Bird Mail 039

Friends!

January is almost done. This year is already moving at a rapid clip and though we are far from out of the woods yet, the days feel…lighter. Not just in that there is more of that precious daylight at the end of each day, but the tenor of the days is lighter too.

I think they might have something to do with the marquee at the top of this image. Bird Mail is not the place to find politics, there are plenty of other places on the internet for that. But, I simply cannot ignore the momentous step that took place in American politics last Wednesday as a woman was finally, finally sworn in as Vice President of the United States of America. It’s about damn time. There is still more work to do, but this feels like progress.

Or maybe that lightness had something to do with the awe I felt as I watched Amanda Gorman take the podium in her brilliant yellow coat and proceed to prove that she was the best speaker on that stage. If you have not watched, ’The Hill We Climb’ do that now, and if you’ve already seen it, might as well go watch it again.

I felt that same awe as I watched Nia Dennis’s unreal, now viral, floor exercise from over the weekend. (Aside: the UCLA gymnastics team continues to crush it and go viral year after year.)

Longtime readers will know that I love displays of people at the absolute height of their craft—if that isn’t obvious from the above links dig through the Bird Mail archives. The Girls of Guanabara is an amazing film about longboarders in Brazil that has far too few views for the quality of riding. I am thrilled to see amazing women being documented in places that have been so overly filled with (predominantly white) male faces: the pages of GQ, the world of high end watches, and in the new documentary Sisters with Transistors which I cannot wait to watch.

Last but not least this week, an up close look at an incredible woman. Make sure you open this on your computer and don’t forget to click 3D—this will make sense when you see it.

Until next week, stay safe out there y’all.

Your friend,
Bruce

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