Innehållsförteckning för Special #2 2021 från O, Quarterly

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GET EVEN Is a lightweight, full-coverage, breathable concealer with an easy-to-use applicator too much to ask for? Not anymore. Eye Think So A creamy texture that won’t pull on delicate skin meets a hexagonal grip for control. Basically, it’s the pencil of your dreams. You Glow, Girl After a year of wearing masks, I am so ready for a masque. Here’s one with brightening saffron and turmeric, plus alpha hydroxy acids to exfoliate. O NATURALE If, in the past year, you became accustomed to wearing very little makeup, I say amen, sister! It doesn’t get more “very little” than this multipurpose tinted balm. Pat the unique formula—coconut oil in a pressed powder compact—over your eyes or cheeks for a delicate bloom of color. A Cheery Choice Olivia Chantecaille created these…

Chasin’ Dreams Farm Popped Sorghum This tiny gluten-free grain is a solid source of fiber and protein; once popped, it’s also ideal for sprinkling on salads. Pop Bitties Air Popped Ancient Grain Chips Sorghum joins forces with brown rice, quinoa, and chia in crave-worthy options like Maple & Sea Salt and Vegan Sour Cream & Onion. Bohana Popped Water Lily Seeds An Ayurvedic superfood rich in antioxidants gets an addictive update with flavors like Zesty Ranch and Hickory BBQ.…

A SELF-DIAGNOSED hypochondriac, Nathan Harris was sitting outside an urgent care center in Austin when he received a phone call from Oprah telling him that she’d chosen his debut novel, The Sweetness of Water (Little, Brown), as her latest Oprah’s Book Club selection. Hives had recently sprung up all over the 29-year-old author’s body, and he was sure they were a sign of anaphylactic shock—but rather than bother anyone with his latest concern, he drove to the clinic and waited, just in case the welts went away on their own. When he got the call, Harris thought he was being pranked. But he soon realized this was no joke, and by the time he hung up the phone, the hives had receded, making it a good day twice over. Oprah’s…

A preacher turned lawyer, Gray litigated major civil rights cases, including defending Rosa Parks after she refused to sit in the rear of a segregated bus and representing plaintiffs victimized by the federal Tuskegee Syphilis Study. SOMEBODY HAD TO be the spokesman for the group, to tell the people and tell the press what we were doing and why we were doing it. It needed to be a person who could speak, and someone said to me, “Well, I’ll tell you, Fred, the person who can do that the best of anybody I know is my pastor, and that’s Martin Luther King.” He hadn’t been in town long, and hadn’t been involved in any civil rights activity. But he could move people. I said, “If he can do that, that’s…

Newton worked as an English teacher and counselor in the Bearden public school system for 35 years. LOOKING BACK, I’M not really sure how I managed to go back to school for my master’s after I had kids. But in order to be a counselor, I needed a master’s, so I thought, Okay. I’ll go back to school! I didn’t hire a babysitter. I just took the two kids with me during the summer, which is funny now. My youngest was probably 5, and I would just get them up in the morning, dress them, and we would drive to Arkadelphia, which is about a 55-minute drive. They had a nice student union, and my children were pretty well-behaved, so they would sit in the student union while I went…

In the early 1960s, Bailey became the first Black woman to work as a dancer on the Las Vegas Strip, at the Flamingo hotel and casino. She and her husband, Bob, also an entertainer as well as a businessman and activist, went on to open successful clubs. RW: What was life like for African Americans in Las Vegas at the time? AB: Oh, girl. That’s a good question. Very hostile. But they could tell by the way we walked, the way we carried ourselves, the way we were dressed when we would go downtown, that we didn’t have any problems. We had little problems with the dress shops and things like that—naturally, shops and theaters were segregated there. Like the Woolworth, places like that, eating at the counter. The environment…

