Homework + stolen art + the Satanic Temple

Nov 21, 2021

May I recommend

Homework

That’s right, I’m away next week, and thus there shall be no new newsletter. No chance to peruse my typos, admire my inventive punctuation and maybe - juuuuuust maybe - learn something along the way [winky face emoji].

Fear not, dearest newsleterries, beloved Méli-méloians, precious, precious babies… I have a plan for you next week and it’s an ASSIGNMENT, which I am sure is thrilling news.

I’ve started thinking about a holiday “best of” newsletter and I would love feedback from you beautiful, powerful lions and lionesses… So, next Sunday, if between roughly 6-8 am you have a hankering for some chit chat from good ole Ames, but no way to assuage that longing, I invite you to head on over to the Méli-Mélo archives and click on a few old posts.

Revisit that old content - the Tik-Tok fall downs! The acerbic tweets! The many, many articles referencing Agatha Christie - and send me an email, telling me what you like best.

I will compile the best of the best, the cream of the crop, the juiciest antelope haunches (call back to when I called you lions, it’s not weird - I’m LEAVING IT IN)). And I will publish a fabulous Best of Extravaganza… Maybe it will be on Boxing Day, maybe it will be before Christmas. Maybe it will be on New Years Flipping Eve. I don’t know… this newsletter dwells a hairs breadth from chaos at all times.

So, like I said, take a trip down memory lane (I’ve been publishing this thing for nearly a year) and email me your favourite things… Rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens - etc… Also, I would just love to hear from you, so this is an excuse for some chat. My email is amytectorwrites@gmail.com. (because I do - write that is…)

Thank you - and if you don’t feel like emailing me, you could also leave your faves in the comments below.

The admin around stolen art

Looking for a Stolen Idol? Visit the museum of the Manhattan DA

Two of my novels - The Honeybee Emeralds (March 2022) and The Foulest Things (October 2022) — deal with lost, stolen or otherwise mislaid artwork and I find the practicalities of keeping track of what belongs where absolutely fascinating.

“We’ve all gotten pretty good at packing,” said Matthew Bogdanos, the assistant district attorney who directs the 14-person unit that seized it all. “It’s one thing to pack a bronze or sandstone statue — it’s another to pack a 2,500-year-old Apulian vase that already has a crack down the side. That is absolutely nerve-racking, and we look at each other and say, ‘We need more Bubble Wrap and more blankets.’”

I enjoy the poetic justice of this

How The Satanic Temple Is Using Abortion Rituals to Claim Religious Liberty Against Texas Heartbeat Bill

The Texas abortion bill, and all curbs on a woman’s right to control her own body, are seriously disturbing. I enjoy this group’s attempts to fight it. Also, the Satanic Temple sounds like a legitimately interesting approach to religion - they aren’t worshipping Satan, they’re advocating for living with compassion, fighting for justice and the importance of science.

The Satanic Temple’s seven tenets include the belief that “one’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.” It interprets state restrictions on abortion access as a burden on this sincerely held religious belief.

This story is amazing and I will binge the inevitable Netflix series

The Notorious Mrs. Mosler

This is a very juicy story of socialites, murder and more. Worth a read!

Within days, however, detectives discovered that Candace had been leading a clandestine life of her own. For nearly two years, she’d been carrying on an affair with her nephew, a 22-year-old mobile home salesman named Melvin Powers. Mel was six foot four and built like a linebacker. He had high cheekbones, dark eyes, and a head of coal-black hair. He and Candace had written each other impassioned love letters. They’d had trysts at the mansion, the family’s ranch just southwest of Houston, and the Mosslers’ Galveston beach house.