I've seen (and photographed) the incredibly lovely Korean Chrysanthemums at the Conservatory Garden in Central Park for the last few years (2014 // 2016), and this year I just caught them in time. When I went to check on them over lunch, they were beginning to be removed and they were definitely past their peak. The first year I posted about them, I thought they were daisies because I know absolutely nothing about plants. Someone who obviously knows much more about these things than I do was kind enough to correct me, and now I feel superior in my (still woefully limited) plant knowledge every time I spot another Korean Chrysanthemum.

I've never been really disappointed to find that the flowers I've gone to visit are already half-dead, and I even sometimes prefer the crispy versions to their lively counterparts. Maybe it's all the time I spend reading about death and decay (and pining after senior rescue dogs), but I try my best to appreciate living beings at every stage of their beautiful lives.

We went to see Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri this weekend—it's great, go see it!—and I fell in love with Frances McDormand's wrinkly, malleable, age-appropriate, fascinating face. It's refreshing to see a woman in Hollywood unapologetically exhibiting beauty and bravery on an unaltered face, and her performance was riveting not in spite of, but because of it.

I've been struggling with how to wrap my head around this onslaught of sexual assault news, and what it says about a woman's place in our world. I certainly have my share of #metoo stories—mostly small, but they add up—and I'm trying to harness all of this hurt, bewilderment and rage into something useful. I've certainly been complicit in the degradation of others in my past—in the service of powerful men, and of my own volition—but it always felt wrong and I'm sorry. I'm trying to focus on the positive, on the healing power of sharing stories, on the beauty in the decay, and on the fact that women are incredibly powerful when we work with, and not against, each other.