WHEN COVID-19 FIRST arrived stateside, Eranda Jayawickreme, PhD, didn’t feel shock or despair. “I thought to myself, This is just like when I was young,” says the associate professor of psychology at Wake Forest University, who lived through an armed insurrection while growing up in Sri Lanka. “I know the drill: Stock up on food, water, and other supplies. Because of the lockdown, we won’t be going to the supermarket for a while.” Others of us were more jolted by the radical new reality of teaching kids from home, trying to hold on to our jobs (or actually losing them), keeping clear of loved ones who didn’t live with us, and desperately trying to avoid arguments with those who did. Though the pandemic quarantine was a collective experience, it has…

“WHAT WE’VE experienced has been a pandemic within a pandemic within a pandemic,” laments Rashid. Not only were we all coping with the devastating mental and physical impact of Covid-19, but we were also managing the ills of racial injustice, police brutality, political upheaval, and misinformation. What rose to the surface—or was placed in a spotlight—for many was an unprecedented level of distrust across the board, from the personal (the family member you suspected wasn’t quarantining properly enough) all the way up to the political (depending on who was in the White House). All of that uncertainty has resulted in some devastating statistics, the repercussions of which are still unknown: One in five Americans say they don’t intend to get the Covid vaccine, nearly 40 percent don’t believe the results…

WE HEAR THE word trauma associated with the events of the past year and a half nonstop. But is that what we were experiencing? “The concept of trauma has stretched beyond its original, strict definition of something truly life-threatening, like what healthcare workers in the thick of the Covid crisis went through,” says Christine Yu Moutier, MD, chief medical officer at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. In the classic model, stressors clinically deemed traumatic are typically unpredictable, uncontrollable, and potentially deadly, such as combat, accidents, earthquakes, and torture. Few among the rest of us would equate what we went through during quarantine with combat, but Moutier differentiates between what she calls “big T” trauma of the type described above and “small t” trauma. “In the continuum definition of trauma,…

As we emerged from quarantine, we found ourselves comparing numbers with people: “It’s been six months since I’ve eaten in a restaurant.” “A year since we saw Grandma.” “Fourteen months since I last went into the office.” And then there are the numbers some of us might not to want to remember: The hours spent on the couch watching Netflix. The months since we’ve set foot in a gym. The number of pounds we’ve put on. The good news is, whether you vegged out or stayed relatively fit (in which case, #bless), recent research shows it doesn’t have to take much time, or an insane number of reps, to get healthier. Read on for the stats you need to find strength in numbers. 50% The likelihood that a person who…

OUR BOOKSHELVES, OURSELVES When they couldn’t meet in person, Idrissa Simmonds-Nastili and her friends found one another in the pages of their books. I GREW UP IN A HOUSEHOLD of bibliophiles. Paperbacks, encyclopedias, historical fiction, and everything in between inhabited closets, lined the walls of rooms, and sat an arm’s reach away on side tables. I came to understand early that books were healers, and not only because I found resonance and comfort in individual volumes. There was something about the magic of a home library that soothed and empowered me. In this year of Covid-19 and a constant stream of violence against Black bodies, two things happened. First, my book collection blossomed exponentially. Second, book tending—the intentional act of curating and experiencing books in one’s living space as a tool for pleasure,…

MY MOTHER AND I were enemies from the day I first drew breath, August 21, 1951. Brilliant and determined, she resisted the pressure to procreate for three years after marrying my father at 19. Had she been born into the choices of my generation, not the limitations of hers, she would have had a big career. Instead, she had my brother and me. Our aversion felt biological. She was the reluctant mom trying to keep her willful daughter alive. I was the wild child blasting past her constraints. When she said “Don’t,” I heard “Try it!”, whether “it” was jumping onto a stranger’s motorcycle at 12 or having sex with my boyfriend at 15. Breaking her rules was my North Star, guiding me to a bigger, happier life. I found…

