No Tidy Endings, and No Bummer Summer[#140]
In which the commencement events have culminated, and we slide into summertime.
Hiiiii,
During my childhood in St. Louis, our neighborhood pool opened on Memorial Day weekend and closed Labor Day weekend, so those weekends mark the beginning and end of summer for me, which means we are firmly in my favorite season, y’all! Summer is my favorite because the sun stays out real late. Summertime makes me think of fireworks, long walks at sunset, popsicles, weenie roasts, Wimbledon, patrio margaritas, running through sprinklers, and that one summer when my brother and I were (improbably) roommates in college and I came home to him doing beer bongs off the roof.
Over here in LA, we are wrapping up the school year, attending last sports games of the season, watching the final recitals and performances, toting pizzas and drinks to the class parties, and marveling at the elasticity of time — my baby Eva is now finished with elementary school?! Wild. As we head into summer, as a family we’re doing the No Bummer Summer challenge, to try and tick off as many delightful summery things as possible. Join us!
Reading
Let’s hear it for the largely unknown federal intelligence bureau that got Vietnam, Iraq and Ukraine right. The only college applicants certain of advantage in 2024 were those whose parents took the wise precaution of being rich. How to write interiority. There are no tidy endings for Rafael Nadal. The unfortunate NPR episode kicked off by my former editor Uri Berliner did not end neatly. Haven’t the publishers learned anything about getting in bed with tech firms? Progressives need to not demonize boys, because it hurts all of us. The annoying social dynamic where moms hang out with moms and dads hang out with dads. (I purposely subvert this all the time but it’s not without being subject to gender policing.)
Werk Werk Werk
I’m now co-hosting Forever 35, a podcast about how we take care of ourselves. This is a show featuring dynamic women guests and focusing on modern womanhood. Now that I’m occupying one of the co-host chairs, Doree and I are becoming closer and deeper friends. The cadence, for those of you who are new to the show: Mondays we drop a long-form interview (the latest is with Black People Love Paramore host Sequoia Holmes), Wednesday is a mini-ep where we take listener questions, and Fridays we do a Casual Chat for Patreon supporters, so you can voyeuristically listen in on whatever is on our minds (like last week, when we both somehow announced we got AARP cards, independently).
If you've ever felt compelled to “leave a tip” for my work, you can support me by supporting Forever 35’s Patreon with a $5/mo or $10/month subscription. We offer ad-free episodes and lots of other goodies, like downloads of our skincare routines and extra guest features, to our subscribers.
Over at Reasonable Volume, the production house I run with my good friend Rachel, the Podcast Club (like a book club, but for podcast episodes) continues apace. Follow along on our Instagram.
Watch and/or Listen
The Last Repair Shop (Disney Plus), about the people who repair musical instruments for LAUSD, the nation’s second largest school district. Y’all, watch it. It’s only 45 minutes or so. They made as long as they possibly could to still qualify in the documentary short category for the Oscars. It is excellent and deserving of its award.
Dead Eyes gave me such a gratifying pay-off after I listened to all three seasons. If you don’t want to go through an entire season (even though I think it’s worth it), the final episode, entitled “Tom,” was illuminating and fed my soul.
Let’s do a group rewatch of Inside Out before its sequel comes out later this week, eh? The teachers showed it to culminating fifth graders on Friday, just before their ceremony, and so half of them walked in choked up with tears. Eva said something like, “Bing Bong (the imaginary friend) has to come back for Inside Out 2!” To which I had to sadly respond, “Uh. The point of the entire story is that Bing Bong cannot come back…” Errrrrrr….
I cannot wait to see Hit Man, but am supposed to see it in a theater, according to NYMag.
Finally, a hearty welcome to new subscribers! Let me know what you want more of, less of, or shoot me any questions/comments/quips. And to all y’all: What does summer mean to you? Leave me a note in the comments.
To a no bummer summer,
E