#3 Workers' Rights and a Natty Wine Club.
I hope this email finds you hydrated.
Sending you newsie #3 from what I call the Diet Hamptons (Greenport, NY). Let’s hope I don’t run into anti-maskers and The Chainsmokers (lol remember that?). This is my first time outside of New York City since Christmas, besides the one day my quaranTeam and I drove to The Big Duck. It’s aged me at least 5 years.
Hope everyone’s had a safe and enjoyable last weekend of Summer 🥵
Oof. Anyway…
Gwyneth Paltrow, MD.
Let’s all agree to stop drinking alcohol from mugs?
This week’s product request comes from subscriber Cam Ly. Drinkware!
^ Me trying to take picture of this glass at 2AM. I have these lil glasses from Rigby Home, and they are my CHILDREN. I’m super picky about the shape of glasses, and these are perfect. They feel super well-made and can be water glasses or stemless wine glasses. There’s also a taller version of them that could be perf for beer.
If you want more classic shapes (for different kinds of drinks), CB2 ~randomly~ has really affordable drinkware. I like this Old Fashioned glass, love this Coupe glass, for the deranged: this Neat Tasting glass is cute, and here are just some classic Wine glasses. Though I do like these fancier ones better.
For something funky, go to the Mugs and Cups section of Coming Soon New York. Fair warning: you will want to buy everything on that website.
Still tru tho.
What Is Labor Day? A History of the Workers’ Holiday NYT
The only reason I remember the significance behind Labor Day is because of my absolutely unhinged AP English teacher from junior year of high school (Looking back, I think he is one of the funniest and STRANGEST people I’ve ever met). He gave a presentation about May Day, the Haymarket riots, etc. and then showed us a video of him going up to random people at O’Hare airport and asking if they knew the significance of Labor Day (???). I don’t know if there is a detail I’m missing or if he literally just did that (RE: absolutely unhinged). Anyway, in the midst of protests all over the world and exposing companies who have mistreated their employees, reflecting on the history of Labor Day feels extra important this year.
The Postal Service is desperately trying to appeal to millennials The Outline
“The Postal Service (not the band) has released a report detailing how they think they can get millennials to mail stuff. I read the whole thing, and I can confidently say that it is hilariously dumb.”
This is one of my favorite articles from The Outline (R.I.P. one of my fave publications ugh). It’s from 2017, but I literally go back and dig it up at least once a year, because I think it’s that funny. Also still relevant, considering the state of the USPS right now 😓 No, but seriously, open it!!! The graphic is SO funny.
Goodbye, Summer.
Open your purse!
In reference to this cultural phenom. Every month I’m going to pick an organization for us to donate to together. Venmo me at @elisebang (email me if you prefer a different method) and at the end of every month, I’ll match up to $50.
This month I’m choosing Brave Space Alliance. They’re the first Black-led, Trans-led LGBTQ Center working on the South Side of Chicago. Right now, they’re the only LGBTQIA+ -ran food pantry in the Midwest! If you’re local to Chicago, they’re always taking supply donations, and they do a great job of creating culturally affirming donation lists. Learn more about Brave Space Alliance here.
Let’s see how much we can raise by the end of September!
THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO HAVE ALREADY DONATED! LET’S KEEP THIS UP ❤️
Featured Artist (yes, this is an art) of the Week: Bummer Wines
Bummer Wines is a Natural wine club based in Pilsen, Chicago. Every month, they source new Natural wines for you to discover.
“Monthly club selections spotlight small-batch, family and minority-owned wineries that are transparent about their product, with special focus on wine from Latin America.”
Congrats on your launch! Can you tell me more about Bummer Wines?
”Thank you! It's been a whirlwind, but really exciting so far. And thank you, Elise for having us be a part of twenty three tabs. We love what you're doing. Bummer Wines was born out of our affinity for natural wines. There’s such a vast spectrum of weird, amazing, and intricate flavoring that, for us, has brought an excitement to drinking wine again. Not to mention, we aren’t a fan of all the bullshit that goes into most wine manufacturing.