LATELY I HAVE been talking a lot about resilience, the theme of our first O Quarterly, and emerging stronger, the theme of this one, with Dr. Bruce Perry, the renowned psychiatrist. Together, we coauthored What Happened to You?, a book about trauma, resilience, and healing. Dr. Perry says that when people hear the word resilience, they think it means the ability to bounce back, like a Nerf ball, without damage. But he says resilience is more like what happens to a wire clothes hanger when we bend it and then try to twist the wire back into its original shape: The hanger will still be able to hold the clothes in your closet, but it will never be exactly the same as before. After the past year and a half,…

WITH LITTLE TO do but stare at ourselves this past year, many of us got overzealous in our pursuit of clearer, smoother, more camera-ready skin. We sampled too many harsh products or played cosmetic chemist, whipping up questionable at-home concoctions. Much of this was in response to what dermatologists are now calling “Zoom dysmorphia”—a distorted perception of your appearance as a result of looking at yourself up close on, well, Zoom. And the aftermath of these complexion-fixing attempts hasn’t always been pretty. “We’re seeing a serious uptick in acne flares, bouts of rosacea, and other inflammatory conditions,” says Ranella Hirsch, MD, a dermatologist in Boston. To be fair, the damage wasn’t all self-inflicted. There are side effects to living through a challenging year: Stress, poor diet, and lack of sleep…

1. Grand Stand With durable construction and foam padding, this ten-foot board is just the thing for stand-up paddleboard (SUP) beginners. Whether you’re gliding through the waves or doing SUP fishing or yoga (it’s a thing!), you’ll be the belle of the beach. (L.L. Bean by Tahe Outdoors Bayside Cross Tough-Tec Stand-up Paddleboard package, paddle and calf leash included, $799; llbean.com) 2. Main Frames Meet your new running buddy: sporty sunnies that won’t bounce or slip, thanks to a special grip coating. Polarized to protect eyes from UVA and UVB, they’re a bright idea to help hit your stride. (Circle G sunglasses in Influencers Pay Double, $25; goodr.com) 3. There’s the Rub A post-workout wonder, this nongreasy, waterless balm—packed with calendula oil, ginger, and cloves—quickly soothes sore muscles and joints,…

We Want What We Want BY ALIX OHLIN A 19-year-old returns from a gap year doing humanitarian work in Ghana to find her father engaged to her childhood best friend—awkward! A woman tries to keep in touch with an intriguing friend she made during a semester abroad in Spain as their lives diverge over many years. Ohlin’s slyly humorous and devastatingly sensuous collection of short fiction shines a brilliant light on women’s inchoate desires. Agatha of Little Neon BY CLAIRE LUCHETTE After their parish in Buffalo, New York, folds due to lack of money and poor attendance, four young nuns relocate to Woonsocket, Rhode Island, to help out at a halfway home full of the offbeat and the disenfranchised. When the titular heroine of this sublime, idiosyncratic debut lands a…

When Robinson started bodybuilding at Gold’s Gym in Venice Beach in 1975, he remembers being told “Blacks don’t get contracts” to compete. He was harassed at competitions and struggled with steroids and sickle cell anemia. After moving overseas to compete without fear of racism, he eventually returned to the U.S. in 1994 and won the first-ever Mr. Olympia Masters, for athletes over 50—and then won it twice more. I WENT TO what was basically an all-Black high school in Tallahassee, Florida, so I really didn’t encounter that much racism. Because everybody was poor, Blacks and whites, it didn’t look like I was any better than you—we ate the same food, cooked in the same pots. So I didn’t really get the blunt force of it, I guess, until I left…

Burnette served two tours of duty in Vietnam and retired from the U.S. Army as a colonel. As a human resources specialist at the Federal Aviation Administration, he recruited and hired many Black and minority candidates. Why did you think it was important to bring young Black people into the aviation field? Well, there weren’t that many who were qualified. We signed an agreement with the historically Black colleges. That point on, we began to bring Blacks into the FAA. I’m proud knowing how many folks I’ve put to work at FAA, and they’re happy, too. As a matter of fact, they had a dinner once a year, a big dinner, and they named that dinner in my honor. Is there a defining experience that you had that was a…

