01:16:36Z2016-02-02T01:16:36Z
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 20px;"><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 23px;"><span style="font-size: 28px;"><img src="//colleen-taylor.com/blog/images/http%3A//static01.nyt.com/images/2016/01/23/business/25conde1/25conde1-master675.jpg?width=675&height=483" alt="Anna Wintour" width="675" height="483" /></span></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #33054b;"><span style="font-size: 32px;">“I am decisive, you know.</span> <span style="font-size: 28px;">I don’t believe in wasting anybody’s time. I like to be honest. I like to be clear. </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 28px; color: #33054b;">In my own personal career, I have felt almost the most difficult thing to deal with is someone who doesn’t tell you what they are thinking.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 19px;"><em>--Anna Wintour in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/01/business/media/conde-nast-adapts-to-new-forces-unsettling-some-inside.html">New York Times</a></em></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size: 19px;"><span style="line-height: 1.42857;">Anna Wintour responded with her characteristic class to the latest <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/01/business/media/conde-nast-adapts-to-new-forces-unsettling-some-inside.html">subtly-gendered jabs</a> in the press about her management style. Turns out, w</span>hat trendy Silicon Valley people are now calling '<a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/nice-is-a-four-letter-word-at-companies-practicing-radical-candor-1451498192">Radical Candor</a>,' Anna has been doing all along.</span></p>
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<a href="https://colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/181/i-am-decisive-you-know?new=true#new">Comment</a>
"But, for some reason, was held back"http://www.colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/1782015-08-06T02:18:03Z2015-08-06T02:18:03Z
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 22px; color: #33054b;"><span style="font-size: 32px;">"Bette Midler told</span> Patrick Healy, of the <em>Times</em>, that she had wanted to be a serious dramatic actress but had faltered for lack of courage. 'I have that terror,' she said. 'Will people like you? Will they ask you back? Did I make the cut? That's always on my mind.' </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 22px; color: #33054b;">To hear the brash, funny, commanding (as far as we knew) Midler tell of worrying whether people would like her is painful. But, in every group of artists, the insiders can tell you who, among them, should have had a bigger career but, for some reason, was held back. </span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 22px; color: #33054b;">...[Dancer Mikhail] Baryshnikov believes that it is the feeling of obligation to the audience that triggers stagefright: <span style="font-size: 24px;">'Suddenly the morality kicks in. These people bought a ticket to your show.'"</span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: left; padding-left: 30px;"> <em><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: 'times new roman', times;">--from the very interesting <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/08/03/i-cant-go-on">article on stagefright</a> by Joan Acocella in the <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/08/03/i-cant-go-on">August 3 issue of the New Yorker</a>.</span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: left; padding-left: 30px;"> </p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">We all know an individual who is brilliant, but also inordinately shy or reclusive. I liked Baryshnikov's comparison of such anxiety to a sudden, chastening sense of "morality" and responsibility to others.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Reading this made me sad to think of how many of the most gifted and sensitive people among us are too reticent, leaving a significant portion of success' upper echelon wide open for those who are mediocre but oddly devoid of the moral -- and perfectly natural -- inclination to occassionally check themselves and dial it back.</span></p>
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<a href="https://colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/178/but-for-some-reason-was-held-back?new=true#new">Comment</a>
Literal mirageshttp://www.colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/1772015-07-22T08:11:06Z2015-07-22T08:11:06Z
<p class="p-block a-ok" style="margin-left: 16px; margin-right: 16px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"><span style="font-size: 24px;"><span style="color: #222222;">"Now and then they are literal mirages — I see a broad-shouldered figure with blond curly hair, </span><span style="color: #222222;">and my heart lifts, my pace quickens — for an instant I think, Aha! Of course! David’s back. I </span><span style="color: #222222;">knew it all along. What a laugh we’ll have over this!"</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px;">--From a very well-written <em>New York Times</em> article about moving on with life after an unexpected loss (from a writer who has been dealt more than her fair share of such things), aptly titled "<a href="http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/opinionator/2015/07/22/replacing-the-irreplaceable">Replacing the Irreplacable</a>." </span></p>
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Things I've Bought That I Love, Vol. 3http://www.colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/1762015-05-16T16:08:26Z2015-05-16T16:08:26Z
