The Pleasure Lists Q&A: Whitney Mallett
Pleasures, Curated by The Whitney Review's Whitney Mallett
We’re back with another installment of
: Pleasures, Curated.I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I enjoy getting to know members of the Pleasure Lists community and what makes their Pleasures tick.
Whitney will be reading at our first-ever Pleasure Lists live event on February 10th at McNally Jackson. I hope you’ll join us — and in the meantime, you can read more of her Pleasures below. More info on the event below, and get tickets here.
Pleasures, Curated by of
is a writer and the founding editor of The Whitney Review of New Writing, a biannual making literary criticism less stuffy. She’s the co-editor of the smash-hit book Barbie Dreamhouse: An Architectural Survey. She also likes to write about art, perfume, dinner parties, book shops, and porn. 
Location: Manhattan
Social: @whitneymallett @thewhitneyreview
Pleasures
Unboxing
Kierkegaard wrote a lot about the psychology of delayed gratification. He would not open letters immediately when they arrived: “As long as the letters remain unopened, possibility remains, reality does not intrude.” Unboxing is the moment when possibility transforms into reality. The longer you’ve anticipated what’s inside the package, the more charged this transition. In online shopping, there’s an inherent delay, which means you get double the dopamine hit. One time when you click “buy” and then again when the box arrives.
Dogs Licking My Face
I wanted to marry a dog when I was very young. I’ve always felt it’s romantic to let them kiss you. This is my friend Rich Aybar’s dog Salsa at Rich’s studio. Rich is a furniture designer who specializes in rubber. Now, how gross it is to let a dog lick your face depends a lot on the dog’s dental hygiene. Salsa is the only dog I know who doesn’t have tartar build up on his teeth. Most vets won’t do a deep cleaning on a dog without putting it to sleep because of concern the dog will bite, and the anesthesia to put a dog to sleep is very expensive. Rich found this Russian guy who just, like, straddles the dog between his legs.
Deviled Eggs
The phone always eats first with deviled eggs. I make them every Easter. But I also order them at restaurants. Empire Diner and Cookshop both have them on the menu. They’re kind of hard to fuck up. I wonder if anyone does a vegan deviled egg.
Words
I love words in the wild on signs, clothing, and bodies. This is a tattoo on my friend, poet and playwright, Maya Martinez. When seeing words on things brings me joy, I take a picture. On my phone I found pictures of signs including “ANGEL FOOD DONUT,” “LOOSEST SLOTS,” and “DOGTOPIA.”
Hotel Sheets
Starched white linens at a hotel are a blank page without any consequences. Whatever you do to them, they’ll be replaced with a fresh set tomorrow. Whatever anyone else has done to them, they’ve been bleached to the high heavens, total erasure. It’s the pleasure of labor you didn’t have to do and don’t really have to think about. Just remember to tip housekeeping.
Sky at Sunrise/Sunset
Big vast sky, something to ache for and yet know you’ll never grasp. I rarely get up early enough for sunrise. This one at the beach I stayed up for. But I live on Manhattan’s west side, close to trainyards on the waterfront, a wide open view for sunset.
What does Pleasure mean to you?
I like this Mae West quote, “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.” But at the heart of what’s “too much” or “not enough” is expectation. So much of life is managing expectations. I hate being disappointed. Pleasure is a sense of abundance. The richness in that feeling that something was better than we hoped. In this era of qUiET LUxuRy and eXpERienCEs everyone is trying to sell us on indulgence, basically an attempt to guarantee the feeling of “better than you hoped.” Most of the time, it’s hard to live up to the hype. Over promising leads inevitably to under delivering. But humble everyday things don't have that burden. They surprise us and surprise us again when they never lose their intensity. A smell, taste, or touch that hits every time, no matter how many times we’ve experienced it. Good punctuation; the perfect ratio of milk and coffee; soft velvety moss. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting the same result, is that the opposite of insanity? Maybe the loudest kind of pleasure comes from being seized by the moment, a fleeting unexpected encounter. But there’s another pleasure in the satisfaction that comes with bridging the gap between yearning and fulfillment. Something you can look forward to knowing it will be just as good as you remembered.
Who do you want to see next? Send me suggestions for who to feature in the next Q&A!
What Is “Pleasures, Curated”?
Each week, a new Pleasure-seeker will document their personal Pleasures and ruminate a bit on what Pleasure means to them. True to
style, I keep the list-maker’s je ne sais quoi in as much as I can — only minor editorial changes are made when necessary. I do this intentionally so that the writer’s inner world really comes through. The style of the list says as much about the writer as the list itself.Read Previous Q&A’s:
Why submit a list?
Pleasure Lists are a summary of what you need, want, or have, or see at a particular moment in time. They are a survey, an overview, a summary of the crucial facts of the state of one aspect of your life. It’s a kind of blueprint that can be a guide to the future.
Mull it over and if you’re moved to, send me a list.
Questions? Comments? Send any recommendations or suggestions for what you’d like to see in these newsletters my way. I’d love to hear more about what you’re currently finding pleasure in.
Join the chat below to connect with other members of the Pleasure List community:
Please share this newsletter! The Pleasure Lists is meant to be a collaborative project that calls people from all over to write, read, and share their pleasures — a global community of artists, writers, and pondering minds alike.
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