My most controversial opinion.

[@Maggie.can.hug.every.cat.]

My plants are named: 1.Spaghetti Joan 2. Eminem (because she is a propogation from Spaghetti Joan, so mum's Spaghetti) 3. Dirtbag Sally 4. Antigone Rex (Ti-Rex for short) 5. Sparklefarts Bringer of Chaos They all have personalised pots with their names on them.

[@hiimchuckiewannaplay]

Thank you for the moms spaghetti reference I needed that hahahah

[@jamesbriggs5740]

LOL! Kathy B

[@leenanorms]

Hahah I'm pinning this because it's iconic. Dirtbag Sally, I can't. 😂

[@snazzysuze]

Maggie Ralph, you are a visionary.

[@emmairwin581]

This brings me an immense amount of joy

[@mouseluva]

Lena, you're so right about the arrogance of western people thinking we could just move anywhere in the world that took our fancy. I lived in another white, affluent, english-speaking country from age 8-20, and living as an immigrant is HARD. I played the immigrant game on the easiest mode possible and it was still really really hard. For as long as my home country is physically safe, I am going to be living here. My heart goes out to anyone without that choice.

[@lilyy21]

yes! I just got back from France and holy shit it was the hardest few months of my life

[@asterismos5451]

I grew up moving around often (Europe and English-speaking North America) and it had its struggles certainly, but I got pretty used to them and enjoyed getting to live in different places. Having moved while older now I think it helps I know what to expect and what will be hard, but I know it's also entirely possible for me. That being said I still have no idea if I'll be able to permanently move what is at best 11.5h and a few thousand dollars away to a country I only speak enough of the language of to stumble through a conversation in, but I sure would love to.

[@Charlotte32498]

I wonder how many things people have downplayed because it’s not marriage or a baby

[@garrulus3399]

woah...... This is actually a little scary to think of.

[@emilythompson2511]

PREACH 😂

[@CorinneDemyanovich]

Heck yeah! Celebrate your book like it's a wedding or baby - I mean, it really is something you've birthed. I wish we'd place emphasis on more than just traditional milestones. I'm so excited for your poetry collection!

[@leenanorms]

Aw thank you!

[@MadebyMixy]

Also, no one ever got accidentally published. It's way bigger an achievement than making more people. Congrats! x

[@clairewillow6475]

@@MadebyMixy I accidentally got published once

[@MadebyMixy]

@@clairewillow6475 I stand corrected! 😁

[@taylorjobye]

Omg Leena! Don't downplay your poetry book AT ALL!! Queen - YOU WROTE A FREAKING BOOK! That's a spectacular and HUGE accomplishment and you should celebrate it as loudly, proudly, and much as you can. You deserve it! Milestones are what we make them and occasions are something we create ourselves and celebration is an upside of the human condition. Can't wait to get my copy and celebrate with you!!

[@leenanorms]

😭thank you

[@laura__5544]

Yes please for short book recs!!

[@caro9390]

To your point about abortion: I absolutely agree with you about the culturally constructedness (is that a word? probably not but anyway) of when a fetus becomes a person. I had the chance to attend the lecture of a professor from the german heart centrum. They worked with skin cells, made them to stem cells (induced pluripotent stem cells) and then to heart cells. These heart cells started beating together in the petri dish. So the idea that a heartbeat could be an indication when it's not longer allowed to have an abortion seems ridiculous to me

[@kslaney4161]

You mentioning that you need someone to hold you accountable by being present when you work really resonated with me. In the ADHD community, I have heard it being referred red to as body doubling. You and another person don’t have to be completing the same task but you are in each other’s orbit to help redirect focus to work

[@celinepope]

Lol me (ADHD) and my friend (Autism) just did this yesterday to get all of our homework finished that we didn't do over spring break. It works miracles

[@Fiona_Co]

Me (adhd) trying to get my boyfriend (not adhd) to come and stand next to me in the laundry room while I do the laundry 😂

[@Frazyie09]

I call that „coexisting“. I didn’t know it was such a thing but essentially it is just being around each other doing our own thing literally not saying a word to each other.. :‘)

[@BellaHardcastle]

Interesting answer about abortion. I complete agree as someone who has been pregnant 2 twice and had a miscarriage I feel so highjacked by pregnancy even though I want to be that I can't imagine it as anything other than torture for anyone that doesn't want to be pregnant for whatever reason.

