Hi! I’m Julia. I’ve been on the Listserve for almost four years now, so it’s about damn time I won the thing.
A little about me: I’m 23. I live in NYC. I’m a reporter at BuzzFeed, and I mostly cover human interest news. I love dogs (obsessively), knitting (ineptly), reading (everything, especially weird non-fiction), and going to concerts (I’ve seen Third Eye Blind thrice and counting).
A few thoughts on stuff:
1. The best part about my job is getting to interview everyday people who do wonderful/funny things (e.g. a woman who is cosplaying through cancer treatment, a 15-year-old girl who got her head stuck in a Barney mascot head, the dad behind the “Cheerio Challenge”, etc.). The worst part is how mean the internet can be, and also today a guy on a dating app said “lol you should write a listicle about me.” :/
2. Every night/morning, I write in my “5 Minute Journal.” As someone who always wanted to keep a journal but never kept it up, this thing is great. Search Amazon, it’s worth trying.
3. School always made me think I was a failure, which I think had less to do with my intelligence and more to do with how we treat learning disabilities (especially in girls). I was never formally diagnosed with a LD, but had at least one elementary school teacher who I later found out had told my parents I should get tested. I never was. I’m doing OK now, but school was hard for me in ways it maybe didn’t have to be.
4. I got half a boob job in high school because I had severely asymmetrical boobs that really messed up my self image for most of my life. I wrote an essay about it on BuzzFeed a couple months ago, which was a HUGE deal for me after years of keeping it a shameful secret.
5. I’m on Team Mystic (level 18), and my starter Pokemon is always and forever Squirtle.
6. My circle of friends from college lost a few people in the last 13 months. Untimely, sudden deaths of young people alter your world in a way that cannot be undone. A little over a year later, I don’t know if I’ve had any major EPIPHANIES, but the sheer knowledge of grief has made me (and all of us) kinder and a bit more forgiving. It still feels unfair. I think it always will.
7. The world is bit of a dumpster fire lately, so everyone should register to vote!
8. A few book suggestions: Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, The Language Of Food, and my all time fave, Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. I read this book every time I need it. It’s like meditating to me, at this point.
9. Music you should listen to: Chance’s newest mixtape. The newest Ariana Grande album (it is SO GOOD DO NOT START WITH ME). Smoke and Ashes by Tracy Chapman. Third Eye Blind’s cover of Mine. Jojo's (yes that Jojo) cover of Marvin’s Room. Coffee by Miguel. Borne On The FM Waves Of The Heart by Against Me. Depending on when this email comes out, Frank Ocean’s new album. Hopefully.
Say hi! Ask me questions! Give me compliments! Send me pics of your dog!
Love,
Julia Reinstein
[email protected]
@juliareinstein
NYC