De Shields, who won the 2019 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his performance as Hermes in Hadestown, recently launched a podcast called Live from Mount Olympus, which uses Greek mythology to teach life lessons for young people. FROM MY VERY first conscious thought, I knew I wanted to be an entertainer. That came from my parents. My mother wanted to dance, but that was not considered a career for a young colored woman born at the turn of the 20th century. Similarly, my father, he wanted to sing, but his parents said, “That’s not a responsible way to be a breadwinner.” So my parents deferred their dreams. I’m ninth of 11 children, so I consider myself lucky number nine, because the dreams my parents deferred…

LAST YEAR and this one have been marked by loss. And when you lose someone or something deeply important to you, your whole life is often turned upside down. “Grief doesn’t have to be triggered just by a loss of a person,” emphasizes Tamar Rodney, PhD, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. “It could be losing a job, your normal way of life, the space you work in. It could be the death of a norm you appreciated before that you probably won’t ever get back.” Typically after a loss, you begin to adjust and rebuild your life. You stop expecting to see a partner who passed away walk into the room; you wake up less often thinking about running your company that filed for bankruptcy.…

BY JUNE 2020, four words glared back at you when you went on Amazon to buy books that unpacked racism in America: “Temporarily out of stock.” The idea of being uninformed was beginning to become intolerable. People wanted to know exactly how they were contributing to the problem of racism in America—and how to stop it. Not only did the pandemic send us into our homes and in front of the television to watch cell phone and body cam footage of Black people being killed by the police, it also cast many of us out of our homes across the globe to march against the injustice. But the divides of the past year were not only racial. They were gendered, as record numbers of women were jettisoned from the workforce…

AS POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGISTS, Toronto-based Tayyab Rashid, PhD, and Robert McGrath, PhD, a professor of psychology at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, know a thing or two about building resilience. Last year, they published a list of 101 simple actions people could take to turn negativity on its head, especially during quarantine. (For more from Rashid, see “A Post-Pandemic Guide to Your Emotions” on page 59). As we move toward some semblance of the Before Times, who couldn’t benefit from a handy list of practical steps to be more mindful, curious, compassionate, patient, joyful, open-minded, loving, brave, just, and silly? None of these actions—adapted from that original list of 101—are meant to be life-altering on their own. “They’re intended simply to help you go through each day more meaningfully,” says…

Even in good times, humans agonize over things every day, from big existential crises (“Am I a good person?”) to smaller nagging doubts (“I did turn the oven off, didn’t I?”). If you worry about the right things, the thinking goes, you could prevent disasters. The problem is, bad things can happen no matter how much we stress—including a catastrophe of worldwide proportions that most of us didn’t see coming. The Covid-19 pandemic upended life as we knew it. Now that it’s happened, we face a dilemma: If such a calamitous thing can occur, how do we not kick our worry level up a few notches? Isn’t it prudent to stay on the edge of our seats, scouting and preparing for the worst? But a higher level of worry can…

Leigh Haber: As a couples therapist, how did you see lockdown impact relationships? Esther Perel: The first thing that happened was a massive collapse of boundaries that was disorienting. People who worked from home saw all their roles literally collapse together under one roof: mother, CEO, shrink, supervisor, friend, daughter, and chef. Oh, and they had their gym in there, too. Their entire world was there. Normally we leave our partner during the day and interact with other people—we get to see ourselves through the reflections of others. But if during the entire day all I see is you, and all you see is me…well, that can get very tiring very quickly. LH: It puts a lot of pressure on your domestic partner. EP: Exactly. During quarantine, partners were looking…