[@clarasayk525]

Your idea of celebrating your book release because wedding + children are not in your plans really resonated with me. I'm planning to do the same with finishing my PhD (hopefully next summer) but sometimes the thought of celebrating myself for that just feels way too narcissistic 🙈

[@anabluu]

It's not. Congratulations! Yay you!!!

[@silverplim]

It's not narcissistic at all, PHDs are hard freaking work!! Congratulations

[@jenkrr]

Please trust a complete stranger when I say to you: finishing your PhD is 100% something to celebrate with gusto!

[@sparkydoodle96]

One of my favourite things in the world is people having maternity shoots w their PhD dissertations 😂

[@ike5434]

Celebrate your PhD! I've been to two PhD celebration parties and they're amazingly joyful occasions. Go full out! Defense, drinks, dinner, dancing, there's a reason it all starts with a d, it's because it goes together!

[@StrawberryBats67]

I see your dislike of heat, connection to the UK, and appreciation of the US and raise you... Canada

[@leenanorms]

Haha apparently I get special visa privileges in Canada with my Irish passport so I CAN BE PERSUADED

[@anjalibhat14]

As someone raised and still living in the U.S., I really can’t say I blame you for this country being the very last place you’d ever move to 🙃 I would like to experience living abroad at some point, but I feel very similarly to you in that I feel I have some kind of responsibility to change things here in “my” country.

[@EyeGlassTrainofMind]

That is very interesting to me as a 1st and 2nd generation American from each side. My family has a history of country/town fleeing at least once every other generation or in my mother's mother's side--every generation for the last 2 hundred years has moved. My grandfather, who got his family from Colombia to the U.S. to escape the rising political instability pointedly told me I am a person first and to watch for signs of when it's time to leave, "Mija, your job is not to be loyal to some piece of land, language, or ruler. Your job is to live how you define it. Know your options and use them before they're gone." He spent 50 years living in the U.S. and 47 years in Colombia. I don't think he sees himself as either Colombian or American. I think he sees himself as Alcides and honestly, I'm the same.

[@phoebeel]

@@EyeGlassTrainofMind that is so smart. What do countries really give you? For example, in the Ukraine conflict k find it horrific that men are forced to stay. Why should human beings who have a penis be forced to die and kill?

[@milaashton9553]

Please do a video on short books - a request from someone who was a fanatic reader as a child and has recently been diagnosed with ADHD and now struggles to get through anything more than a blurb! Also highly relate to the wide foot shoe struggle

[@ringodax12]

I don’t have the exact same thing but short stories really scratch this itch for me and they are in any genre you could want. If I get in a reading rut I turn to short stories because mentally it’s like “cool this story is like 20 pages I can handle that.” They are normally like 10-50 pages long and it’s a small commitment to get started.

[@Fiona_Co]

@@ringodax12 yes!! Also books with short chapters help me so much too. I have adhd and I find that I can fly through even a longer book if the chapters are short. Idk why, but that’s how my brain is I guess!

[@hayleyb467]

David Sedaris has a lot of great short stories :)

[@Miss_Lexisaurus]

I was anti-abortion as a teenager until one friend of mine asked me to go with her to get the morning after pill and another confided that she thought she might be pregnant (she wasn't, it was fine), but that made it so real for me. It wasn't this ideological concept anymore, it was real people being affected and now I'm very much "I couldn't have one, but everyone else should be able to." Also bold of you to assume I'm not always in a state of existential crisis! lol! I lived in France (not by choice, long story) for 10 years and everyone thought I wanted to come back because I was seeing the UK with rose coloured glasses but it was entirely that quote you mentioned, I wanted to be here to be able to do something about it. I saw all the awful stuff happening here but it's my home and I want to make it better.

