How Very Nice to Meet You
A Q&A with Britnee and Brigid
Hello readers! Welcome to the very first edition of How Very, a bi-weekly newsletter by Britnee Meiser and Brigid Moser. If you’re reading this, you probably already know a little bit about us, but in case you don’t, here’s the gist: We’ve been best friends for almost eight years, and have spent half of that time living in different states.
Our love story began at the University of Pittsburgh in 2013 when our mutual friend was having a house party off-campus. We lived in the same dorm, were both English majors, and we both showed up at the party wearing skater skirts with knee-high socks. Then we did a few peppermint patty shots together (peppermint shnapps and chocolate syrup, in case you were wondering!) and the rest was history. We spent the next three years bonding over books, Big Azz margaritas from Mad Mex, and Tim Burton movies. We even lived together senior year, which was an incredible fever dream of late nights with friends and late mornings with books. After graduation, Brigid stayed in Pittsburgh, and Britnee moved to New York.
*Heartbreak and longing ensues!*
Cut to four years later. The distance still sucks, but our friendship has adapted. We do all the same stuff, just digitally—we still bond over the media we consume, still send links to overpriced Urban Outfitters pants asking if we should buy them, still swap self-deprecating tweets and memes. The internet has become its own sort of accessory to our friendship, adding to it in ways we could have never predicted when we were living together. That’s kind of what we want this newsletter to be, too.
Just as we hope How Very acts as an extension of our friendship, we hope the newsletter becomes a source of comfort and reliability for you. For now and for the foreseeable future, our newsletter is 100% free to subscribe, and will appear in your inbox every other Wednesday at noon. Some bite sizes bits of friendship for your lunch break!
And now, we figure we should probably introduce ourselves.
A Q&A with Brigid
Your age, pronouns, and location: 25, she/her, Pittsburgh, PA
What is something you love about where you live? The variety. Every neighborhood here is completely different and there is something to love everywhere. I’ve lived here for about 7 years and there is still so much of it I haven’t seen. I don’t think I would ever want to live somewhere I knew every corner of. I always want the option to get lost. Here, there will always be the chance of stumbling upon a dilapidated (haunted?) church, a small taco joint that weirdly sells the best donuts in the city, a free piece of art by a famous local painter taped to the side of a building, an overturned boat on the side of the river - abandoned and graffitied, a secret view of a cloudy sunset, always worth the climb.
A few of your favorite books: The Call of the Wild by Jack London, The Seas by Samantha Hunt, Crush by Richard Siken
A picture of the cutest thing you’ve ever seen:
Your go-to album or playlist on a rainy day: Lately, Collapsed in Sunbeams by Arlo Parks, but my tried and true is Not Going Anywhere by Keren Ann.
If you became president of the United States, what would you do on your first day in office? Redecorate. I regularly convince myself my room needs to be rearranged about 3 times before I can even think about starting any work, so I’d better hop to it. Then pardon anyone and everyone serving time for a drug-related offense.
A class you wish you took in college: Any graphic design class. A lot of it can be self-taught but it would have been helpful to learn the basics without having to sift through hours of YouTube tutorials.
What’s something you’ve done that you’re proud of? I made these coasters and I love them.
A memory from your childhood: My mom used to pack our summer clothes away in the attic for the winter, and when the weather started to change, she would break out all the boxes to switch them with the winter clothes. For a week, she would be in the attic, organizing all of the clothes into piles for us to try on, and every day after school, we would run upstairs to sort through them. We were always instructed to make three piles of our own: Keep; Liked But Didn’t Fit; and No One In Their Right Mind Could Ever Love This Please Get Rid Of It Forever. Often we would find a few new articles of clothing in our hand-me-down piles that we were finally big enough to wear and it felt like getting an entirely new wardrobe (I have tried to replicate this feeling by losing my clothes and finding them months later under my dresser, but to no avail). In addition to the dopamine blast that comes with getting new clothes, there was always the chance that you would end up in a fight with a sibling over a between-sizes t-shirt and, growing up as the fourth of eight highly competitive children, fights were like extreme sports—with each one came a chance for glory. More than anything, those boxes getting pulled out of the attic was the sign that summer was near.
