We’re sprung.
In these parts, spring weather has been fickle, our winter coats stuck in rotation. Judging from all the “stages of spring” (insert your geography) memes out there, we’re guessing many of you are feeling us. Meanwhile, another awakening is afoot—namely, the ever-so-slow emergence from pandemic times. With cases low and many places proclaiming “masks off,” it feels like it might be time to get back out there. Whatever that means to you, we hope that the sight of daffodils coming to life, longer days and warmer temperatures (albeit sporadic) lifts your spirits from these heavy times.
Let’s begin to blossom together
OWN IT
I’m moving at tip-toe speed.
Just as the beginning of COVID life began with a record scratch—abruptly and awkwardly—the end (?) so far is a sudden cliff walk, with little identifiable buffer. If we’re being honest, we’re struggling to find an off-ramp. Like most humans, we love a good beginning, middle and end—so this pandemic (now endemic) is particularly vexing. At least before, mile markers were clear: watching case numbers, waiting for vaccines, keeping up with public health mandates. We’ve never been great “one day at a time” people, but we’re reminding ourselves that we are vaxxed, boosted and while we can try to assess risk, there is no place of surety. Sitting with the discomfort of not knowing and taking some risks is good practice for lots of other areas of our lives—and it feels important to take the lesson. Meanwhile, you can find us wading in…juuuust up to here.
DO IT MONDAY
Beyond your basic spring clean.
We know, we know. Spring Cleaning? Groundbreaking. But sometimes cliches happen for a reason—in this case, because the change of seasons does actually lend itself to throwing the windows open and getting rid of winter’s mess. Lest you fear we’ll be serving up a “What’s Your Spirit Animal?” quiz before long, rest assured that our tips are non-obvious ways to help you take advantage of this time-honored rite.
TAKE FIVE
Make a spring chicken.
Like any good restaurant, we like to refresh our menus seasonally—if only to keep ourselves out of a rut. Our bar for what makes the cut? It’s got to be delicious, first and foremost. From there, it needs to be easy, while looking (and tasting) like you spent lots of time. Well clear your plates and get ready to fill in your meal-prep calendar—because we’ve got your spring cuisine.
15 MINUTE TEASER
The season’s best streams and reads.
We are truly living in a golden age of content (this esteemed newsletter included), but there ought to be an app for that—because we have lists upon lists and still end up asking, “What are we going to watch,” almost nightly. While we don’t have an app in development, we do have a well-developed spring content checklist so you know just what to tune into when April showers fall.
INTO THEM
BTS: The Verse.
We interrupt our regularly scheduled admiration society for a little spring cleaning of our own: proper intros. If you’ve been here a minute, you may know that The Verse was started by editor-in-chief Stephanie Carter, but you may not know our associate editor, Jennifer Handt. Stephanie and Jennifer connected pre-launch, and together have put every word on screen for these now 56 issues. To help you get to know us, we’ve answered questions from some of our favorite questionnaires (Warhol, Proust, Pivot, BBC and The Verse). Because, in the immortal words of Rob Base, “It takes two to make a thing go right, it takes two to make it outta sight.”
TRY IT
Signs of spring.
While we truly do not mean to be one long #ad for Rowing Blazers, we just heart them. Creative director and founder Jack Carlson swears he isn’t a Gen Xer, but he has an uncanny ability to resurface the clothes of our youth with a thoroughly modern twist. Case in point: his collaboration with British knitwear purveyors Gyles and George. Carlson coaxed the two back in business to recreate their iconic “I am a luxury” sweater, made famous by Princess Diana. In a show of intergenerational respect, Carlson was determined to team up with the OGs despite others having ripped off the design sans permission. The pair has released new designs, including these of-the-moment unisex zodiac sweaters—perfect for chilly spring days. We predict it will be just as useful in over-air conditioned summer spaces. The stars are aligned: This month is a lucky one for your wardrobe.
What a wingman.
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