[@lizitaly3029]

I appreciate your comment about going back to the UK to make things better. I feel like I grappled with wanting to leave the USA in search of something better (growing up low-income and ethnicity minority with the USA’s history of exploitation makes it unappealing to stay) but I recently spent a couple semesters abroad and realized perhaps its better for me to take lessons from abroad and apply them at home. Now as I finish University I am in search of a compromise which feels good to know that others returned home to enact the change they want in their countries

[@SamWest96]

I'm a mum who doesn't want to build a career, I just want to earn money to live and home/un/world school my kid(s). Please celebrate your book Leena, it's such an incredible achievement!!! All achievements are fucking awesome and who doesn't want to keep celebrating? Celebrating is the best

[@vulgarveil]

As someone with ADHD who struggles to focus on books for very long I would LOVE a video about short books from you. I think it would help a lot to know what's out there!

[@regenfunken3628]

That puzzle is everything 💘 I'm loving that "shrinking time spent on this thought category" approach to body image!

[@myragroenewegen5426]

3:10 I breifly thought you were asking the queen her fave meal. Which would also be good, I'm sure, alongside talk of dismantling the monarchy.

[@artemisiaabsinthium1794]

Friend, I think I speak on behalf of all librarians when I say: you are dressed *perfectly* for the library! 📚♥️

[@readingwithavengeance]

Making babies is not creativeness, it’s science. No miracle about it. Thinking up beautiful words and stringing them together in a beautiful and meaningful way is art; the very definition of creativeness. So, yes, publishing a collection of your words is something to be proud of. Quite an achievement ❤️❤️❤️

[@justlxsa3572]

making babies is a miracle!! many can‘t do it and try so many years but simply cannot get pregnant… so I think that‘s a bit unfair.

[@EyeGlassTrainofMind]

@@justlxsa3572 but again, that's not a miracle that's just fecundity/fertility differences.

[@kate.cousteils]

My initial reaction to this was to not disparage people having kids and the efforts involved. However, if someone wants to make a creative work, it takes a lot of time and introspection, but not necessarily means. However, a lot of people who want to be pregnant but can't without medical intervention, is often an issues of access and, in some parts of the world, class. Just a thought to consider, like I did, where your initial reaction is coming from. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@mr.icecream7880]

@@kate.cousteils great commeny

[@audreybourgeois4626]

I think the making of humans is a miracle, but has nothing to do with the two people involved. I think it is all God's doing, but feel free to substitute nature, science, or any deity of your choice. It is a physical achievement of sorts, but not really perpetrated by the parents or a reason to be proud of yourself the way you would creating a thing, sharpening an idea, or mentoring someone. The birth itself is an achievement, but not the fetal cells replicating the way they should.

[@mentalhugs]

Leena: excitedly tells us about a fantastic puzzle. “Is this the riveting content you tuned in for?” Me: YES!!!! 🙌🙌🙌

[@emilythompson2511]

Office makes me want to die/cry too. I started working from home in pandemic and now I don't think I can go back to office (full time), I realised how draining and time wasting it is. I didn't realise how much regular/easy/daily tasks and socialising was draining me until I'd didnt have to do it anymore.

[@susannaobrien8372]

I'm really excited for Bargain Bin Rom-Com! Your recommendation of "Set me on fire: a poem for every feeling" by Ella Risbridger really got me into poetry last year, and I appreciate poetry that is fun and accessible, so am grateful that you've made that an aim! Good luck with the final pre-order push :)

[@Orlagh]

I also have an Irish mum from Dublin and am working on a poetry book! Can't wait to get my hands on yours! (The book not your mum) xx

[@Fiona_Co]

Have you ever done a “weirdly specific book recommendations” video before? Idk if that would be your jam to make, but I’d love to watch it 🥰

[@heatherstock4491]

My fave pages-before-DNF guideline is 100 pages, minus your age. Overtime you know better what you like. (And you have less weeks left if you want to look at it that way.)