I think another thing is we felt that the wine industry, like a lot of industries, was a very White space. So as two minorities, the wine club was an opportunity for us to be a part of something I feel like a growing number of people including ourselves are looking for, which is more diversity within various industries. It is also why we seek to highlight minority owned, family owned wineries.”
How did the idea for this come into fruition?
”Vic and I met when we were both at a not-fun-job for a not-great-company like 4 or 5 years back. We became friends because we had a lot of shared interests. I think there was an unspoken policy that we weren’t allowed to sit next to each other whenever we rearranged seating because we never got any work done.
Originally, it really started with this idea of wanting to open a store in Pilsen, the neighborhood where we both live in Chicago. Pilsen is, in my opinion, the best neighborhood in Chicago. It has a strong Mexican culture that is reflected in everything from the murals, restaurants, street vendors, and attitude of the community.
We both have enjoyed Natural wines for the last couple of years, introducing our friends and family to wines we found to be weird, tasty and exciting, something different than what we had been used to drinking before. And something Vic was really excited about was how many natural wines were from these smaller wineries in Mexico. That connection really got us thinking about how great it would be to be able to make those wines more accessible to people in Chicago and Pilsen specifically.
We pretty quickly realized neither of us really had the means or knowledge to open up a physical space, but we still wanted to take steps in that direction. Victor’s boyfriend suggested starting a wine club instead, and that really got everything in motion. Creating an online wine club allowed us to get a sense of what this could look like in the future in terms of public interest and branding, while also still giving us the opportunity to do what we ultimately want to do–share amazing natural wines with our family, friends, and community.”
And tell me more about yourselves, the founders!
Victor: “We both met at a previous job, as we mentioned, and since have moved into different fields. I work in advertising, and I grew up in Cicero, IL, a predominantly Mexican town just outside of Chicago. Since college, I've lived in several neighborhoods across the city, which were great in their own way, but being surrounded by the Mexican culture in Pilsen, where I currently live and where we are based out of, has not only been inspiring, but has helped me connect with my roots in a stronger way. In my free time, I'm sourcing vintage furniture for my apartment or running around after my pup Arnie with my boyfriend.”
David: “I was born and grew up in the Bay Area, California. My parents actually met there after immigrating from the Philippines in the 70’s. In 2011, I moved to Chicago to get my MFA in photography from Columbia College. I live a couple blocks over from Victor, and am currently working from home with my two cats. I like reading, biking to the lake, and chopping the vegetables for my girlfriend when she’s cooking something.”
What is Natural wine, and how is it different from “regular” wine?
”Natural wine for the most part removes all the unnecessary additives “regular” wine does not. There are more than 200 chemicals, as well as added sugars, that many manufacturers use to manipulate the profiles of those wines. Natural wines generally only have a single ingredient, the grape.
We like the aspect of the process for natural wine being mostly left up to the elements. The inherent imperfections that make each bottle unique sort of make it feel like a more fun and approachable experience.”
Any hopes, wishes, or dreams for Bummer Wines? :)
”We hope people enjoy the wines we spotlight as much as we do first, but along with that we hope to broaden the conversation of inclusion within the natural wine industry. Also, we want people to stop having wine hangovers haha :)”’
Follow Bummer Wines on Instagram at @bummerwines and check out their latest wine selection (and sick merch!) on their website bummer-wines.com!
(Thanks to subscriber Ashtyn Farrell putting me on to Bummer!)
ily a milli.
Thanks for reading newsie #3. I LOVE YOU for it. If you missed last week’s, definitely check it out. I interviewed a Brooklyn singer/songwriter with a crazy catchy song.
Next week’s guest will be a real IYKYK for those who love vintage clothes and bootleg merch.
What else do you want to see going forward? Shoot me an email at eliseabang@gmail.com, Tweet me, slide into my Instagram DMs ;)
Weeeeee talk to you next week! (ノ◕ヮ◕)ノ*:・゚✧