A Completely Random Time of Year for a Gift Guide
The best time to give is when they don't expect it. Plus recs for Sarah Leavitt on joyful persistence, Raquel D'Apice on parenting, and Suleika Jaouad's creative practice.
If there’s one thing I believe about gifts it’s that they are way more appreciated when you give them unexpectedly. What a delight to have someone think about you and give you a present on a random Tuesday! You get that same gift on your birthday or Valentine’s Day or one of the other holidays where you’re “supposed to” get gifts and it doesn’t mean half as much.
As far as I can tell, there are no compulsory gift-giving holidays this week. So it’s a perfect time to give something nice to someone you care about. You don’t have to buy anything, you could write them a postcard or bake them some cookies (in the spirit of my second-favorite holiday, Katie Fisher Day.1)
If you do decide to buy something, here are some small businesses that I wholeheartedly recommend, run by people I wholeheartedly recommend:
My sister-in-law Laura just started selling “modern, locally-inspired prints and posters.” She’s such a talented artist and any of her artworks would be the perfect gift for someone who lives in (or loves) the Pacific Northwest: West Coast Print Co
My college roommate Owen is fanatical about great coffee. After a career as a master craft beer brewer, he switched to coffee and now has spent years perfecting his coffee-roasting skills. He makes bags of beans that you quite literally cannot get anywhere else. Delicious specialty coffee (including subscriptions) from East Alstead Roasting Co
Nadia Pinder is a hilarious comedian and writer who also happens to run a bustling custom tie-dye clothing and home goods business. Every day that I wear my tie-dye socks from her is guaranteed to be a good day. Check out her work: StuyDYED
Ben Orbison creates beautiful handmade wooden cutting boards here in LA. I have one and it’s a joy to both cut on and look at: Rancho Wood Co.
The multi-talented Leah Henoch is, as far as I can tell, excellent at everything she does. One of those things is making everything from hair clips to keychains to coasters at Resin by Leah.
Do you know someone who loves surprising vintage finds? Check out Palm Palm Vintage co-run by podcast producer extraordinaire Katie Long.
A chance to work in a collaborative ceramics studio or buy interesting, high-quality ceramic pieces by Meg Metzger: &mortar
Want to support a small, woman-run business? Want to also drink delicious wine? You can do both at once by ordering from Jenn Reichardt’s winery: Raft Wines (she also just had a baby so buy a bottle and toast to her!)
If you’re in NYC or LA and want to give someone the gift of a massage, check out Deep River Healing Arts (NYC) or Gratitude Healing (LA).
Let me know other places you recommend in the comments! And let me know how it goes if/when you give one of these.
My projects and upcoming events:
LIVE IN SAN FRANCISCO: Wrong Answers Only at The Independent - Sunday, June 30th at 7 p.m. Comedians Josh Sharp, Aparna Nancherla, Joanna Hausmann, and I try to understand the science of dark matter with Dr. Risa Wechsler. Details and tickets here
This week’s list
GREAT:
I love graduation speeches. It’s fun to hear an accomplished, successful person think back to when they were just starting out and share the knowledge they’d wish they’d known. It’s an inherently optimistic and positive genre of talk. Especially as creative artists, it’s also a reminder that making art is a practice. It’s unpredictable, sometimes a slog, and inevitably involves lots of failure. That doesn’t mean it can’t be fun! The cartoonist Sarah Leavitt captures the duality brilliantly in this illustrated commencement address to the creative writing grads at the University of British Columbia. Sarah Leavitt: Joyful persistence
FUNNY:
Raquel D’Apice is an Emmy-award winning writer for places like Last Week Tonight. But when she’s not writing jokes for John Oliver, she’s writing jokes about what it’s like to be a parent. Specifically, all the stuff that no one else seems to tell you about beforehand. Her book Welcome to the Club: 100 Parenting Milestones You Never Saw Coming frequently had me laughing out loud. Here’s an excerpt (h/t Guy Winch)
INTERESTING:
Every week, for several years now, I’ve done one of Suleika Jaouad’s prompts from The Isolation Journals. It’s a ongoing project and community that has meant a lot to me personally (and to hundreds of thousands of others). It’s hard to express how much I admire Suleika’s writing and her art and the way she manages to create space for nuance and frustration, especially when it comes to health and illness. I frequently recommend her memoir Between Two Kingdoms to friends. This profile was a fascinating look at what Suleika is like in person and how she navigates between the worlds of public/private, sick/well, and many more. The Art of Survival by Jennifer Senior
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That's it for this week. Thanks for reading! Please share Bright Spots with anyone you think might enjoy it.
Giving the gift of newsletter,
Chris Duffy
This has been Bright Spots, a newsletter.
…wait, who are you?
I'm Chris Duffy, a comedian, TV writer, podcast host, and both a former fifth grade teacher and a former fifth grade student. I’m currently writing a nonfiction book about humor for Doubleday.
My first favorite holiday is a holiday that only I celebrate called One-Two Day
These are all great recs! Thank you so much for sharing. Just purchased a print from Laura and completed my Father’s Day shopping. Yay!