[@zombiesandteaparties]

AHA, but there is a maths musical! It's called The Limit and it's about the life of female mathematician Sophie Germain. I'm notnsire if the whole soundtrack is online but a good chunk of the songs are on Bottle Cap Theatre's Soundcloud :)

[@BookNomming]

I also have found in my musical play lists on Spotify the theory of relativity which I’m enjoying

[@thatjillgirl]

Right there with you on abortion. I was also vehemently opposed to it as a teenager. Then, you know, I grew up. I actually heard people's stories about why they sought out an abortion. It turns out people contain multitudes and life is complicated and people have all kinds of reasons for wanting to end a pregnancy. Some may be what I might consider "bad" reasons, but it's ultimately none of my business and there's no good system that would prevent "bad" abortions but still allow "good" ones.

[@sophieburgess4523]

18:00 yes 🙌 I’ve spent too much time and too much energy thinking about what the flesh around my bones looks like to other people and I couldn’t care less at this point

[@emmarobertson5318]

Two person musical for you - 36 Questions, it’s a podcast musical with Johnathan Groff and Jessie Shelton, it’s fantastic.

[@xRiriRebel]

HELL YES to the video about short books!!

[@Larissa_KD]

I'd love a video on short books!

[@TheWackoGreenAlien]

The curious incident is EFFING AMAZING!!! I'm autistic, and I can see the problems with it and how it could have been done better by the author and the people that adapted it, but i think having problematic faves are okay as long as we acknowledge it

[@bethbcrafts]

Is it officially Q&A week this week? I think no fewer than five of the KZbinrs I follow did Q&As this week. WEIRD. Yes please a short book list!

[@leenanorms]

Haha yes it's international Q&A week, didn't you hear?

[@allie-ontheweb]

I'd love a short book video! Don't actually read much due to my small attention span but short books would be a great way to get over that 😄

[@invinciblejack]

Thank you for answering my request for short books! Will check them out on my next library trip. Big YES to a whole video on short books please! If I can give my two pennies, I'd include Giovanni's Room in that list: such a fleeting autumnal ray of sun that book is. 🌿💖

[@MsFattyface]

Two amazing short books I've read recently (~100 pages) are by Claire Keegan - "Foster", and "Small Things Like These". Just brilliant, lovely books.

[@kimberlysidor9427]

All of it was brilliant. The sweater and earrings “chef’s kiss” love!

[@brookeg5979]

That sweater and those earrings....I think I may have felt my heart skip an actual beat. So amazing!

[@amanda.pedreschi]

Immediately paused the video to say: YES, SHORT BOOK RECS please! Also: love your content

[@PamsPrettyPlants]

Google the queen and the crown because I *definitely* needed to know that last year or so and I found some articles saying she had watched the first season and liked it.

[@pisto30]

It took me a REALLY long time to realize the same thing about friendships. I have ONE friend I'm still friends with from middle school (6th grade), BTW your eyeshadow game is AMAZING

[@priscillaisawesome3]

ooooh I definitely want a video on short books you love!!

[@abigailsuddarth8123]

I would LOVE a video on short books!

[@laursie88]

If you are looking to expand your vegan cooking, I recommend the Afro Vegan cookbook - the food is Nigerian British inspired and is delicious (and the recipes repeat ingredients which makes meal planning flexible too).

[@leenanorms]

Oooo I've actually seen that in shops and looked through it, it looks fab

[@fish-fingers_and_custard7685]

I think it's really interesting how you feel about not wanting to live anywhere but England. I feel the same way about Ireland. The politicians aren't the best and I mightn't agree with everything that happens in the country but it still feels like home.

[@gamewrit0058]

Yeah, having a quiet, nearby work buddy can be helpful, and I SO get your feeling of being overstimulated in an office with open workspaces!

[@hayleyb467]

there's not a finite amount of accomplishments. any & every one can be joyfully announced and celebrated. please don't apologize/ downplay! so many of us out here CHOOSE to support you and are actively interested in your work. we love you!