MY HUSBAND recently suggested we put our apartment on the market. “I know you love New York, and I did, too,” he said. “But the city has changed. I don’t love it anymore, and I don’t know if I ever will again.” “How soon until you say that about me?” I demanded, bursting into tears. I didn’t really think he’d leave me, but his eagerness to abandon the place where we’re raising our family already felt like a betrayal. Wisely, he backed off the idea of selling—for now, anyway. But I’ve run out of fingers and toes to count the families we know who are fleeing to the suburbs after a year in which the city’s public schools met in person sporadically, while those in tony towns a 20-minute train…

HOW SHE GOT STARTED “I began making clothing with African prints about ten years ago,” says McFarlane. “Then, in 2018, I shifted completely into jewelry after I started to learn more about the ecological impacts that clothing had. I wanted to do something that was a bit more sustainable.” HER INSPIRATION McFarlane traces her focus on African and Caribbean jewelry to pieces handed down by her Jamaican grandmother. “I realized that jewelry can tell intergenerational stories,” she says. “I started with Egyptian-coin necklaces and went down a rabbit hole of all these African and Caribbean countries that have really rich stories, specifically around independence, told through their coins. It became a physical and tangible way to unite the diaspora and African cultures in jewelry traditions.” THE TURNING POINT “I was…

HOW SHE GOT STARTED It all began with a new apartment. “When I moved to California in 2016, I lived in a 600-square-foot bungalow in Santa Monica,” says Baiter. “It was my first chance to really outfit my space.” When she set out to find a comfy spot for her newly adopted pet, however, she was disappointed by the options. “There wasn’t a bohemian dog bed that would fit this California-cool style that I was going for,” she recalls. “So I went to the Rose Bowl Flea Market, determined to make it myself.” HER INSPIRATION “I fell in love with the bogolan textiles from Africa sold at the flea market, I bought a dog bed on the internet, and I had the cover remade by my local seamstress with the…

I love to travel, go to the theater, see movies, eat at restaurants, hug and kiss friends. But after this past year, I know for sure that it’s okay, really okay, to be quiet sometimes. To just sit and embrace quiet and solitude.—Angela Bassett, actor, @im.angelabassett THAT I’LL NEVER TAKE TRAVELING TO OTHER PLACES FOR GRANTED.—Natasha Khawja-McGowan, Los Angeles, @purposeandchai Capitalism is oppressive and serves only the top.—Lea McGeever, San Francisco, @leamisu Everything and everyone, everywhere, is interconnected.—Ranya Nasri, Montreal, @ranyanasri Books, family, friends, faith, good bedding, a comfy sofa, work, a balcony, flowers, walks, candles, wine, yoga, deliveries, stirring cheesy sauce, risotto, baking healthy muffins, sunrises, sunsets, full moons, half-moons, laughter…I need, or can give or share, all of these.—Valrine Daley, Montclair, New Jersey, @vivipeonies That we all need…

Flag That We pledge allegiance to this patriotic made-in-Massachusetts cornhole set, which comes with two boards and can be personalized with a name or favorite saying. It’s enough to make you want to throw a cookout—or bring your takeout to the backyard. (American Flag Cornhole Game Set, originally $350, now 20 percent off with code oprah; rusticmarlin.com) Not Your Average Joe A big mug always comes in handy for coffee, soup, or ice cream. These 16-ounce stoneware beauties are microwave-and-dishwasher-safe and handmade in Vermont by a company that’s been dishing up pottery for 73 years. (American Classic Mugs, $22 each; benningtonpotters.com) Like a Virgin There’s nothing like a flavorful olive oil for dipping fresh bread or drizzling over grilled summer veggies. Made from California-grown olives, this one has herbaceous and…

