The End-of-Summer Roundup [#88]
Hi hi,
It is “ghost month,” something my parents JUST told me about, for the first time in my life, a few weeks ago. Chinese folk legend holds that during the seventh month in the lunar year (which aligns exactly with the month of August this year), the gates of hell open up and evil spirits torment the living. Accidents and misfortune are more likely. This explains so much!
Anyway I’ve been feeling blue, so I couldn’t get motivated enough to write my newsletter for awhile. That’s how we wound up with this omnibus round-up, a convenient way for me to share the links I’ve saved while in my malaise.
Reading
A sandwich that’s like the McRib, but a real rib sandwich! You owe it to the environment to buy used clothes. The 1619 project is hella patriotic, so long as you don’t equate America with only whiteness. The lure of Joe Rogan. LA has a glut of >$20 million mansions built on spec for billionaires. Freckles, an appreciation. Our toxic information ecosystem. Finland’s successful war on fake news. That singularly awful presidential response to El Paso. The bleakest possible view of the Democratic presidential field. This brilliant goodbye note, which laid bare the challenges in digital media, the “he’s rich therefore smart” fallacy, and so much more. A fire thread about social media trolling and internalized misogyny. Michelle Williams, on how she learned to fight for equal pay. McSweeney’s preschooler’s guide to managing your personal assistant. The more time a dad spends with a baby, the more he thinks the baby looks like him. The most insane Ask Polly ever. Calories are the most misleading measure. “I have known exactly how relationships would end, and I entered them anyway.” The short story everyone said was so good is, you guessed it, so good: Read The Crane Wife.
Books
I usually leave all my book reading recs to one giant year-end roundup, but real quick: Jia Tolentino’s nine essays in Trick Mirror really combine for an important look at the internet-central moment we live in now. I also enjoyed Lisa Taddeo’s Three Women, which is so painstakingly reported that these ladies really came to life for me. And of course I plowed through Evvie Drake Starts Over, the instant bestseller by my NPR colleague Linda Holmes. Evvie is the best for a quick beach/plane read, so if you need something for the long weekend, git it.
Werk and Musings
Gave a talk about my dad, who defected from China during the Cultural Revolution. A thought for the New York Times about unmedicated birth. A Planet Money episode about the geopolitical importance of the marshmallow-filled chocolate sandwich cookie, Choco Pie. A pair of LifeKit episodes: How to travel in a group without destroying friendships, and how to find meaning in travel, featuring the artist and author of How to Do Nothing, Jenny Odell.
Watch/Listen
SUCCESSION, I am not going to remind you again, people. (At least not this summer)
“Number One Boys,” The Ringer’s Succession aftershow
Lizzo’s Tiny Desk Concert, every morning, as a pick me up. We don’t deserve her.
We Should Check This Out
Tom’s One Hour Photo, Koreatown
Ghost month is almost over, y’all. Whew.
Fuck yeah,
Elise