[@kennethjoneification]

Leena, I would love to hear you talk more about the North-South divide! Though I understand if you don't want to. Here's what I took from my experience as a southerner living in the North: - most people would say I was from London (I'm not) - from a northern perspective, all southerners are wealthy and privileged - northerners appeared to feel a lot of prejudice towards southerners, whereas southerners didn't appear to feel prejudice towards northerners (Really. I basically knew nothing about the divide until I met northern people) - being northern is a big part of their identity, in a way I've never felt about being southern I think these attitudes are a result of southern privilege. I think I never saw the divide because it didn't affect me, and likewise I think the northern sense of identity must be in response to the prejudice they have suffered. While I do find some perspectives of this issue a bit too simplistic (there are very deprived southern neighbourhoods and the South is very diverse), I think it is true that the North is vastly more neglected than the South. Edit: I would also be really interested to hear stories of the northern experience of living in the South, if anyone cares to share!

[@abigailsmith8583]

I would LOVE a video on short book recs, please and thank you.

[@rodzynk]

Video on short books, please!

[@emmajanereads]

Those earrings were the perfect finishing touch; I love it!

[@krakowska19]

I love hearing what are other people's go-to karaoke songs. I usually start with one or two Polish songs, one is like 2004 staple, one is a song that was used in an ad over the holidays in like 2013 and played like 5 times every commercial break and people love it or hate it. But the real hit is to ask for Let it go around midnight where all the people are bit drunk and the whole place full of grown adults sings song from frozen with you

[@nottheseawitch]

Omg I can't believe of all the names you went with Ursula! I like my name now but growing up all I ever got was comparison to Ursula from Little Mermaid 😂

[@leenanorms]

I really LOVE the name! When I've told other people they turn their noses up but I think it's fab. Maybe gets a lot of bad rep cus of Phoebe's twin in friends too? Anyway, I'm a fan of your name ❤️

[@beckydunn-mills3126]

Leena stop, publishing poetry is an incredible achievement and I'm really happy for you I don't know how I had no idea this was in the works, very excited x

[@aniekantant6037]

I would love a video on short books!!

[@KatheD]

YES! Please do a video of your recommendations for for shorter books - I've just recently realized that, as you said, a well-written short book is possibly harder to create than a long one

[@jmsl910]

YES!!! rec short books!!!

[@aspenrookcole7520]

My favourite musical and one of my favourite musicals are both two-person! My favourite is a 3 episode (act) podcast musical with Jonathan Groff (King George III in Hamilton and Kristof from Frozen) and Jessie Shelton (Hadestown (Off-Broadway 2016) The other one is Daddy Long Legs which is based on one of those early 20th century "girls go to college now" books in the Anne of Green Gables era. It stars Paul Alexander Nolan and Megan McGinnis.

[@jamesbriggs5740]

I am so over caring about my body and what other people think about it. I have a unique body and my weight fluctuates seasonally due to activity level. I gave up dieting at twenty-five. Kathy B

[@mikouh]

Yaas, short book favs, I'd love that!

[@heatherdyett9119]

Love your singing voice 😃🎶 also this video. You’re such fun to listen to and so relatable. Listening to your videos podcast style as my eyes are too sore to look at the screen is really brightening up my quarantine. Looking forward to your book!

[@gamewrit0058]

YES! Would totally watch a vid on short books. Very interested in your recommendations.

[@lillybingo2]

Would love a short book video 📚❤️

[@FactotumSydney]

Maths Musical (well, contemporary Opera) - Einstein on the Beach by Philip Glass!

[@catsandstrawberries]

Yesss would love a video on short books!

[@MargaretPinard]

Love the intended approach to the poetry launch as a proud birthing process, Leena. Create your own cultural context to support you, because it'll help all the people after you! 💖🙌🏼💖

[@georgiapogson9939]

Yes plz to short books list!

[@mikaylameans1939]

I have a Porthos who is named Frank, an Elephant Ear plant named Phillip, and an unspecified tropical plant named Margaret.

