This Month, by Design
Culture, community, small joys–and one trip to the moon.
This is a monthly series—This Month, by Design where I share a few notes on what brought small joys, comfort, or simply things I lingered on and didn’t want to forget.
What I Read: Strangers by Belle Burden
Needing a last minute beach read, I downloaded Strangers by Belle Burden on my Kindle for our trip and finished the book in two days. The subject of a divorce sounds hardly thrilling, but there was something about this book that made it hard to put down. Betrayed by her husband of twenty years, Belle could have buried this incident and slipped away quietly. Instead she took a different path. A riskier one.
She wrote a tell-all, heart-felt, introspective and difficult memoir, and laid it bare. And it seems through the process she grew stronger, shed her grief, and reconnected with herself. If you have a NY Times subscription, you can read her essay in Modern Love, Was I Married to a Stranger? which is the story that kick-started her path to publishing her first book.
What makes this book a target for some critics (and compelling to readers) is that Belle herself is no stranger to fame. Her grandmother was Babe Paley—one of Truman Capote’s famous “swans” and a scion of the Vanderbilt family. While I get why some think that her privilege is what got her the book deal—it’s unfair to say this is all it took. No one wishes to be betrayed. She could have easily done nothing, but she decided to take control of her story by sharing it publicly. This takes courage. So in spite of her gilded cage upbringing, Belle finds her voice as a writer with this memoir.
Now let’s see if Gwyneth Paltrow can translate the same emotional depth from Belle’s pages onto the screen.
What I Attended: The Photography Show
A friend of mine invited me to the preview of THE PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW PRESENTED BY AIPAD (aka The Association of International Photography Art Dealers) at Park Avenue Armory. After standing in a queue that wrapped around the block, we checked our coats, got handed a glass of bubbly, and dove right in. The first piece I saw and loved was an image by Pia Paulina Guilmoth. No surprise I was drawn to her work which centers around themes of ritual, gender, euphoria and nature.
Then we walked past Doug & Mike Starn’s at HackelBury, and I stopped dead in my tracks. I first became obsessed with these artist twins when I was in art school. It’s rare to see their work in public—except for their installation at South Ferry Station—so this was a thrill. And this series of sky scapes was simply stunning. Their art has always been textural and layered, both in meaning and form, and these photographs felt like fine oil paintings that had been stitched together. They will live rent free in my head forever.
There were many, many photographs—of course. Including iconic images, like the ones you think of when you recall important historical events, or glimpsed in past issues of VOGUE or LIFE. This gallery wall attempted to bring together many of these moments with a mixture of sports imagery like Neil Leifer’s Muhammad Ali vs Sonny Liston, along with fashion photographers Helmet Newton, Mario Testino, Herb Ritts, Richard Avedon, and Irving Penn all of whom have shaped our entire view of the still image in the last century.
With so much to see, my friend and I looped the Armory a few times to make sure we didn’t miss anything. By this hour the space had filled up. People watching became more fun and we were getting distracted. However these pieces from a gallery caught my eye—a beautiful Edward Weston photograph, along with this unique lithograph by M.C. Escher which took my breath away with the details.
Living in proximity to art is one of the enduring reasons why I have always loved New York, and chose to live here again. There is never a shortage of brilliant, inspiring work, and the upcoming line up of exhibitions this season is worth making plans for. So grab a friend, make a date and head out to catch one (or more!) of these:
Costume Art at The Met (May 10, 2026-January 10, 2027)
Independent Art Fair (May 14-17, 2026)
Whitney Biennale (Mar 8-Aug 23, 2026)
Clinamen at Park Avenue Armory (June 10–August 2, 2026)
Agnes Martin at Dia Beacon (until July 31)
What I Obsessed Over: Notebooks
This has been building up for awhile now, but I’ve decided it’s time to use all the good things—light the beautiful candles, drink the bottle of wine you’ve been saving, wear the ridiculous piece from your closet you’ve been hiding, and squeeze every ounce of joy out of your beloved belongings. For me, this also means using the journals I had been quietly collecting for the past few years.
It’s become apparent to me that everywhere I go, I seem to wander into a stationery shop, and come home with a new journal. So this month I decided to start using this Notem book I picked up on a trip to Copenhagen years ago. It’s not particularly fancy, but the quality of its pages, coupled with its size, and the fact that it has both lined and blank pages makes it a delight to write in.
In the past, the minimalist in me always loved Rhodia, with their handy perforated pages packed with tight grids. Then for years I gave Moleskine all my money—declaring this the only journal I would ever write in again. Even now, it’s hard to resist their notebooks as they are incredibly well made. It’s no surprise they were a favorite to artists and writers like Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso and even Vincent Van Gogh. For a time, I made do with some inexpensive MUJI notebooks, but they are so functional to the point of boring. Their pens and color pencils, on the other hand, are still some of my favourites, and a jar of these writing tools permanently sits on my desk.
