PORTUGUESE, WARM WATER AND SOFI TUKKER

LIFE OF A BOOKMAN

Bookman: 1. a person who has a love of books and especially of reading. 2. a person who is involved in the writing, publishing, or selling of books. Oh, hi that's me!!

Page-by-Page: I've tried for a year to figure out how to read an out-of-print book written in Portuguese: Jackie do Brasil: autobiografia de uma jogadora não autorizada. Top of my list of options was hiring a hot Brazilian man to read it out loud to me?? But alas, a different man, Claude.ai, came to my rescue. For all 215 pages, I took photos of each page in the chapter with my iphone, uploaded 5 pages at a time (the max) to Claude, asked it to translate from Brazilian Portuguese to American English, and read my little heart out. Committed? You better believe it. But the story was so unbelievably good I hardly noticed the cumbersome process.

As many of you know, I spent 3 months in Rio last year where I met Jackie, got to learn Beach volleyball from her, and decided to write a book about her. So this translation attempt is a continuation of my research.

Who is Jackie Silva? WHO IS JACKIE SILVA!? I mean, only the most inspiring woman I think I've ever met, She is a multi-olympian in indoor and beach volleyball. She was exiled from Brazil for turning her jersey inside out when she found out the sponsorship money was going only to the men, not the women's team. In the years she was banned from vball in Brazil, she competed on USA beaches, and winning everything, and transforming the sport (she changed how the sport was played – the first to overhead set and kept doing it until they allowed the play). So, when beach volleyball was added to the '96 Olympics in Atlanta for the first time, what did she do? Returned to the beaches of Rio to qualify for the Olympics for a country that kicked her out of the sport. And what did she do at the Olympics? Won the first ever Gold Medal in Beach volleyball and the first ever women's gold medal for Brazil. The book writes itself people.... Most of this year will be interviewing, researching, and planning. But a page-turner, which we'll call JACKIE for now, is coming...

What I'm writing: Well, see above. I got some interviewees who've agreed to talk to me (we're talking legendary volleyball coaches from the 90s). And I did some planning of the next scenes of Evangeline. We're at the first act of her story, and now we get to move into this groovy time where her Astrology business is booming...will she let success get to her head? Probably. But I've got to write to find out!!

WOMEN’S STUDIES

What gets passed down becomes our history. My content consumption has been all over the place, but Traditional Chinese Medicine has been the real leading theme for things I've been reading and watching, mainly because my favorite Lady Doc, Dr. Jolene Brighten, had TCM practitioner Brehan Crawford on her pod: POTS Treatment, Fibromyalgia, & Chronic Illness: Science-Backed Remedies That Work. Many of the tidbits resonated with me. I've been analyzing my tongue, getting acupuncture appointments set up, and all about drinking warm water instead of the 99% ice cold things I usually default to drinking. So, welcome to the randomness inside my head (and gut).

PASS IT ON

Stories are heirlooms. Here's one of mine:

I've had one musician in my ears this week: Sofi Tukker. Ok so technically this duo makes that two.

We got to see them play a small show at the St. Regis in Aspen...and it was honestly the greatest two hours ever. I've long liked their music, with it's Brazilian influence, and it's noticeable strangeness with great beats and real tension. Seeing them play, me and the girls were like...we just dig them?? They seem super cool up there, totally lovely, and like they're having a bangin' good time. Its fun to see artists enjoying themselves. So, when one of the gals shared this Rich Roll Podcast where he interviewed the EDM duo, I dove in. And it was SO inspiring....creatively...what's possible when we prioritize wellness...how many setbacks were in involved in their journey to crazy success...how sobriety play into it all...how they own what they make instead of signing with labels “to essentially have a bank loan that must be paid back”. I just loved the convo.

Until next week!
Woman on xx