Your favorite Miyazaki movie: This is so hard but I’m going with Princess Mononoke. All I ever wanted to be was a princess raised by wolves who grows up to save the forest from human greed and industrialization.
Your comfort tv show: Buffy the Vampire Slayer forever. And if you don’t find the combination of miniskirts and the Hellmouth comforting, idk what to tell you. You might not like this newsletter.
A random fact about you: I have not once in my entire life been satisfied with the length of my hair.
A funny tweet or TikTok you saw recently:
A Q&A with Britnee
Age, pronouns, location: 26, she/her, Brooklyn, NY
What's your favorite area of New York? It’s a tie between the West Village and my neighborhood, Windsor Terrace. The West Village exemplifies a lot of things I love most about New York, classic architecture and cobblestone streets and amazing restaurants. It’s also the location of my favorite bar in all of NYC (and one of the few places I know of that has $4 wine for happy hour). But Windsor Terrace is like something out of a movie. It’s right next to Prospect Park and has a very palpable sense of community. Someone unfamiliar with the area wouldn’t know they were only a 20-minute drive from Manhattan. It’s made up mostly of local businesses, and they’re all amazing. The bagel spot, Terrace Bagels, rivals Tompkins Square Bagels (my old neighborhood bagel spot) for my favorite NYC bagel. And my apartment is three blocks from Nitehawk Cinema, the most superior of all movie theaters. Okay, now I’m just bragging.
Go-to album (and/or snack) for road trips: Made of Bricks by Kate Nash, Melodrama by Lorde, the Rent soundtrack, most songs by ABBA. Any albums that get me in my feels and encourage me to sing along. As for snacks, it’s gotta be Twizzlers.
Favorite Tim Burton movie: Edward Scissorhands <3
What is an experience you've had that you didn't realize was formative until later? Recently I watched Kiki’s Delivery Service for the first time since I was a kid. That was my favorite movie when I was young—I have vivid memories of going to my grandma’s house on the weekends, where I’d watch it on the boxy TV by the bay window with the white curtains. I grew up and basically forgot about the movie, and the feelings of comfort it evoked, until a few months ago when I got HBO Max and discovered the Ghibli movies were streaming. From the opening crackle of Kiki’s dad’s radio, I felt instantly at ease, and now it’s my go-to comfort movie again. I was also reminded of my ‘witchy’ origins, so to speak. I’ve always loved witches in pop culture, and now I’m writing my own chapter book series about witches. When I look back, I see clearly that it all started with Kiki, and the general feelings of whimsy and magic that surrounded my childhood weekend trips to my grandma’s house.
A Picture of your favorite thing in your apartment:
The most difficult project you've ever completed: My novel, without a doubt. It took me 2.5 years, five drafts, and several breakdowns to get it to a place where I feel sort of comfortable sending it to other people. Even so, I wouldn’t say it’s “complete.” I feel like a writer’s work is only complete once it’s published and can’t be tweaked anymore (or is that just me?).
How strongly do you feel about astrology? Astrology is whatever you make it out to be. I think astrology is fun, I really identify with my sun sign (Aqua girlz 4eva), and I think it’s downright thrilling to get those daily alerts from co-star, especially when they pertain to something going on in my life at the time. A couple of weeks ago, after I got the J&J vaccine, I woke up at 5 in the morning feeling really bad. Then I looked at my phone and I had a co-star alert that said “this will pass.” It was a nice, grounding little moment for me.
Best 90s fashion trend: Neutral tones and spaghetti straps, particularly nude strappy dresses à la SJP’s “Naked Dress.”
Your most worn pair of shoes: My white keds. They go with everything, so you better believe I will wear them with everything!
The podcasts you listen to the most: Say More with Olivia Gatwood and Melissa Lozada-Oliva, Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard and Monica Padman, Still Processing with Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham, Office Ladies with Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey, The Daily with Michael Barbaro… I love podcasts and am always taking recommendations!
Random fact: I once spent like 10 minutes alone in a room with Gossip Girl author Cecily von Ziegesar while she signed copies of her book about an evil horse. We didn’t talk about Gossip Girl, unfortunately.
A funny tweet or TikTok you saw recently:
That’s all for now! For more about Brigid, Britnee, or How Very, visit our about page.