<p>After a hiatus of a few years (!), it's time for another roundup of recent material acquisitions that have made me happy. You can read earlier entries <a href="../tag/things%20i%27ve%20bought%20that%20i%20love">here</a>.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 20px;"><img src="//colleen-taylor.com/blog/images/http%3A//www.bodytime.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/258x258/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/a/n/anti-oxidant_serum-1.2oz.jpg?width=211&height=211" alt="" width="211" height="211" /></span></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size: 20px;"><a href="http://www.bodytime.com/antioxidant-hydrating-serum.html">Body Time Antioxidant Hydrating Serum</a></span></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">I have dry skin, so I moisturize, big time. My husband calls my bedtime ritual of slathering my face in cream "the oil spill." But thick creams and oils aren't great underneath daytime SPF and makeup, so I had just gotten used to having a slightly parched face by the end of the day.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Until I found <a href="http://www.bodytime.com/antioxidant-hydrating-serum.html">this</a>! This stuff is <em>so great</em>. It soaks in quickly, so it is both lightweight on the skin and deeply moisturizing. All killer no filler. It smells nice, but doesn't have any artificial fragrance -- just a nice botanical scent from the actual ingredients. It's not <em>cheap</em> cheap ($34 for a small bottle) but it's way less than you'd spend on something similar at Sephora. A little goes a very long way, and once you have the pump you can buy refill bottles. I like how you can actually open it and get every last bit out (no overly clever packaging here.) </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Body Time is based in Berkeley, and going into its store is basically like I'd imagine it was to visit the original Body Shop back in the 1970s, before it went all corporate. Just plain packaging and good all-natural stuff. Oh also! They make this fragrance called <a href="http://www.bodytime.com/chinarain.html">China Rain</a>, which JLo is pretty much <a href="http://www.makeupalley.com/product/showreview.asp/ItemId=64912/Body-Time-China-Rain-/Unlisted-Brand/Fragrances">understood to have ripped off</a> when she created Glow. I have the <a href="http://www.bodytime.com/china-rain-reg-refresher.html">refresher</a>. It smells fresh and cleanly attractive, and you can spray it everywhere, in rooms and on clothes, whatever. Like Glow but way better.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 20px;"><img src="//colleen-taylor.com/blog/images/http%3A//i.americanapparel.net/storefront/photos/morephotos/rsatr334/rsatr334_06.jpg?width=174&height=232" alt="" width="174" height="232" /> <img src="//colleen-taylor.com/blog/images/http%3A//i.americanapparel.net/storefront/photos/morephotos/rsatr334/rsatr334_02.jpg?width=174&height=232" alt="" width="174" height="232" /></span></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size: 20px;"><a href="http://store.americanapparel.net/tri-blend-leisure-pant_rsatr334">American Apparel Tri-Blend Leisure Pant</a></span></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">These are a great pair of what my friend <a href="http://www.lauraoppenheimer.com/">Laura</a> calls "inside pants." They are super comfortable while being decently cute -- they hug your hips a bit, are just baggy enough in the legs, and come in at the ankle so they don't drag on the ground or look sloppy. (The picture on the right makes them look both tighter and higher-waisted than they are, FYI.) I have the gray ones and the tri-black ones -- the latter can even pass as very casual <em>outside</em> pants, for grocery runs etc. They're made in the USA, which is a huge plus. Overall, a big upgrade from the $5 Forever 21 leggings that I wore for 10 years until they became see through.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 20px;"><img src="//colleen-taylor.com/blog/images/http%3A//cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0592/9689/products/091514_BROOKLINEN88519.jpg%3Fv%3D1429071872?width=352&height=302" alt="" width="352" height="302" /></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 20px;"><a href="http://brooklinen.com/collections/classic-sheets/products/core-set?variant=768980135">Brooklinen sheets</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Long story:</strong> One of the weird things about getting older has been developing a keen interest in things I'd previously found terribly boring, <a href="https://instagram.com/p/xFYUHbrmr1/?taken-by=loyalelectron">like upholstery</a>. And bedding. In college I was happy with pilled "t-shirt sheets" that I was lucky if I washed once a quarter. These days I'm a stickler about washing my sheets weekly, and daydream about the perfect bed. I look at pictures of <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2557313/Yolanda-Foster-sells-27-5m-dream-home-recovers-battle-Lyme-disease.html">Yolanda Foster's Malibu mansion</a> and rather than focus on the view (and the absurdity of a $30 million house) I zoom in on the bedrooms, trying to figure out what sheets she uses. It's an obsession.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">To my dismay, I've discovered that top-tier sheets cost way beyond what I could ever justify as a "splurge." Like, <a href="http://www.frette.com/barong-pizzo-queen-sheet-set-mineral-grey.html">$2740</a> for an Italian-made queen set. The best deal I could find was <a href="http://www.sferra.com/product/sheets/11716-7599/sferra-isabella-sheets.html">around $800</a>. Just way beyond too much. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Brooklinen to the rescue! Brooklinen is a startup <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/3029810/most-creative-people/brooklinen-wants-to-disrupt-your-sleep-with-hundred-dollar-high-end-she">that promises</a> the type of luxury bedding you'd find at a hotel like the Four Seasons for the relatively lower cost of $100 a set. According to the company, the lower price is possible because Brooklinen employs the kind of lean business model <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/05/everlane-michael-preysman-copycats/">made famous by</a> Everlane.