All posts tagged: comforting

‘It is comforting to be haunted’: how attitudes to abortion have changed through the ages | Abortion

‘It is comforting to be haunted’: how attitudes to abortion have changed through the ages | Abortion

Published by Sam Flores

The physical fact of my abortion caught me off guard. I had been so accustomed to defending abortion as an abstract right – as a right to privacy, to healthcare, to autonomy – that when it came to having one, I was surprised by the brutality of it. Fasting for hours before. Clammy and light-headed, my hands freezing and damp, in the clinic waiting room. Waves of contracting pain afterwards, the blood and the vomit from the anaesthesia, the days of cramping and bleeding. Soaking through pads. Cold sweat. I thought having an abortion would feel like the exercise of the hard-won autonomy of generations of feminists before me. But mostly it just hurt. What do you do with the brute fact of pain? Of what Annie Ernaux describes, writing about her own abortion before legalisation in France, as an experience that sweeps through the body? I could not translate it easily into a feminist politics, into a slogan, into something I could shout or wanted to shout. It did not feel like the exercise …

The comforting treasures of Alsatian cuisine

The comforting treasures of Alsatian cuisine

Published by Sam Flores

Margaux Albrecht’s résumé is dizzying. Born in Strasbourg, this hardworking 35-year-old first trained as a pharmacist before becoming a doctor, but she is also a volunteer firefighter with a pilot’s license. In the kitchen, she displays the same hunger for knowledge. “When I was 18, my father pointed out that I had my baccalauréat [French high school diploma] but still didn’t know how to cook pasta,” she said, laughing. She has more than made up for lost time. Alongside her studies and career, she earned a CAP [French cooking diploma] in pastry, a CAP in baking, won a myriad of regional culinary awards and took part in the TV show Objectif Top Chef in 2023. This impressive track record contrasts with the humility and discretion of the copper-haired young woman whom we met at her home to explore the treasures of Alsatian cuisine. Admittedly, she now lives in a village, Cirey-sur-Vezouze, in Meurthe-et-Moselle within the Lorraine region – not, in fact, in Alsace, as her partner Guillaume Maire mischievously pointed out. But here, it is …

The “Ted Lasso” way is comforting – and a counter to the hollow nationalism Americans have embraced

The “Ted Lasso” way is comforting – and a counter to the hollow nationalism Americans have embraced

Published by Sam Flores

Citing a single favorite scene in “Ted Lasso” may not be impossible, but it is certainly difficult. That’s the burden of a comedy devoid of wasted dialogue or pretentious cleverness – and that merely refers to the joke setups and punchlines. Honestly, if memorable scenes were gems, “Ted Lasso” would be an encrusted splendor fit for the Queen. But there is a monologue nestled within the eighth episode that burrows straight to the core of why this little comedy has sparked something dormant in our hearts. It takes place in a pub where Ted, a character inventively reimagined by Jason Sudeikis, has repaired for a business meeting with his boss Rebecca (West End musical theater favorite Hannah Waddingham). This being a situational comedy, the pair happen to run into Rebecca’s repellent and excessively wealthy ex-husband Rupert (Anthony Head, at his most nefarious) who, in so many words, lets them know that this run-in is not random and proceeds to lord his presence over them. Understand, Rebecca and Ted are known to the tavern regulars but …