Almond Joy's Got Nuts, Mounds Don't [#148]

Spooky season coincides with the World Series, and yet another most consequential presidential election of our lifetime.

Hello from Dallas, or The Big D, as it is rather hilariously known.

My ballot is cast and I hope yours is too. Please encourage anyone you know who can early vote to cast and early ballot because Tuesday could be bonkers.

Bobby DeNiro, really simplifying things.

I spent the weekend in Dallas at a non-fiction literary conference with my people — journalists — and each of them courageous and seemingly indefatigable in spite of these turbulent times. My former colleague Caitlin Dickerson is here. She is the 2023 Pulitzer Prize winner for explanatory journalism and broke the story of the Trump administration separating migrant children at the border. Then, several years later, after many lawsuits for public records, finally pieced together the comprehensive story of that policy gone wrong, one that skipped all the steps in a federal bureaucracy that usually slow down or halt bad policy from being enacted. That 30,000 word opus is “The Secret History of Family Separation,” which is a vital read ahead of what are 50-50 odds that policies like these happen again.

Reading

No matter how many Americans are into the World Series, even more Japanese will be watching, by my friend Rustin Dodd, who is also here in Dallas.

Ira Madison III

on how white men are in again. This is going to come as a shock but billionaire sugar daddies aren’t going to save journalism! The LAT owner declined to take a stand for Kamala because his daughter didn’t want him to. And when Jeff Bezos nixed a Harris endorsement without explanation. The media scandal of the year (so far), Olivia Nuzzi vs Ryan Lizza, is just getting mud on everyone. Calling out Malcolm Gladwell for being wrong, before his book on being wrong comes out. This is wild: Another journo here at the conference, Scott Johnson, is back in America from France because his dad recently broke his hip in the remote woods and their dog went and got help and saved his life. You’re a good dog, Gita. A real good dog.

Book on my nightstand: The Con Queen of Hollywood, by Scott Johnson, who’s dad is now out of hip surgery and recovering.

Werk Werk Werk

We can’t show the talk until TED.com releases it

I gave my TED talk in Atlanta last week! I spent the first couple of days after arriving in Georgia in a state of panic and constant rehearsal, reciting the talk while driving, while walking, while brushing my teeth, while on one leg, while lying in bed wide awake. But by the time I stepped on stage, I felt serene and as if my hyper-articulate late grandmother (the two-time refugee turned girls school principal turned lawmaker) was with me, and all I had to do was be a vessel for the ideas. And it went really well! I saw Rob out in the crowd and knew he was trying to wear a “resting pleasant face” and questioned whether it was a good resting pleasant face for half a second but soldiered on. :) Thank you to him and to all my friends who let me rehearse the talk on them over Zoom. And the photo above shows the male bodies that

Untangled with Charley Johnson

featured in his post about the artificial gaze, which I talk about a lot. If you aren’t following Charley, he’s a thoughtful voice on the AI reality we’re in and its implications.

In other work, my 5 Word Life Story episode is out now. This podcast is like a therapy session per episode, and it helped me understand what’s at the top of mind right now but hopefully struck universal tones as well. And the Forever35 interviews lately are bangers! I recommend our recent one with Amanda Mull, who has an eagle eye for consumer trends and the fascinating ways Americans spend our money.

Watch and/or Listen

Y’all know I ride hard for the If Books Could Kill podcast and their episode debunking Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation (or maybe not debunking, but adding context) is a real gem.

English Teacher on Hulu continues to be excellent.

Watch (the best film of all time) Office Space on Hulu or a plane and laugh uproariously as I do, every time. You see it’s a mat, with conclusions on it, that you can jump to.

The new Ali Wong special, Single Lady, a celebration of divorce! A bunch of mom friends (and one dad friend) and I actually went to see this show IRL when it was recorded for Netflix, in May. I could totally relate to a lot of the jokes, especially the one about how you want to date divorced dads because they come “pre-yelled at.”

Okay. This is probably my last Hu’s Letter before the election. It’s not too late to make a difference by knocking on doors, phone banking, and making sure folks have a plan to vote if they haven’t already. And it’s not too late to make a difference in downballot races, like in the Arizona state legislature, where we at Forever 35 are nearly at our goal to help flip it for progressive candidates. Please throw some donations that way, if you are able.

Stay even and stay safe out there,

E