Don't Look Back in Anger

Mourning the move—but talking dreamy dinners and a summery design roundup, too

On my last day at G&G, a fiery meteor fell from the sky into South Carolina and Anna Wintour “stepped down” from Vogue. It was probably time to get the hell out of Dodge anyway, but subtler signals would have been appreciated.

There’s an Oasis song called “Don’t Look Back in Anger” that has always felt perfectly applicable to the fleetingly brilliant periods of life that inevitably reach an end. As the final days creep up—something they manage to achieve while “looming,” too—fondness tends to win out over bitterness. It’s difficult, though, not to see red while you're looking in the rearview mirror.

Logic rules the day, eventually, so I’m taking Oasis’s sentiment to heart with no room for self-loathing, because in all honesty, the last several months were some of the best yet.

Last-minute goodness.

I squeezed in my last couple of bylines, one an interview with the iconic culinary historian Jessica B. Harris for her new cookbook, Braided Heritage, chatting about everything from her mother’s fried chicken to the Martha’s Vineyard farmer’s markets she’s loving right now. She’s a legend (and recent Cherry Bombe cover star!) and I was psyched to be given the assignment.

One of my favorite pieces covered several Southern hi-fi bars. Lately, I’ve been obsessed with listening bars and got to geek out with Equipment Room in Austin, Stereo in Atlanta, and Dante’s HiFi in Miami, talking specialty beverage programs, custom Klipsch sound systems, and all things vinyl. My interview with EQ was an all-time high; Bunkhouse’s design director, Tenaya Hills, dished on everything from sourcing antiques at Round Top to the specific wood species used in their built-ins and speaker housing.

This production cycle was G&G’s first with its shiny new redesign; it’s sleek and stunning and you should pick up a copy when it comes out in mid-July. There are a few Agenda blurbs on hoedown islands, mystical pottery exhibitions, oyster festivals, and a children’s book exhibit (all penned by yours truly) in it, too, accompanied by the whimsical illustrations of Tim Bower.

Charleston has been a venerable home for the past six months. I have treasured its wise oaks and its cobblestone streets and its abundance of sweet little groceries. I have eaten my weight in oysters and begged bartenders for their cocktail recipes and relished ordering pizzas with clever names like the Kurt Brussel. Though, for all of its charm, I mean no malice when I say that the city is not what I’m finding so difficult to leave. Cue the melodrama, but between the work and the people I got to do it with, this departure gets categorized pretty close to heartbreak.

Madeline took this photo of me at my desk early on.

I love magazines. I have been infatuated with their layout and design and tactility ever since I picked up my mom’s old copies of Martha Stewart Kids when I was young. There have been plenty of magazine loves in between, but G&G was the nail in the coffin. It’s been different to fall in love with the back-end work. The last-minute fact checks and endless debates over bad breaks. The management of a publication as a team and a business. Finding that the dirty work (and yes, also the byline in print, because, duh) is very nearly the best part… I was a goner.

It may very well be ages before I get to work in magazines again. Book publishing remains a hopeful, potential reality. In the meantime, I’ll be making mockups and writing copy and conjuring half-baked ideas for the fun of it—because it brings me joy. Much like this newsletter, that’s an easy sacrifice of time and effort. It’s for the love of it, always.

The benefit of penning several book blurbs for G&G’s big summer reading roundup is the unfettered access to galley copies. I have not read M. L. Rio’s 2017 dark academia novel that broke the internet, but I did read her very rock ‘n roll novel Hot Wax, which will be out in September from Simon & Schuster. Moving back and forth through time (delineated by A Sides and B Sides), the book follows Suzanne, daughter of an eighties rockstar, trying to escape the fallout of a disastrous event on tour. I liked the atmospheric, anarchic style but the pacing was way off base for me. The climax was not nearly as rewarding for the amount of build it required; ultimately it felt too long.

I was also in brief possession of a galley copy for Jason Mott’s People Like Us, out in August from Dutton. This was: Utterly brilliant, poignant, essential for our time, and narratively genius. Mott is known for his through-the-looking-glass style of narrative that is deliciously meta—People Like Us isn’t a memoir, but it’s not not a memoir. In it, two authors (Are they the same? Are they both Mott? Maybe! Maybe not!) grapple with race, gun violence, and the state of America, but with such story, such plot. It surprised me and I’m recommending it to everyone I know this summer.