[@Jenitalalia]

If you're into 2 person musicals at the moment I stumbled across a 3 part podcast called 36 Questions, it is a pure podcast as in no accompanying KZbin video and I'm not saying it's AMAZING but it is really good and the sound design etc. is great so I would recomend!

[@leenanorms]

Ooo yes I listened to that a few years ago, was very clever!

[@nataliakozlowska6156]

my comfort watch is this channel

[@gamewrit0058]

YES! Be excited, invite people to your book launch, tell everyone! Congrats! 💕👍

[@neelamsolanki6626]

LOVE your idea of a video on short books. The best short book (~170 pages?) I've ever read is Brother by David Chariandy and it is phenomenal

[@emmetarot2966]

I need the video on short book recommendations! Also, I’m super excited about your poetry book coming out and appreciate you shouting it out!

[@missloo12]

Fantastic! Cabaret is also one of my top karaoke picks :)

[@gabrielle_vx]

Please make a short book recommendations video!

[@FMsukina]

I'd love a video of short book recs! TIA :)

[@BrookeInProgress]

I got ridiculously happy when you started singing Valerie because I just did karaoke for the first time ever a couple weeks ago (I've done theatre my whole life but for some reason I've always been too embarrassed to do karaoke) and that was the song I chose ☺ I'll have to try a bit of Cabaret next time!

[@amandabritannica]

100% here to vote for short book recs video!! Also, poms on poms on poms 😍

[@berenicethegirl]

I would love a video on short books! Also thanks for what you said on body confidence :)

[@nicoleglasson8615]

Have you heard of body doubling? It's a coping mechanism I use whenever I need to get something done but my executive dysfunction gets in the way. Basically, you have someone else either watching over you or doing an activity themselves and it helps to keep you on task and motivated. I would very much struggle to get work done without a body double, especially in a home setting. This might help explain why it's better having Craig around :)

[@asterismos5451]

Another two-person musical that's great is Hundred Days by the Bengsons!

[@fayeshultz4069]

Leena! I am very excited for your poetry collection, so happy to see I could preorder in the US. Congratulations!!!

[@blueberrysk1es]

please please please do a video on short books! my horrible attention span needs it

[@dariab2558]

Please please please celebrate WRITING A BOOK (how amazing is that?!) as much as possible!!

[@Samalys71]

Girl you better plug your poetry anthology coming out!!!!! It's exciting and we're going to buy it ❤️❤️

[@AlixAnn]

I named my clarinet Lucy when I was 14. Still have it and I stand by that name even though I have since moved past my Beatles phase 😅

[@AthynVixen]

YES Jen and John was an excellent musical. Did you see it in person?

[@geniej2378]

Yes for short books! I recommend Perfume by Patrick Suskind - it's a weird read, and I only picked it up because it was a short penguin classic. It describes everything in scent, which plays with a whole different level of your imagination.

[@rubynewton6277]

Just pre-ordered! Massive congratulations on getting published. X

[@leenanorms]

Aw thank you!

[@sarni7027]

Leena, please make a video about short books! As always, loved this video.

[@celiamccarthy71]

Yes to a video on short book recommendations 😊

[@Rainingstars19]

Have you seen/read the play Arcadia? It's about math (kinda) and super good. (Not a musical but it's one of my favorite plays)

[@1book1review]

My DNF rule is 10% minimum. If I don't want to finish after 10% I better do, because everything after will make me finish as I invested so much time already and just want to know how it ends.

[@Julia-yi1zn]

Would love a video on short books. Especially short non-fiction.

[@heatherstock4491]

Needing someone there to (fictionally) judge you has a name! It's called body doubling. One of the many things I've learned since my ADHD(i) diagnosis a few years ago, at 32.

Yes for a short books video 👏🏻👏🏻

[@kens9531]

would love a video about short books!

[@luisarombach683]

So looking forward to your poetry collection!!

[@xxBATMOBILE]

YES TO SHORT BOOKS :D