Things That Made Me Less Cranky: May 2025 Edition
If Susan Miller can drop her monthly horoscopes this late in the month, I can drop this way into June too
Welcome to my monthly list of recommendations. It is made up of completely random things/events/moments that made me less of a raging, bitter, hag despite the dumpster fire that is our world. It also includes food-centric suggestions. Enjoy!
Idiosyncratic List of What Made Me Less Cranky
All your support, which placed me in the “rising literature” category several times and turned me into an official bestseller this month. I find Substack competition cringe and inscrutable, but your loyalty and affection mean the world.
Playing Twister with toddlers
The meditative practice of working on a puzzle while watching the trashiest reality TV you can find. Sneaky Links, anyone?
Susana Baca, whose music career really took off in her 40s and who is still performing around the world at 80. We also share a birthday so I am convinced we are spiritual twins.
Catching up with friends to chat about our respective mid-life crises. Doesn’t matter what choices we made or what kind of lifestyle we have now, we’re all doubting everything! Hating most of it! Wishing for a meteor or for an unforeseen financial windfall!
Peruvian colonial art as a joke prompt
Empty Peruvian colonial art museums to truly lose yourself in your own hilarious commentary
Taking the trip anyway
Reading by any body of water
The lounge-centric life of a sea lion
Peruvian sand dunes
Pretending to be on another planet Getting away with not driving a single motorized vehicle at 43-years-old
Birthday wishes from around the world
What I’m Watching:
Sinners: So fun! Michael B. Jordan is magnetic! I’ve encountered similar creepy folk-singing throuples in Humboldt Park and they will ruin a good time like nobody’s business!
The Four Seasons: Sweet and funny, dialogue-heavy (thank GOD) and with a heavy emphasis on the importance of lifelong friendships, this was catnip for my “scenes-from-domestic-life” loving-heart.
Mike Birbiglia: The Good Life: I am aesthetically-drawn to Birbiglia’s form of stand-up precisely because it leans way way way more into storytelling than the standard punchline format.
What I’m Reading:
What I love about a solo birthday trip is that I am left alone to commune with books. I ripped through Victim by Andrew Boryga, a clever, satirical take on publishing industry flaws and the performative misdemeanors of our bygone mid-2010s era. The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz is another take on the literary fraud. I found it fun and easy-breezy but guessed the twist too early. I can’t help if I have a knack for accurately predicting the worst in humanity. As for Distancia de rescate by Samanta Schweblin (Fever Dream in English), the slim volume packs a punch that is so unsettling and puzzling, I cannot fathom any Big 5 publisher in the US ever taking a gamble on it had it been written originally for a US market.
What I’m Listening:
Where the hell did Bartees Strange come from? My theory is that he blasted from some 80s bluesy-gothy-slightly-Springsteen-esque time portal to remind us how to wallow with a dramatic, guitar solo as our only solace.
What I’m Downloading:
I half-assed the Chani app’s breakthrough course to try to get some insight into how I could align better with my artistic vision. All that meditation probably helped assuage some of my rage at the state of the world. If my dreams were telling me anything, it was that I had to continue tapping into and fostering my writing community because I dreamed of parties and friends and big cities for a solid 30 nights. I can’t say I had a breakthrough but it was nice to participate in small rituals throughout the day.
Restaurant of the Month: Pregón de las Once in Lima
This tiny, hole-in-the-wall pastry shop is dishing out some of the most exciting treats in Lima by looking to the past. Pregón is an homage to the desserts and sweets of Peru of yore, scavenging recipes from grandma and great-grandma’s past and incorporating hyper-regional ingredients to each menu item. I had an intense love affair with their refonfoñote hojaldrado which wraps the traditional components of refonfoñote—nuts, creamy cheese and sugar cane honey—into buttered puff pastry.
Bar of the Month: Bar Bijou and Superba in Lima
I made up for leaving this empty last month to bring you not one, but TWO bars I like in Lima. It took me a year but I can finally list a handful of places that feel very me.
Bar Bijou is seats about fifteen people, max, and it’s outfitted to look like your cool great aunt’s foyer. Cocktails are inventive and playful but what I loved the most about this place was that the music faded into the background and you could hear yourself talk. One day I’ll write about my yearlong quest to find a bar in this city that didn’t feel the need to turn into a discotheque as soon as a patron walked through the doors.