1. Do an oral-care audit. Try to avoid toothpastes and mouthwashes with alcohol, sugar, clay, and charcoal, all of which can disrupt the healthy interplay of good and bad bacteria, says Curatola. 2. Pay attention to your diet. Research shows that what you eat can support the oral microbiome. Curatola recommends trying an AAA diet, which stands for alkaline, anti-inflammatory, and anti-oxidantrich. Those foods—things like orange and green veggies, all kinds of berries, seeds—may help keep bacteria in balance. 3. Chill out. Stress and anxiety can cause dry mouth, and when chronic, the condition can be more than merely unpleasant. “Lack of saliva can alter the concentration of good microbes,” says Curatola. Try proven stress busters like meditation and yoga. 4. Keep moving. “Regular exercise improves your immune and circulatory…

SEAR YOUR SALAD Grilling romaine brings out its flavor, almost caramelizing it. This recipe from Napa Valley’s Bottega restaurant pairs a fresh-from-the-fire salad with a vibrant dressing that gets its creaminess from avocado instead of mayo. Grilled Avocado Salad with Green Goddess Dressing Makes 4 servings Total time: 20 minutes Dressing: 1 ripe Hass avocado, pitted and peeled1 Tbsp. chopped basil1 Tbsp. chopped parsley2 tsp. chopped tarragon1 tsp. chopped garlic3 Tbsp. lemon juice1 tsp. kosher salt Ground black pepper⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil Salad: ½ medium red onion, thinly sliced2 lemons, divided¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided2 Hass avocados, halved, pitted, and peeledSalt and pepper2 hearts of romaine, halved lengthwise4 tomatoes, sliced into eight wedges¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese 1. To make dressing: In a food processor fitted with a…

To me, summer reading means indulging guilty pleasures. My private fantasy? A couch, a cup of coffee, and detective fiction. I can’t wait to get back to favorite crime writers like Sara Paretsky. I’m also psyched about diving into the mysteries of the late Barbara Neely, whose Black female detective has a day job as a domestic worker. — RITA DOVE’s new collection is Playlist for the Apocalypse. Summer is my chance to read those long, involving books I haven’t dared dip into during the rest of the year. One summer I read Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, the warm sand of an island off Ibiza mingling forever in my mind with a dacha in Russia. Another year I spooked myself with The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, which I now…

The first African American and youngest president of Planned Parenthood, Wattleton spent decades advocating for women’s health and reproductive rights. RW: Did growing up in a strict religious household affect your views around sex and sex education? FW: The Bible says to be fruitful and multiply, so there was really no sex education within my family, and at school, it focused on menstruation, not sexual development or healthy sexuality. Sex outside of marriage was viewed as sinful and condemned. But all of that did inform how I work to oppose the people who want to overturn reproductive rights—I understand their vernacular and way of thinking. RW: Religion can be a factor for many people in the reproductive rights discussion. What’s your point of view on that? FW: What I think…

Nicknamed the Jackie Robinson of Rodeo in 1967 when he earned top ranking in the sport, Dightman was the first Black bull rider with a shot at the world championship buckle. KR: You were 11 when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. What did seeing a Black man play Major League Baseball mean to you? MD: It meant a whole lot. A lot of time, you know, they said, “The Blacks can’t do that.” Like me riding bulls. Back in that day there was no Blacks riding bulls. They thought all you could do was pick cotton and stuff like that, but I didn’t want to be no cotton picker. I wanted to prove to the world that Blacks could ride bulls, and that’s what I did. KR: Bull riding…

In 1976, Wharton broke unofficial racial barriers when she opened successful floral design business Herbs & Plants in the Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights. Was it difficult as a Black woman to build a business in what was then a wealthy, predominantly white area of Cleveland? A Black woman opening a plant shop in Shaker Heights was huge news. When I went to elementary school, it was Black and white kids together. When I went to junior high school, it all changed. All my [white] friends went to Cleveland Heights, and we went to Glenville. I lived through that racial divide of the city. I never let that hold me back. I believe people are people. My husband was an artist and had a studio in Shaker Square, and he…