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">At first I was dubious. Since its website did not say where the sheets were made, I wondered if they were contracted from East or Southeast Asia, which is a concern to me because of the various labor and human rights issues with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Savar_building_collapse">the garment business there</a>. Nosy nebby that I am, I called Brooklinen's customer service department, and a man named Rich answered, who happens to be the CEO! He told me that Brooklinen makes its sheets in Israel, with Egyptian cotton. (I'm not sure why this info isn't on the website, but perhaps the company wants to stay out of political discussions.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Rich told me: "When we sourced our sheets we wanted to be in the $100 to $200 range with the best possible fabric, and ruled out East Asia, as we didn't want to let our customers down by implying we went with the cheapest production strategy possible... We explored Italy and found that most of what you pay for there are legacy costs of older infrastructure and workers, in addition to the 22% tariff on woven goods exported from Italy. We could have gone there, but felt the product would be inferior and price would be higher." </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Long story short:</strong> I ordered a set of these <a href="http://brooklinen.com/collections/classic-sheets/products/core-set?variant=768980135">classic percale sheets</a>, and they are easily the best I've ever owned: Crisp, cool, soft, luxurious. My husband recently said unprompted in the middle of the day, "Those new sheets are the <em>best</em>" (maybe he is catching the bedding obsession too?) I just ordered another set, and will probably get rid of my old sheets altogether, since now I only look forward to sleeping on the Brooklinen ones. Highly recommended.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 20px;"><img src="//colleen-taylor.com/blog/images/http%3A//cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0153/0623/products/anisette_large_grande.jpg%3Fv%3D1337735893?width=307&height=224" alt="" width="307" height="224" /></span></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size: 20px;">Kobo Candle in <a href="http://www.kobocandles.com/pages/store_detailpage.php?id=23">Orange Amber</a> and <a href="http://www.kobocandles.com/pages/store_detailpage.php?id=6">Anisette Orange</a> </span></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">I will be so sad if either of these candles are ever discontinued! Both of these scents are good year-round, and smell distinctive in a vaguely expensive way -- not just a simple floral or fruit -- without being overpowering. At $38, they are not cheap, but they last a very long time, are made in the USA, come in a pretty box along with matches, and are a nice indulgence for yourself or as a hostess gift. It is soy, so it burns nicely and you can easily clean it out at the end and keep the glass.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 20px;"> <img src="//colleen-taylor.com/blog/images/http%3A//www.southoffrancebodycare.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/FSBar_Lemon-300x261.jpg%3F22f3e7?width=269&height=234" alt="" width="269" height="234" /></span></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size: 20px;"><a href="http://www.southoffrancebodycare.com/item/lemon-verbena-bar-soap/">South of France Lemon Verbena soap</a></span></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">When I was buying a few more bars of this recently at my local grocery store, the cashier said, "Wow, these smell amazing! Ooh, I'll have to buy some." It's also all vegetable and free of stuff like parabens, so it lathers well and is not too drying. Another of of those things I like so much that I'm scared for it to ever be discontinued.</span></p>
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Tory Burch on negativity and noisehttp://www.colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/1742015-03-09T02:22:49Z2015-03-09T02:22:49Z
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-weight: 600; color: #33054b; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 19px; line-height: 28.5px;"><img src="//colleen-taylor.com/blog/images/http%3A//hbz.h-cdn.co/assets/15/08/980x1470/gallery_1424384937-hbz-tory-burch-lead.jpg?width=270&height=405" alt="" width="270" height="405" /></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #33054b; font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 32px; line-height: 28.5px;">Do you have a mantra or a phrase that you live by?</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 5, 75); font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 36px; line-height: 28.5px;">"Negativity is noise."</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18px;">I liked this bit in the <a href="http://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/designers/a10039/tory-burch-0315/">Q&A with Tory Burch</a> in the March issue of <em>Harper's Bazaar</em>. I personally don't own any Tory Burch things -- I just tend to shy away from wearing bold prints and bright colors, though I do like her new fragrance -- but I certainly admire Burch as a businesswoman who's built one of the most recognizable and successful new fashion brands in decades.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18px;">Reading the quote above reminded me that she's actually grown her company amidst <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2012/12/tory-burch-chris-c-wonder">quite a bit</a> of <a href="http://www.racked.com/2015/1/7/7562085/c-wonder-chris-burch">negativity and noise</a>, much of it quite personal and undoubtedly hurtful. It's kind of remarkable that despite the public turmoil, when you think of Tory Burch you never think of any type of trouble: She and her company have maintained a cool, crisp, serene, and successful image through it all. It's funny how sometimes the truest grit can be found in what looks like a pretty and peaceful package.</span></p>
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"Everything is possible"http://www.colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/1732015-01-08T20:59:29Z2015-01-08T20:59:29Z
