This Edition Is Extra Special

This is a particularly special edition for me—one of the ones I’m most excited to share with you. For the first time ever, Tanamesa is welcoming a guest writer, and not just any guest—someone truly special.

My dear friend Enzo recently completed a project nearly nine years in the making and officially launched his first book! I asked him to share a little about the story and what it was like to bring such an incredible project to life. My heart is bursting with pride.

You all know how much I love my friends, and at the end of the day, I truly believe our friends are the best parts of us. So, without further ado, let’s dive into this edition and let me introduce you to one of the best parts of me.

With love,

M.

THE MUSTS

World

let them eat cake

The Rising Unequality of the US

While most Americans pinch pennies at the grocery store, American’s wealthiest are splurging on everything from African safaris to designer handbags in Paris. The country’s top 10% of earners now represent about half of all consumer spending — up from 36% three decades ago. Moody’s Analytics’ Mark Zandi estimates that this concentration of purchasing power among top earners (households making $250K+ annually) now accounts for nearly one-third of GDP — making the US economy more dependent than ever on the whims of its wealthiest citizens.

• The affluent have increased their spending by 12% between Sept. 2023 and Sept. 2024, while working and middle-class households reduced spending during the same period.

• Luxury purchases abroad by the wealthiest 5% jumped over 10% compared to the past year as brands moved away from huge price hikes that accounted for 80% of their 2019-2023 growth.

Rich taste, poor stability: As the economy increasingly relies on affluent consumers, it exposes itself to new vulnerabilities. This shift is evident as budget retailers such as Big Lots face bankruptcy and Family Dollar closes stores while luxury brands like LVMH flourish. Additionally, the wealth gap has widened as the top 20% of earners have seen their net worth surge by $35T since late 2019, while the bottom 80% gained just $14T combined. This bifurcated recovery could spell trouble if asset prices decline or consumer confidence wavers among the wealthy — potentially triggering a broader economic downturn that would affect all income levels.

Bonus: Nothing to do with it, but….. did you saw that Meta approved bonuses of up to 200% for executives while cutting share bonuses for employees? What a crazy coincidence…

What else in on

• Canada: Mark Carney won the race to become the new leader of Canada's ruling Party succeeding Justin Trudeau. Mark studied at Harvard and Oxford before a 13-year stint at Goldman Sachs. Basically the human version of a patagonia vest. (Read)

• Brazil: The government has put a Golden Visa program into practice, for foreigners who want to invest in the national real estate market. “Come to Brazil” but now for real. (Read)

• Poland: Poland's prime minister calls on Europe to confront the “Russian threat”. According to the Prime Minister, the best way to dissuade Putin is not with appeals, but with EU’s own strength. (Read)

• Israel: The country launched deadly airstrikes in Gaza. The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas appears to have collapsed as Israel carried out airstrikes in the Gaza Strip killing more than 300 people. (Read)

• Hungary. Parliaments in Hungary have passed a law banning LGBTQ+ Pride events and marches in the country, as well as allowing local police to use software to identify participants through facial recognition. (Read)
  

Sagittarius Youth by Enzo Bertoni: This novel is about our generation, about the transition into adulthood. It jumps from glistening parties, sunny days at the beach and falling in love to existentialism, abuse of substance, and arguments. It questions what it feels to be young in our current decadent world, permeating economic, political and social upheavals. 

• The process of becoming an adult is a very complex one, we need to shed many layers of ideas that were passed to us and that we assumed were ours. And for me, it was a long process of self-reflection, of doubt, of confusion, which I have imbued into this novel. Not only my thoughts are there, but many of the dilemmas shared to me by close friends and family.

This is just the first part of the book (the second will likely be released later this month) and it’s only available in Portuguese at the moment. You can buy it on Amazon, even outside of Brazil.

It feels weird to self-promote 😋 . (Rating: you tell me please)

It feels very weird to be taking over this section and even more so to be talking about my book that I self-published a few weeks ago. 

Writing has been an integral part of my life for a very long time, but one that I’ve kept mostly private. So, naturally, for most people, this book came as a total surprise (I won’t lie, seeing you guys reaction was the funniest thing). 

• Since I was a child, putting ideas onto paper was a way of making sense of the world around and inside me. I’d write short stories (most left unfinished) to explore my feelings or to hold on to moments that I thought were meaningful. My writings were never intended to be published, they were merely a hobby.

It all changed when I began crafting this novel. I was 16, trying to cope with living by myself in a new city and this novel was born as a way to escape into a different reality. But, this story was unlike my other ones, it had more depth, it touched on some universal emotions and had (at least, in my opinion) some valuable ideas. Hence, I decided that I wanted other people to read it.

And that’s when a fun pastime turned into a chore. When writing for myself, for my own pleasure, I can simply gloss over information, have the plot be unclear, and never finish a chapter. After all, I’m the only one who’s going to read it. However, when you write for others, all changes.

That was my approach, writing as much as I could to perfect this skill. Mentally, it takes a toll on you. It took me years to find my voice as a writer, one that both feels like myself but that can also be enjoyed by others. This exercise led to a lot of self-reflection, trial and error and over 1,500 pages of drafts.

And then, I began the editing and revision processes, which are very time-consuming tasks. I reread this book so many times to make sure all was neat, that at some point I thought to myself: 

Despite these complaints, I kept writing, not only because I believed in this story, but because in the end this work brought me so much gratification. It taught me so much about the world around and, especially, inside me. And now that’s done, it fills me with joy to see it come to life and be enjoyed by other people, who can now make it theirs. 

So, if you have an idea, a project, but you’re stuck trying to figure out the best way to do it, just start doing it, gradually, step by step, you’ll find your voice and be able to finish it.

With love,

Enzo.

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