As for Superba, it’s the kind of abuelito tavern that’s been around for 87 years (fact) and has lived a thousand lives. My dad has memories of Superba as the kind of place where you ended the night to have an unnecessary and regrettable las drink. My friend Tania remembers going there with her grandpa for a snack when she was a kid, and then to dance old school salsa as a young adult, when you had to ask the bartender for the key to the bathroom. Today, it still retains a legion of regulars and that old-timey magic but it is trying to stay relevant and appeal to all generations by hosting events like cumbia parties at 7pm (bless them), Brazilian music nights and a monthly gathering of bikers. This side of Lima—the slightly boho, wistful, unpretentious side—is the best the city has to offer and it pains me that so many residents stick to the basic bitch vibes of forgettable LA-esque rooftops right now.
Best Thing I Ate: Every single salad at Hotel Viñas Queirolo
Everyone I know who’s stayed at Hotel Viñas Queirolo raves about the food and a lot of what I ate there fit their description: a generous breakfast buffet, savory Peruvian criollo dishes, wood-fired pizzas. But what really wowed me, what really made me want to flip over a table, what made me feel like I was celebrating my God-damn-43-years of life were the salads. All the salads. So many salads. Piles of leafy greens, just ripe avocados, juicy cherry tomatoes, shaved parmesans, balsamic vinaigrettes, passion fruit vinaigrettes, toasted peanuts, cutesy quail eggs, sundried tomatoes, diced mangoes, the list of salad components I ate, enjoyed and digested could go and on. Praise the salads!
Best Thing I Drank: IPA from Cusco Beer Company
A solid and hoppy, super drinkable IPA that drinks like an IPA. Fizzy on the tongue and paired nicely with my mushroom pizza.
Elevator Lewks:
I like seeing what normal people wear and I, a normal person, like sharing outfits that I think look good on me. For some reason, I only notice them when I’m in the elevator—or when I’m in front of extravagant antique mirrors.
The Month in Newsletters
Missed an issue? I got you!
Subscriber Benefits
I’m supersizing this month’s Cranky Guide Writing Hour to coincide with 1,000 Words of Summer. In addition to hosting a virtual write-in every day from May 31-June 13, I’ve opened up three of those sessions for free subscribers. You can find the full schedule here.
The next mini-salon with
of is on Thursday, July 10 at 12pm CT/1pm ET. The topic is “Feeding the Creative Well: Resetting and Reenergizing Your Writing”, which we thought would be good for anyone riding the high of summer (Sarah) or needing to crawl out of the depths of winter (me). Paid subscribers can submit questions ahead of time and will have access to the recording. If you are a free subscriber, the mini-salon is offered as a pay-what-you-can event with a $15 suggested fee (but we welcome all amounts). You can sign up here.A paid subscription also includes:
Samples of my pitches & rates, applications, and spreadsheets & templates
Access to the full archive (free posts go behind a paywall after a year)
Shameless Self-Promotion
I was thrilled to be interviewed for the
newsletter, which is not only utterly delightful if you like movies but also if you like people. I’m fascinated by everyone’s movie-going habits.The vibes are off so virtual, 30-minute Tarot readings are back on! Conducted entirely over Zoom and with a $50 suggested donation (but it really is suggested, I never turn anyone away). Book your reading here.
Here are some books I’ve worked on:
LGSNQ: Gentrification & Preservation in a Chicago Neighborhood (co-author)
Desolación by Gabriela Mistral (co-translator)
My most recent writing:
If you’re struggling with the artist statement, I can help! My On-Demand class, Navigating the Artist Statement, is available for purchase at StoryStudio. Watch at your own time, at your own pace, and send those babies out!
Every week, I look at Five Calls, pick the issue that is most making me scream into the void, and use their app to call my reps. I’m making saving PBS my entire personality but the app shows you a list of issues you can discuss with your reps.
If you ever want to peruse all the books I recommend in the newsletter, head over to my Bookshop bookstore!
The Breakthrough thing! I am on day 20 and I keep having dreams where I yell at people and tell them to leave me alone, fully embracing my crone era I guess is the next step for me.
I am a million questions:
Is cumbia the one where the lady holds a lit candle 🕯️?
How do I pay you for the tarot reading?
Have you read Rick Rubin’s book on Creativity?