Ending the trilogy, I finished N. K. Jemisin’s The Stone Sky. It rocked. I will say again that these books have been some of the most consumable science-fiction works that I’ve ever read. This final installment definitely trends towards more complex world-building, but Jemisin has crafted a beautiful, character-driven finale that solidifies this series as one of the greats. I would kill to see this adapted by FX or HBO as a three-season series.

I loved The New Vocabulary of Wine in PUNCH, one of my favorite drinks publications. The art by Jarett Sitter is awesome and it’s a cool piece on all of the super-confusing wine terms. I’m not a connoisseur, but I follow enough of the industry that this sort of compendium is helpful.

I picked up a quick romance, A Sharp Endless Need by Marisa Crane, solely because Kevin Wilson and Hanif Abdurraqib both have cover blurbs recommending it and I adore them both. A novel full of yearning and basketball, while this didn’t feel perfectly plotted, framing a heart-wrenching love story against the background of high school basketball felt appropriately high-stakes.

Francis Lawrence is directing an adaptation of Stephen King’s The Long Walk, which King wrote in 1979 under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. Adaptations of King’s novels and short stories have been pretty hit or miss over the past couple years, but I recently read The Long Walk and it stuck with me—every one of his books seems to embed itself in my very marrow—so I will be very curious how the stacked cast translate this on screen.

Matchbooks I picked up from many of the spots I ate at and loved in Charleston.

Chez Nous was the only option for closing out our magical edit internships, so Anna, Madeline, and I nestled ourselves in the dimly-lit interior after obligatory photos of the crock pot sign. I’ve waxed poetic before, but the Breton-striped shirts, paper menus the chef hand-writes every evening, and desserts to die for make Chez Nous my absolute favorite place to eat in Charleston. On the menu: A blackberry, arugula, pecorino, and goat’s cheese salad; a rich, creamy gnocchetti with ricotta; a local blueberry sorbet (‘tis the season!) and fluffy almond tart. They were kind enough to let me take home my menu, too.

The best drink I had this month was from the tiny Bar Vauté below Brasserie La Banque. Their “TKO Round Two” was a bright, fresh cocktail with bourbon, rhubarb cordial and bitters, amaro sfumato, angostura bitters, and a little Campari. I enjoy whiskey cocktails, but love when they manage to be light and crisp-tasting, which in this case can be credited to the beverage being clarified, or “milk-washed.” If you don’t know what that means, this might help explain it and this may answer your why??, and when you’re done being slightly grossed out, you should try it because it may change your summer bev rotation.

A triple allium dip at Babas and our XBB okonomiyaki.

Xiao Bao Biscuit on lovely Spring Street was perfect for a spontaneous lunch. They have a small menu of Pan-Asian food and turn out an okonomiyaki—a Japanese-style cabbage pancake—that they’re now famous for, topped with katsuobushi and a fried egg. It is very much a two-person dish and is phenomenal.

More than half of my time with the Knowles these past few months was spent hovering around several steaming boxes of Park Circle Pizza, where Holle and I slowly penned our way (literally marking up their tri-fold paper menus) through their list of wickedly creative pies. Favorites included their pizza with fig jam and caramelized onions, a greenery and olive-loaded “Peter Rabbit” pie, and a Nashville hot chicken and pickle pizza cleverly titled the “Crosby, Dills & Nash.”

Seven songs from a happysad June.

Before and After by Rush

Aurora by Foo Fighters

Don’t Look Back in Anger by Oasis

Everything You Want by Vertical Horizon

Fools Like Me by Lisa Loeb

Save Tonight by Eagle-Eye Cherry

New Romance by Beach House

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The adrenaline of the past month has been untempered by my attempts to chill out; instead, it’s worked better to match my music to my heartbeat while I finish last bylines and write cover letters. Teengirl Fantasy’s album 7A.M. has a track called “Cheaters” that I’ve played probably a hundred times in three weeks; sampling Love Committee’s “Cheaters Never Win,” it’s euphoric, laced with heady synth, and is remarkably motivating. This review of the album from 2010 reminds me why I often turn to random reviews on Pitchfork when I need writing inspiration.

I’ve also been loving “Tracey in My Room (Lazy Dog Bootleg Vocal Mix)” by Everything But the Girl, plus Bluestaeb’s slightly trappier, mellower “Tomorrow We Will Love Again.”