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino; color: #33054b; font-size: 32px;">"There's something about experiencing loss very young. <span style="font-size: 24px;">My mom used to talk about it all the time because her dad died when she was an infant. In my case, it was my father and brother. </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino; color: #33054b; font-size: 24px;">You never feel safe, but at the same time, you know everything is possible — both good and bad."</span></p>
<p> -A poignant sentiment from Anderson Cooper on on the anxiety, fear, and also valuable perspective that can come from sudden or unexpected loss, in an otherwise flip joint interview he did with Kathy Griffin in the <em><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/28/fashion/anderson-cooper-and-kathy-griffin-are-naughty-and-nice.html?_r=0">New York Times</a></em></p>
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The key commandment of writinghttp://www.colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/1722014-12-18T02:53:19Z2014-12-18T02:53:19Z
<p><span style="font-size: 28px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"...She said that she has one key commandment of writing<span style="color: #33054b;">: </span></span></span><span style="color: #33054b;"><span style="font-size: 28px;"><span style="font-size: 32px;"><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino;">'</span><span style="font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino;">Ass in the chair.'"</span></span></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18px; color: #33054b;">I often think of this quip from the fascinating and fun to read June 2009 <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/06/22/real-romance-2"><span style="color: #33054b;"><em>New Yorker</em> profile</span></a> of the prolific romance novelist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nora_Roberts"><span style="color: #33054b;">Nora Roberts</span></a> (who also writes mysteries under the <em>nom de plume</em> of J.D. Robb.) </span></p>
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Disco Christmas treeshttp://www.colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/1712014-12-10T21:20:22Z2014-12-10T21:20:22Z
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #33054b; font-size: 24px;"><img src="//colleen-taylor.com/blog/images/http%3A//graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2014/11/16/t-magazine/16luxury-arena-fonseca-slide-KYNS/16luxury-arena-fonseca-slide-KYNS-slide.jpg?width=450&height=300" alt="" width="450" height="300" /></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; color: #33054b;"><span style="font-size: 32px;">"In the disco era,</span> <span style="font-size: 18px;">we hung our Christmas tree from the upper reaches of the ceiling, its lights dazzling like a mirror ball as it worryingly spun. Another year, my mother, disinclined to go out in the snow and buy a tree, <span style="font-size: 24px;">just painted one onto the wall."</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">Isabel Fonseca wrote an enjoyable to read article in the <a href="http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/14/isabel-fonseca-home/">November 14th issue</a> of the <em>New York Times'</em> T Magazine about what it was like to grow up in an apartment (pictured above) with artistic parents in Greenwich Village in the 1960s and 1970s.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">My generation is in some ways more cautious than the last couple of preceding generations were. I'd argue that this is often by necessity (it's hard to be footloose when you start out your adult life with <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/numbers/congatulations-to-class-of-2014-the-most-indebted-ever-1368/">tens of thousands of dollars</a> in student debt. Or to be whimsical decorating a house that you've mortgaged for hundreds of thousands, since home prices have also risen <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2014/02/us-house-prices">precipitously</a> in the past couple of decades.)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Still, I'd like to bring some of that old school freestyle spirit back into my life, especially when I have children of my own. "It's too snowy outside. Mom's just going to paint the Christmas tree on the wall this year" sounds like the start of a fun holiday season.</span></p>
<p> </p>
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Out in disguisehttp://www.colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/1692014-11-05T02:50:10Z2014-11-05T02:50:10Z
<p><span style="color: #33054b; font-size: 24px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"But walking around</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> Chinatown </span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">is the only time I can feel authentic old Manhattan -- our neighborhoods have been neutered. I miss the old New Yorkers," she adds. </span></span></p>
<p><span style="color: #33054b; font-size: 24px;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">"What's confusing is that all these jocks dress alternative now due to hipsterdom or whatever. They're all out in disguise. It's very disturbing."</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 13px; color: #33054b;"><em><span style="font-family: helvetica;">-- Chloe Sevigny in the November issue of </span></em><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="http://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/daring-women-chloe-sevigny-1114"><span style="color: #33054b;">Harper's Bazaar</span></a></span><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 15px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I liked this when I read it, as it articulates something that's bugged me lately in my more cynical moments, in NYC and elsewhere. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: helvetica; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 15px;">But there's likely <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_appropriation"><span style="color: #000000;">nothing</span></a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentrification"><span style="color: #000000;">new</span></a> happening <a href="http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Ecclesiastes-1-9/"><span style="color: #000000;">under the sun</span></a>. I'm probably just getting old and wanting all these kids to get off my lawn.</span></p>
