My two dads research LSD at the library
A radical Friday Night Likes with Rebekah Ambjor
It’s time for Friday Night Likes - in which we play a game of Gratitude Ping Pong™ naming all the free or low-cost highlights of the week.
You know, the best things in life.
Rules: One “like” kicks us off, we riff until it gets weird, then bring it back to the original “like” for a full circle TGIF moment.
This week, we welcome our friend Rebekah Ambjor (epic healer-cook-gardener, rainbow-creator, and Tom Petty’s #1 fan) to play along with us!
From Mix Tapes to Mantras and back, we’ll let you connect the gratitude dots for yourself.
Rebekah: I like a mix. Cassettes, CDs, and now Spotify. Since I was a kid, I have watched the evolution and my love has only grown. I have all the CD mixes my husband and I used to send back and forth to each other when we were long distance dating on opposite coasts (with incredible hand-drawn cover art).
This love language has continued through our 18 years together, and he recently made me a mix for my birthday that has brought me such joy. It starts with a song from Labi Siffre called “Bless the Telephone,” and it fills me with all the love and nostalgia a girl could ask for.
Make a mix today. Send it to someone you love.
Jamie: I like cassette tapes. They lend themselves to handwritten art. One of my most prized possessions is my dad’s cassette tape collection. He used to stay up late to record radio broadcasts of music he liked, and then handwrite the track lists, along with commentary.
I feel deeply connected to my dad through music – I have his guitar tattooed on my arm and a dancing bear tattooed on my lower back (maybe not my first choice of image or location now, but it’s cute and I was 21 when I got it :) – but I also feel deeply connected to him through his writing style, both in tone and literal penmanship. I like my dad’s exclamation points so much that I got a trio tattooed on my arm.
Rebekah: That’s rad. Speaking of tattoos and dads, I have the heads of George Harrison and Tom Petty on my arms. I refer to them as “my two dads.” I like that when my arms get flabby as I age, they will be decorated with my fave artists. I might get a pair of “moms” too, either Annie Lenox and Stevie Nicks or Patti Smith and Joan Baez. It’s a tough call.
Rachel: Who did these tattoos?
Rebekah: Mike Lucena at Flyrite Tattoos. But the artist is Jess Rotter - an old pal from the neighborhood. You were both at my Christmas party together 14 years ago! We were all smoking a doobie in the front room of the old railroad apt.
Rachel: Right on. It seems like I have 6 degrees (or less) of separation from anyone who lived in Williamsburg between 2000-2012.
Rebekah: Ah, speaking of the history of Williamsburg, I like the McCarren Park Pool.
When I moved from Seattle to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 18 years ago, I was lucky enough to have affordable rent a mere four blocks from the subway, but also to experience the Williamsburg pool when it was a concert venue, and then see it transform back into the epic public pool that once was.
I have been swimming there since the beginning, and will sing its praises & fill people in on the rules, tips, and tricks to encourage everyone to enjoy the lap swim (Yes! It’s open again this year!), free lunches for kids during the week, and the cool waters on a sticky day. It’s open daily from 11-3 and 4-7.
I recommend arriving at least 30 minutes after each session has begun to let the lines go down and the locker rooms to be cleared. Bring your lock, a towel, & a book. Free sunscreen near the men’s locker room. No phones allowed! You’ll always make a friend.
Rachel: I like Feist’s recently released Tiny Desk Concert.
I saw her perform at the McCarren pool around the time she was touring for her 2007 album The Reminder. That was a huge record at the time, but I think I only saw the concert because my friend was a music publicist and she got us free tickets.
Rebekah: Haha. Yes, I remember seeing the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Modest Mouse but I’m pretty sure we sat outside of the actual venue because we were young and poor. Drinking bodega beers and smoking cigs.
Rachel: That’s the life.
Jamie: You two are making me nostalgic for something I wasn’t even a part of!
In lieu of free live music, I discovered that I like to watch “The Library Show” on TikTok in which this man interviews people about various topics such as fruit, romance, plastic surgery – all in hushed tones. I like how fun and simple it is, and of course, I love anything involving the library.
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Rebekah: Oh man LIBRARIES! How can these beauties NOT be on all of our top five lists every week? We’re about a month into public school summer break, and as always, our local Greenpoint, Brooklyn library is pumping the cool air and stocked full of great books for my kids.
You always run into a neighbor, and it’s so easy to reserve books online for pick-up, not to mention a safe space for the community to congregate on a hot day. Our library offers a variety of classes, talks, and gatherings for the public, and their roof garden is a dream for reading.
Also, when is the last time you went to New York City’s massive public library on 42nd street/5th Avenue? I like the Bill Blass room. If you need peace and quiet to finish a writing project, make your way up there for a day and sit at one of the massive wooden tables and marvel at the beauty all around you. Elaborately painted ceilings, huge chandeliers, and enormous windows allow natural light to pour in while you work away.
Rachel: Jennifer Egan is one of my favorite writers and I heard that when she was writing “Manhattan Beach” she got to spend like a year digging through the history of the Brooklyn Navy Yard at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.
If you could spend a year researching something, what would it be?
Jamie: I think I would want to read every book, watch every documentary and every stand up comedy special ever made.
Rebekah: L! S! D!
Ha - I say that, but I am no chemist, so I’d love to dive deep into healing herbs and plants of Indigenous cultures. I like the horticulturists/plant enthusiasts that run the show over at the NYC parks department. They are wisely bringing in all the native plants to encourage all the bees and butterflies to do Nature’s work. Black eyed Susans, Butterfly bushes, and echinacea plants are popping up all over New York parks and green spaces for everyone to enjoy.
Rachel: I like this guy Kyle Lybarger (@nativehabitatproject) on Instagram who is dedicated to educating people about native habitats in Alabama. He’s such a character. It’s nice to see a pretty unassuming sort of guy get this excited about grass, prairies and wetlands.
Jamie: Frankly, it’s hot. Because I think he’s really cute. But it’s also warm. Because it’s warming my heart to see a man care this much about the world around him.
Rebekah: Hehe. And it’s hard to maintain a caring state. Times are stressful for most, to say the least. As an energy-shifting body worker, I hold space for clients all day, so I do my very best to clear my mind to stay in a place of neutrality.
I like to practice loving kindness meditation to help me build compassion for myself, loved ones, and those around me.
This meditation on Meditate & Love’s Instagram (@meditateandlove) is one that has brought me to a calm space:
May you find peace right now.
May any thought that takes you away from love leave you.
May you be present and may your worries for the future dissipate.
May all guilt that you carry remain in the past
And may your mind be a paradise where you feel comforted and safe no matter what happens in the world around you.
Rachel: That’s lovely, we should record it an put it on a loving kindness Mix!
Happy Friday!
XOXO,
Jamie, Rachel & Rebekah
Rebekah Ambjor has worked as an energy-shifting massage therapist for the past 23 years, and a spiritual ice-dyer for the past 4 years. You can find her on IG @dyed206.