I Know That I Like Tomato

“I can’t help it if I know what I like, and I know that I like tomato.” 🍅🥪📓 -Harriet The Spy

When I took these pictures last October, at the height of a tomato-and-mayo sandwich fixation period, I remember planning to post them with this caption — sans attribution, to see if anyone would recognize it. I wondered if another ‘90s kid with continuous film quotes in their head also heard this refrain / felt the urge to seal their sandwich down with a punch every time it involved tomato. 

I couldn’t have imagined that by the time I actually got around to sharing this idea and these pictures, circumstances would feel so very different from last October.

Michelle Trachtenberg, the actress who played Harriet The Spy, died yesterday, barely four decades young. This distant-yet-still-feels-personal news is coming at the close of a dismal February which has brought an uncanny amount of death to my community — and that’s aside from the more metaphorical deaths those of us in the US are collectively watching plague our democracy.

Meanwhile, I’ve passed five unplanned weeks off social media, awaiting some clarity in my presence and complicity in these afflicted spaces. I wish I had a concise answer and plan for myself, but that fog still lingers.

One thing that continues to be a north star through it all? On which I’ve focused my free hours offline — yet which also spurs me to connect here with you more than any outfit sharing or thrift tip — that which offers unlimited room to ask and ponder my unlimited questions — and what was, in fact, inspired by Harriet herself all those years ago? Writing. It’s the only devotion that persists from my childhood (evidence below), and the only thing that’s made sense to me this whole time. Whether online or off, I’m going to keep writing.

 

I’d love you to write me too; let me know how you’re doing in the comments if you have some words & brainwaves to spare.

Trend Alerts... and Alarm Bells

 🚨❄️ WINTER COAT TREND ALERT ❄️🚨

… just kidding. I may be on these NYC streets, but I’d be lying if I said I know what’s "going on" in the fashion world.

The coat you see here is VINTAGE — I had originally assumed since the 1980s, since I like to call it my “John Bender coat.” Recent tag research indicates something closer to the 1950s (!!), which is thrilling to me, as that makes it one of the oldest pieces in my wardrobe.

But did you believe me for the two seconds I cited it as on-trend? With the mad-dash speed our trends cycle at these days, could you even tell one way or the other?

That’s the thing about trends: who’s telling you what’s what anyway? A business? An influencer? Some corporate overlord from their mighty tower? Wise woman once said, “if the shoe fits, walk in it everywhere you go.” Trends are alright to embrace if they already fit your style profile. But be wary of any reports that give you the sudden urge to buy something new (like, now.)

Speaking of side-eying corporate overlords, today's news about Meta abandoning their fact-checking has caused me to recommit to this blog space, lest the unchecked "free speech" landscape goes the way it seems it will. 

If you'd like to join me here, I'd love to have you! Blogger has removed the subscription option from my homepage in recent years, so I'll be working on a workaround for email alerts. Meanwhile, feel free to bookmark me and drop by when fancy strikes, like a neighbor in the '90s.

Let's stay sustainable, uncompromised, and committed to FACT in 2025. 

Fondly, 

Rachel // Inspirsession

 

A Day Offline

If you follow me on Instagram, you may know that I decided to spend last Saturday (Earth Day) entirely off my personal technology. No phone, no laptop… and I don’t have an Apple watch, but if I did, I would’ve ditched that too.

As it happened, I picked up an extra shift that day, so staying busy at the restaurant all afternoon made this process both easier and more pointless. Easier, because I don’t have my phone around me for working hours anyway. Pointless, because as a maitre d’ I do half my work on an iPad anyway.

So, was I truly screen-free for the day? No. To do so would've required me to skip work. But I didn’t go on the internet, I didn’t text anyone, and I didn’t access my camera or music account.

Here’s what happened:

• The night I turned my phone off, there were several distressing noises outside my apartment. Typically this is the time I would consult the Citizen app on my phone, which helps quell my anxiety that whatever’s going on is being acknowledge and/or handled by the community. Without that coping mechanism, I have to admit I had a really restless few hours of sleep. I found that kind of ironic, considering my phone is usually what I blame for keeping me awake.
• I arrived at work early (!!) because I had to guesstimate when my train would arrive, and in true Rachel fashion, I erred on the side of caution. This felt great. What did not feel so great was at the end of my double shift when I couldn’t consult my subway status app and had to transfer four times due to train outages I didn’t see coming. Longest trip home of my life. 
• I READ. I actually finished the book I had started only a day before because I reverted back to this form of entertainment for both my lunch break and my commute both ways. I’m remembering now how I used to be such an avid reader.
• I missed catching up with friends. Not being able to text people whenever I felt like it was something I didn’t realize I would miss in the span of 24-hours — but I did! It reminded me how grateful I am for texting because so many of my loved ones live across the country, and I scarcely have a chance to swap stories with them otherwise.
• I found myself wanting to linger in the silence a little longer. At days end, when I permitted myself to some post-midnight scrolling, I found myself overwhelmed with the idea of reconnecting. I ended up finishing my book on the couch instead, and the next morning was spent fairly quietly as well. The social media posts I had planned for this week also fell by the wayside, and I can’t say I’m feeling much momentum to get back to them.
  

If you’ve never tried a digital detox or “offline day,” I highly recommend trying it! It’s astounding what you can learn about yourself and your relationship to technology, even just in the span of 24 hours.