Following the natural progression (or regression?) from sample-heavy house to original, groovy 70s/80s/90s soul and funk, it’s been The Jones Girls, The Tramps, and Hot Chocolate all the way. “Still Water (Love)” by Four Tops is a new favorite. Shout out to the college radio show that sunk me deep into this genre.

The artwork of Karlotta Freier. I first saw Freier’s work for the Hermés Lunar New Year campaign and promptly fell down the rabbit hole. Ethereal and full of movement, Freier captures landscapes on the cusp of fantasy, and her work with animation reminds me inexorably of Hayao Miyazaki. I’m particularly impressed by her work for Baby Dior Magazine’s “Jardin Zen,” whose creative editorials fit so naturally with her playfulness.

The Gwen skirt from J.Crew. This is a 90s-inspired piece that so sadly sold out in the pink—but the green and flax options feel similarly cheery. A silky midi skirt with a tiny band of tulle on the hem, this is an airy summer piece I envision wearing with thin camis and slip-ons, when it’s too hot to wear anything else in the city or when walking to get an ice cream cone.

Food and style recs from The Bear stars. Season 4 is out and I have opinions, but I always look forward to the deluge of discourse, specifically the GQ and Esquire pieces that chronicle a cast member’s favorite sake bar or beloved vintage shop. I so love The Bear’s style—Thom Browne chef’s coats and montages of longganisa sandwiches and ice cream sundaes—so reading about the actors’ and producers’ recommendations for the Windy City makes me most happy. These pieces with Lionel Boyce, Matty Matheson, and Courtney Storer are perfect places to start.

Five home design elements that elevate a space for the summertime.

1. Let things get a little wild. This is my favorite Martha Stewart photo. While a manicured lawn and neat rows in a vegetable garden are tantamount to happiness, plants spurred on by summer heat might get a little out of control—and that’s okay. Try the wild look on for size; take a page out of Martha’s book and scatter those magical allium flowers throughout for a nice height and color contrast.

2. Industrial kitchens can be chic. While I’m not interested in the energy of a commercial kitchen, I am interested in recreating their organization and efficiency. Industrial-style shelving and stainless steel countertops keep things clean visually and literally, while adding a cool, polished style to a kitchen that can still be cozily offset by pops of color and low lamp lighting.

3. Set the scent. I regret not purchasing a package of Astier de Villatte incense at a home store I loved in Charleston, because candles rarely last long enough to justify their price point. Villatte is equally expensive, but with 60 sticks at 15 minutes of burn time each, you may get a little more bang for your buck. It is possible to own incense that isn’t cloying or overly smoky, despite what your local yoga studio may have led you to believe: ADV’s summertime scents Palais de Tokyo and Yakushima keep things fresh.

4. Make space for a collage. If you’ve been here a while, you know that moodboards are my M.O. for every occasion and creative project. I’ve had a massive corkboard in my room ever since childhood and hope to continue this trend in any future living space, wherever it manages to fit in. By the front door is great for photo booth strips and invitations with unfulfilled RSVPs, office versions are perfect in lieu of art, and I truly believe that the front of a fridge is a viable art space.

5. Lampshades with character—and the concept of a kitchen lamp. A unique sconce (especially on a built-in bookshelf) is classic, but fun, colorful lamps and shades add such a lovely summer warmth to any room they’re in. Pink lampshades or light green lamp bodies (Bases? It’s clear I have no idea what I’m talking about.) give a side table character, while the general concept of lamps in a kitchen—low light at the end of a meal and matching lampshades to your favorite shade of carrot stalk or lettuce leaf—feels like the height of luxury…and adulthood.

Thank you for reading this month! It’s now been four years since this newsletter’s first edition and I’m so very grateful to everyone who subscribes (and reads; and skims; and lurks) and welcomes this catch-all into their inbox each month. Whether you’ve been here since the beginning or just popped in, I’m glad to have you and hope you find something to love here. Cheers!

I’m up and away on a family trip to Norway this week so there will be (very) long-awaited travel content on the docket next month. And I’m working to try and keep things as interesting as possible here in the near future—no more tangents on unemployment, I promise. Good things are on the way and I hope y’all stick around for them.

I sometimes post on Instagram @gracerobrts.

My Goodreads is here and I am always looking for reading recommendations.

My Apple Music is @gracecroberts, where my playlists are regularly updated and cared for.

Just want to say hi? My email is gracecroberts@gmail.com.

See you next month!

Sincerely yours,

Grace