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Just one of those thingshttp://www.colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/1682014-08-20T02:58:02Z2014-08-20T02:58:02Z
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="color: #33054b;"> <img src="//colleen-taylor.com/blog/images/https%3A//scontent-b-pao.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpa1/t1.0-9/35209_1553300033626_6148007_n.jpg?width=243&height=342" alt="" width="243" height="342" /></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: 24px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #33054b;">"Good evening, Taylors' residence... May I ask who's calling, please?... Hold on, just a moment."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Though my father passed away four years ago last month, I can still remember so clearly the way he sounded when answering our home telephone. It's funny how certain memories -- sounds, smells -- stay with you so clearly. It's funny the things you end up missing</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">My dad wasn't a stickler about many things. Going to the grocery store with Dad meant that you'd probably get to pick out a candy bar in the check out aisle. Mom was the one who made sure</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> the trains ran on time, that my sister and I did our chores, got good grades, and dusted the baseboards when it was our turn to clean. They were a good team.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: #000000;">But the one thing my dad <em>was</em> strict about was how we talked to people. He insisted that we address grownups as Miss and Ms. and Mr. and Mrs., unless they absolutely insisted otherwise. And telephone manners were huge. "Introduce yourself!" bellowed Dad from the living room as we called our friends from the kitchen phone.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">"Hello, this is Colleen Taylor calling. </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">May I please speak to Ashley?"</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> is a pretty embarrassing thing to say when you're 14 and trying desperately to sound cool when Ashley's cute older brother answers the phone. But house rules were house rules. </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; color: #000000;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Time often helps you see that your parents were right about a lot of things you chafed against growing up. Dad's phone etiquette rules are certainly in that category for me</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">.</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> I've learned it's much better to err on the side of seeming too polite or too old fashioned, than to take up other people's time in an entitled way. (Programmer and writer Paul Ford had <a href="https://medium.com/s/story/how-to-be-polite-9bf1e69e888c">a post</a> about politeness <a href="https://medium.com/message/how-to-be-polite-9bf1e69e888c"><span style="color: #000000;">recently</span></a> that's a good read.) </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; color: #000000;">And more and more, it just rubs me the wrong way when I pick up the phone, say hello, and hear a voice I don't recognize chirp, "Is Colleen there?" without introducing him or herself first. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; color: #000000;">It's a very silly, very small thing. But it's just one of those things.</span></p>
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The fine print of the dreamhttp://www.colleen-taylor.com/blog/archive/1672014-08-04T23:10:50Z2014-08-04T23:10:50Z
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px;"><img src="//colleen-taylor.com/blog/images/http%3A//9b02b011469817d4d0bb-9f665dab4977838e01615dcfb3dc7f17.r27.cf3.rackcdn.com/5322441-Face-the-Music-Katy-Perry-Beauty-Routine.jpg?width=491&height=276" alt="" width="491" height="276" /></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times; font-size: 24px; color: #33054b;">"She's on <span style="font-size: 18px;">the 11th date</span> <span style="font-size: 18px;">of her North American tour, with 90 or so shows to go, a number she doesn't like hearing out loud. She's both star and caller of nearly every shot, from wardrobe to the tiniest shift in backup harmonies. And being the boss, it emerges, is hard. </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18px; color: #33054b;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">'I have a lot on my plate,'</span> she says...'Things can get monotonous. </span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">Sometimes it gets overwhelming</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">.</span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;"> A lot of people want things from you. But it's fine! It's called trade-offs.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18px; color: #33054b;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">You have this dream, </span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman', times;">and then the dream becomes reality, and what comes along with it is you run a company. <span style="font-size: 24px;">It's the fine print of the dream that you didn't know was there.'</span>"</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 13px;"><em>-- a quip that's applicable to a lot of grownup life in general, from the more-interesting-than-you'd-think profile of Katy Perry in the latest issue of <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-unbreakable-katy-perry-inside-rolling-stones-new-issue-20140730">Rolling Stone Magazine</a> </em></span></p>
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