Now, after years of using plain-covered notebooks I began craving color and texture, and found a very joyful looking journal from Pascale Editions at the McNally Jackson bookshop in Soho. The cover has artwork by French illustrator Pascaline Floch. I chose this floral print for my personal diary, while NOTEM is reserved for personal projects, and The Completist A5-sized lay-flat notebook contains client work. This makes it easy for me to identify and keep track of my sketches and notes, rather than stuffed together in one book, or worse—on loose bits and pieces of paper.
My preference for European made journals are clear, but domestically in the US, I like the stationery from Idlewild Co.. Field Notes is also very cute but more compact and useful for travel. If you’re into florals, no one does it better than Rifle Paper Co. which pumps out so many pretty patterns year after year, that you’ll find on absolutely everything—not just stationery.
If you’ve been looking for a way to bring more color and joy in your life—start with the small things. Try it! Swap out the tired keychain for something nicer. Order a new phone case that makes you happy. Upgrade your old dishtowels. It doesn’t seem important at first but these tiny acts add up, and help to brighten up your life.
What I Loved: Spring Blooms! 🌸
Nothing screams spring than seeing all of Park Avenue (and nearby Central Park) burst into color with the arrival of these tulips and flowering trees. Even though all the kids suffered severe allergies from the pollen—watching the pink petals fall like tiny pieces of confetti in the morning was the whimsy we needed!
What I Supported: Alumni Day of Care 🤘🏼
In celebration of National Volunteer Week (April 19–25), I joined a group of alumni from several different colleges to help revitalize PS 57 in East Harlem. Together with other fellow New School and Parsons graduates, we were tasked to paint a mural designed by Mimi, a freelance muralist who probably has one of the coolest jobs out of anyone I’ve ever met in New York.
Before we arrived, Mimi had set up the mural like a big paint-by-colors. Within two hours the group of us had it mostly under control. It was much harder than it looks—you needed an ability to mix colors, manage the drips, and paint with the steady hands of a surgeon. We did our best given our time constraint and lack of experience.
Organized by New York Cares, one of the city’s largest mobilizers of volunteers, we were joined by other alums from UC Berkeley, Howard, BU and City University. Every team had a different focus. Some were assembling furniture, while others were tidying up closets and classrooms. This was a new way for me to connect with my larger community—one that goes beyond my own neighbourhood and school networks, but simply seeing the impact it had on PS 57 was the best part.
According to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau and AmeriCorps, more than 75.7 million people in the U.S. formally volunteered between September 2022 and 2023. Informal helping is even more widespread, with 54.2% of Americans supporting neighbors through everyday acts like running errands, lending tools, or caregiving. Apparently the data also shows that Gen X leads in formal volunteering (27.2%), while Baby Boomers are most active in informal support (58.7%).
Like many people, I tend toward episodic, skills-based volunteering—ways of contributing that are flexible and don’t require a large upfront commitment. And there are countless ways to get involved. What’s often overlooked is that the impact goes both ways. The experience to build community in this way was rewarding. Everyone was so pumped to see the mural coming to life, and we all walked away that day feeling so good about what we achieved together.
Volunteering doesn’t just strengthen communities—it supports our own wellbeing, too. It’s linked to better physical and mental health, lower stress, reduced feelings of loneliness, and greater overall life satisfaction.
Put simply, acts of kindness are good for others—and good for us.
How you can get involved:
New York Cares - Great for a variety of different volunteer opportunities
City Meals on Wheels - Care and meal delivery to seniors
Big Brother, Big Sisters - Mentoring and supporting the next generation
City Harvest - Rescue and deliver food to those in need
What Moved Me: Artemis II
Everything about Artemis II seemed to captivate us all during their ten day trip beyond the moon and back—and for that week, it held all of humanity together in pure wonder and moonjoy. From seeing the astronauts hugging, a jar of Nutella float by, witnessing them go through the blackout period, to the opening of their capsule, it seemed every moment was made of magic.
There was something really special about seeing the photographs of the moon itself however—specifically the ones in color, that made me gasp. In my mind I had only ever thought of it as a grey orb, but now we see it’s true colors. None of this would have been possible without all the previous explorations and attempts of the Apollo missions. As a young person who witnessed the tragic Challenger Space Shuttle explosion in 1986, I know I was not the only one on the edge of my seat that morning.
Watching Artemis II go to the further point we’ve ever been, and make it back safely healed something so deep in GenX. It really felt as if NASA and the Artemis II crew gave us something that had been missing for a while—a sense of awe, and communion. It’s the faith and understanding that humans can do incredible together when we’re not defining ourselves by our differences, and wasting time on bombing each other. Thank you Artemis II for all the MOONJOY.
Be well, stay wild!
⚡️ Thank you for being here ⚡️
Other ways to connect
➤ Start here
❋ Explore the archive
❥ Subscribe for more
☻ Contact me
✿ Check out my website