The Avocado Social Club

This week, following the death of Sarah Everard, women across the UK have been speaking out about the constant fear they live in. We are taking this opportunity to talk about the situation in the UK and Mexico, where the killing of women is an everyday occurrence, and what women do to feel as safe as they can. Natalia, having lived in both countries, talks about the differences as a woman and how - no matter how safe you want to feel, you never are. Because yes, all women are afraid. 

HIGHLIGHTS

The Flight Attendant (HBO Max show)

Moxie! (Netflix film)

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (Amazon Prime film)

The Burnt Orange Heresy (film)

Spinning by Charli XCX, The 1975, No Rome (single)

Only Child - Sasha Sloan (album)

The White Album by Joan Didion (book)

The Art of Living Now (podcast)

Over the last year of lockdown, many have been lucky enough to find a new passion, project or even a new business - even in a time where doing so has been incredibly challenging (possibly even more than usual). We talked to Rushab Shah, the founder of Portobello Vintage Market, who took his father's market business and built it into an ecommerce venture for high quality vintage shopping. He talked to us about the challenges and mistakes when starting, the importance of a business partner and lockdown being the push he needed to build his own business. 

Highlights:

FILM AND TV

Years and Years (TV Show on iPlayer)

The Great (TV Show on All4 / Hulu)

It’s A Sin (TV Show on All4 / HBO)

The Farewell (Film on Amazon Prime)

BOOKS AND PODCASTS

Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor (Book)

Grounded with Louis Theroux: FKA Twigs (Podcast)

MUSIC

Vintage - Blu DeTiger (song)

Taylor Swift new releases

OTHERS

Poker Now

Baking Cinnamon Buns

Clubhouse (app)

Why do we like memes so much? We have a chat around individual and collective stories of memes and the phenomenon that comes with them. We all share and laugh at pictures of strangers with funny captions on them, but who are these strangers and how has this strange new form of fame affected them? 

HIGHLIGHTS

TV & FILM

The Serpent (BBC Show) 

Schitt’s Creek (Netflix Show) 

Grand Designs (Channel 4 Show) 

Lupin (Netflix Show)

Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Film - available for streaming)

MUSIC & PODCASTS 

Who Am I? by Pale Waves (Album)

The Media Show. Episode: How ITV News Reported First-Hand on the Storming of Congress (BBC Radio 4 & Podcast)

BOOKS & ARTICLES

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennet (book)

A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf (book)

Paul Mccartney for The Sunday Times: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/culture/paul-mccartney-interview-on-recording-mccartney-iii-and-his-friendship-with-john-lennon-q8s5n0b58

A big catch up on everything we've been watching, reading and enjoying over the last month of lockdown. Then diving into The Paris Agreement, the implications of international climate change efforts, how it might shape the future and what it means if America re-joins. 

WHAT WE'VE BEEN ENJOYING

TV AND FILM

FUNNY AND UPLIFTING

POLITICAL DRAMA

OTHER DRAMA

BOOKS

ARTICLES AND PODCASTS

Let's chat about televised debates! Do we actually need them? Do they make a difference to people's voting tendencies? Or is it all there just because it's good for businesses? From their history to the current status of political debates, Fraser and Natalia discuss debates, analytical thoughts on them and their own opinions and experiences. 

WHAT WE'VE BEEN ENJOYING:

TV AND FILM

BOOKS

MUSIC

ARTICLES AND PODCASTS

OTHER

Is there such a thing as too much wellness? In this episode Fraser and Natalia delve into the good, the bad and the ugly in the wellness industry, inspired by Netflix's (Un)Well and researching some of the biggest trends in the world of consumerist wellness. 

WHAT WE'VE BEEN ENJOYING:

Film & TV

-Tenet

Books

-Women, Race and Class by Angela Davis

Articles & Podcasts

-Conspiracy theories and coronavirus - QAnon https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-53997203

-Buying Myself Back When does a model own her own image? by Emily Ratajkowski https://www.thecut.com/article/emily-ratajkowski-owning-my-image-essay.html

Over the last five years, there has been a rise of what's being called 'senior influencers', basically people who are 60+ gaining a lot of traction on social media and beyond. In the first episode of the new series, Fraser and Natalia talk about why this might be, the type of content they are creating and why we are all happy to follow them. 