MANY OF US are familiar with depression—on the emotional spectrum, languishing is adjacent to, but not as severe as, being depressed. “To languish is to feel like your life has no direction or meaning,” explains Corey Keyes, PhD, a sociology professor at Emory University, who coined the term about 20 years ago. “You’re not being challenged to become a better person. You’re not feeling happiness or interest in life.” During quarantine, everything felt like it was on pause. With nothing to look forward to, some of us lost track of whether it was Thursday or Monday, July or June. We wondered why we could never get past number two on our ten-item to-do list, and we gave up on the idea of dating, moving, or finding a new job. Languishing…

“IF LANGUISHING IS one side of the proverbial coin, flourishing is the other,” says Keyes, who describes people in this state as those who feel either happy, satisfied, or interested in life most of the time. “A lot of people were flourishing before the pandemic,” Keyes says. “But then Covid-19 shut down the social foundation of our lives.” Still, we all know people who worked at flourishing even during quarantine, using that unexpected time at home to write every day, learn conversational French on their daily walks, or take up running and lose those last ten pounds instead of gaining the “pandemic 15.” And it is work! Though genetic makeup and environment definitely play a part in flourishing, there are traits you can cultivate that can make you more likely…

7 A.M. Wake up to music you love. Two studies out of RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, last year found that when you set your alarm to a song with a strong melody—doesn’t matter if it’s Madonna, Shakira, or the Zac Brown Band, as long as it’s something you like to sing or hum along to—you’ll rouse faster and feel more alert than if you stick to one of your alarm’s classic (and decidedly not melodic) buzzes, beeps, or dings. 8 A.M. Break a sweat. Physical activity at any time of the day will help boost your brainpower and mood. But a 2019 study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that moderate-intensity exercise (such as a brisk walk) in the morning can help keep your attention and…

1. I believe I must prepare for calamity by focusing on what could go wrong. ALWAYS 5 OFTEN 4 SOMETIMES 3 RARELY 2 NEVER 1 2. Even when things are bad, I can find a peaceful space inside myself. ALWAYS 1 OFTEN 2 SOMETIMES 3 RARELY 4 NEVER 5 3. I need substances (food, alcohol, drugs) to help me cope with my fears. ALWAYS 5 OFTEN 4 SOMETIMES 3 RARELY 2 NEVER 1 4. I know I’ll find my way through whatever life brings. ALWAYS 1 OFTEN 2 SOMETIMES 3 RARELY 4 NEVER 5 5. When a worry arises, I remind myself that I’m fine right now. ALWAYS 1 OFTEN 2 SOMETIMES 3 RARELY 4 NEVER 5 6. I avoid stillness and silence. ALWAYS 5 OFTEN 4 SOMETIMES 3 RARELY…

IN FEBRUARY 2020, my body disappeared into an MRI machine like a spooked snail in its giant whirring shell. In the waiting room, the TV news mentioned a disease making its way across the globe. At that point, though, I was just concerned about my knee, which was swollen to twice its size. I had torn my meniscus while dancing to celebrate what I thought would be the start of a new life—I was engaged to be married that May. Now a dislodged hunk of cartilage the size of a Lego man floated above my kneecap. I knew I would need surgery, followed by months of physical therapy. What I didn’t realize then was that I would spend those months quarantining with my fiancé, co-parenting his kids half of each…

HOW SHE GOT STARTED Before working remotely was really a thing, Preston and her now husband decided to do just that. In 2013, they loaded up their Airstream to travel the country. An artist, Preston planned to paint on the road while earning money as a virtual assistant. “I soon realized that traveling every three days with giant oil paintings doesn’t really work,” she says. Seeking a creative outlet that worked in a small space, she pivoted to quilting. “I learned how to sew when I was young, but I had never made a quilt. I was enamored with modern ones that looked like art, so I bought fabric and watched some YouTube videos. My first try wasn’t great, but I haven’t stopped quilting since.” In 2015, she launched Vacilando…