VOLUME 3 - ISSUE 17: September 22, 2025

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mikala & Marissa Commins
September 22, 2025

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Song for Volume III - Issue 17: Earth Wind & Fire - September

👋🏽 Hello There

What’s funny is…a lot of people in my department at work thought I was going to be in Europe last week but I wasn’t. I could of also gone to a teammates wedding but I cancelled any pending trips I had to take a break and spend time to truly enjoy my rent money amongst many other reasons. I think I’m okay with how things turned out in the end because I did my quickest trip ever, just over 24 hours in Ohio to celebrate someone near and dear to me. Had I gone to either of those places, I would of had a great time of course but I wouldn’t have been able to make this quick last minute trip work.

If you’re like that’s crazy. It is but also know even crazier (to me) was my Tokyo to LA to Akron traveling in a 36 hour period 😂. I don’t get jet lag so thankfully these crazy things I do, don’t affect me.

My Grandma’s reaction to seeing me, my mom and sisters is something that will stay with me forever as she didn’t expect us to be there to celebrate her birthday. I spent time with my Granny too and I enjoyed spending time with her IRL vs having our weekly FaceTime chats with each other. I’m pretty sure I get my love of traveling from her as I grew up watching her going to balls and traveling to other countries in her free time.

For my New York City friends check out The Pastry Box in the East Village as they are apparently selling $2 cookies!! I’ve also learned I’ll watch anything as long as it’s presented to me in a good and interesting way. Like the other night, I watched both parts of TikTok about this film application for a window tint competition. The account is tinterbattles if you’re interested (they’re on IG too). Speaking of watching things I started a rewatch of True Blood (hi RP!) and plan on starting a rewatch of Club de Cuervos this week. The new season of Alice in Borderland comes out on the 25th (I think) and I recommend it for anyone who enjoys Squid Games.

Many of the people subscribed to this newsletter and myself included enjoy going to a Michelin recognized restaurant whether it’s Starred or Bib Gourmand. We often forget that the people creating that magic have lives of their own which brings us to this month’s guest columnist Marissa whose husband is a Michelin-starred chef.

See you in Spooktober!

Statues from Bisa Bulter ‘Hold Me Close’ exhibition

This past month I’ve checked out a lot of art in a short period of time. I spent a Saturday afternoon at Mohilef Studios in downtown Los Angeles. They had an open studio visit where you can see the studio space/art work of the artists working in the building. I uploaded my favorites to the mewd. by mikala IG account. I’ve also checked out some exhibitions as well that I think you should check out if you’re in LA. If you aren’t in Los Angeles then don’t worry because I’ve added photos for all the exhibitions below to Instagram as well.

Galleries

Official Welcome, Los Angeles:

Cameron Harvey - Gathering (on view until October 25th)

Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles:

Bisa Butler - Hold Me Close in Santa Monica Blvd building

Group Show - It Smells Like Girl in N. Orange Drive building

(both on view until November 1st)

Megan Mulrooney, Los Angeles:

RF Alvarez - I Remember Everything

Ronan Day-Lewis - Anemoia

Ginny Casey - Opposite of Hollow

(all on view until November 1st)

Cup and saucer from Sqirl

Akron, OH - Fred’s Diner

Los Angeles CA

  • Sqirl

  • Fixins

  • Kettl

  • Maison Matho

Books

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas - This is the second book in the Throne of Glass series. It was super engaging for me as you learn much more about Celaena and other characters in this world. I’m sad I have four other books I need to read first before I can purchase the next book in the suggested reading order; ‘The Assassin’s Blade’ which is a prequel to the series. Overall, this is great series for people who enjoy fantasy books with female character who does the killing and saving of people herself instead of being saved by someone like in the Hunger Games series

Articles

National Geographic - Are We Living in a Black Hole?

FYI in case you didn’t know use archive.org if you need help reading

Screening of B*A*P*S with screenwriter Troy Byer at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

Going Out

USA

Staying In

Movies 

A Minecraft Movie (HBO Max) - This movie is fun and funny. It’s the perfect family popcorn movie and potentially a good plane movie to watch depending on how old you are. I didn’t expect much but also loved the theme of supporting creativity/your dreams and not letting go of that no matter how old you are. 

TV 

Kpopped (AppleTV) - There are Kpop songs I do like or liked in the past but I’m not really familiar with the genre. It’s cool to see a song ‘kpopped’ along with having artists like Kylie Minogue, Patti LaBelle and Boys II Men participate in the show. I think my favorite song has to be the Ateez remix of Kylie’s ‘Can’t Get You Out of My Head’. If you enjoy music and want to see a new iteration of some of hits of the present and past this is a fun show to check out. It kind of reminds me of the past MTV shows they had like Making the Video.

If this was forwarded to you and you enjoyed reading this issue of the newsletter, hit the subscribe button above. And to all the subscribers I have already, grateful for you and thanks for subscribing!

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