Paulina Porizkova, A.I. Filters, and the 'Shallow Dating Ponds' of Middle Age

submited by

Style Pass

2021-07-28 09:30:04

Well hello! I’m so glad you’re here. A version of this article also appeared in the It’s Not Just You newsletter. Sign up to get a new edition every Saturday.

I don’t think I slept through the night once in the first year we lived in this apartment. Every night sometime between 3 and 4 am, massive commercial garbage haulers lumber up and down the street right underneath the bedroom brakes gnashing on trash lit up with twinkle lights like neon dinosaurs.

At the time, I had a tiny baby and she’d wake up, of course, so I’d nurse her and watch those spectacular beasts from the window. They are spotless, decorated with swirly detailing all over, like tattoos with the nicknames of the drivers in quotes. And these trucks don’t just drive by throwing trash in the back, they stop, and backup, clattering around in the restaurant trash bins the compactor growling and churning for ages before they heave off to the next block.

The baby would watch the lights reflecting on the windows and it was a show for her—an early morning Brooklyn carnival. And it’s one reason my sister still brings earplugs when she visits.