WHAT WE'VE BEEN ENJOYING

TV AND FILM

-Fleabag on BBC iPlayer

-The Good Girls (Las Niñas Bien) on Mubi

-Blackkklansman on Netflix

-Short film and article: Jessica Mendez Siqueiros’s Pozole: https://wepresent.wetransfer.com/story/pozole-jessica-mendez-siqueiros/

BOOKS

-Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan

-Brit(ish) by Afua Hirsh

-The Western Wind by Samantha Harvey

-Lodestars Anthology: Mexico

MUSIC

-Taylor Swift - Folklore

-The Naked and Famous - Recover

ARTICLES AND PODCASTS

- Hannah Mylrea’s feature of Haim for NME. https://www.nme.com/big-reads/haim-cover-interview-2020-women-in-music-pt-iii-2704642 made me want to listen to the album over and over again.

-Every Proper Noun on Taylor Swift’s Folklore, Charted By HEATHER SCHWEDEL https://slate.com/culture/2020/07/taylor-swift-folklore-album-lyrics-charted-explained.html?mc_cid=d8c68021ac&mc_eid=fa8d57f6af

-The Unpaid Labour of Female Founders by Sharmadean Reid https://medium.com/@sharmadeanreid/the-unpaid-labour-of-female-founders-2a101efad24e

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Starting a brand or a business seems to be a trend amongst our generation, but how do you actually go about it? We have a chat about our challenges and what we've learned from creating and starting our own brand. From the technical and admin side of it to the creative and mission-building. 

WHAT WE'VE BEEN ENJOYING: 

Articles and Books

How to Own the Room by Viv Groskop (Podcast)

EMOTIONAL BAGGAGE By Zoe Schiffer https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/5/20995453/away-luggage-ceo-steph-korey-toxic-work-environment-travel-inclusion

Are All These Female-Founder Takedowns Fair? By Leah Chernikoff - https://www.thehelm.co/female-founder-takedowns-outdoor-voices-away-the-wing/

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett (Book)

Working out Loud by John Stepper (Book)

Film & TV

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (Netflix)

Hamilton (Disney +)

I May Destroy You (BBC iPlayer and HBO)

Music

Haim - Women in Music Pt. III (album) 

The Forever - Home (single)

In this episode, we delve into cancel culture. The idea of being cancelled, what it means, how it works and its differences with call-out culture. Does cancelling people actually work? Does it do anything to their career? When is it a good thing and when is it going to far? 

WHAT WE'VE BEEN ENJOYING

Culture

Weather by Jenny Offill (book)

Code Switch - Why Now, White People? (podcast)

Film & TV

The Politician (Netflix show)

The Bureau (Amazon Prime show)

Little Fires Everywhere (Amazon Prime Show)

In our third and final episode of Mental Health Series, we caught up with James Naylor, Co-Founder at Livitay. Livitay is a platform created to bring wellbeing into the workplace and we discussed how to stay well at work and at home, as well as his personal and career journey so far.

Articles and BLM

Books

Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race by Reni Eddo Lodge

Me And White Supremacy by Layla F Saad

Between The World And Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

How To Be An Antiracist by Dr Ibram X. Kendi

México racista: Una denuncia by Federico Navarrete

My Name is Why by Lemn Sissay

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo

White Teeth by Zadie Smith

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

An American Marriage by Tahari Jones

TV and Film

When They See Us (Netflix)

13th (Netflix)

Dear White People (film on Amazon Prime, show on Netflix)

Explained: The Racial Wage Gap (Netflix)

Articles

How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change by Barack Obama

https://medium.com/@BarackObama/how-to-make-this-moment-the-turning-point-for-real-change-9fa209806067

The Death of George Floyd, in context by Jelani Cobb

https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-death-of-george-floyd-in-context?mc_cid=77d097eb52&mc_eid=fa8d57f6af

An Open Letter to My Sister, Angela Davies by James Baldwin

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1971/01/07/an-open-letter-to-my-sister-miss-angela-davis/?mc_cid=77d097eb52&mc_eid=fa8d57f6af

Ibram X. Kendi’s Antiracist reading list

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/29/books/review/antiracist-reading-list-ibram-x-kendi.html?mc_cid=77d097eb52&mc_eid=fa8d57f6af

Podcasts

1619 by The New York Times

Code Switch by NPR

About Race with Reni Eddo-Lodge

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