*The Week in 15 Selections*
being an idiot, Before Sunrise, and a bird with a hot dog
I did something unbelievably dumb last week. It was dumb in the way that all annoying bad days are, where even when you are crying you know that tomorrow you will laugh at yourself. It’s not comforting in the moment, even if it’s true. But today, I am laughing. It was funny, because it was so stupid.
I was on my way to the Live Wire show in Portland, and my flight connected in Minneapolis. There was a meeting I needed to be in, so I went to the Delta Lounge and did my meeting and had a snack. And I took a little nap, and then afterward just clicked around on my computer. Meanwhile, the flight I was supposed to be on arrived, boarded, and left the gate. I didn’t notice until it was already taxiing.
I am always cutting it close at the airport, so it was mortifying to miss a flight just because I was looking at my computer. And in the end, it turned out fine. I just had to wait three more hours in the lounge. But I cried a lot because I was embarrassed, and I wanted to be there already.
When I told my co-guests at Live Wire this story, one of them was like, “of course you did! You’re so tired.” I am so, so tired. She’s right. I have been on 25 planes this year, done 11 live events, and countless press hits. And now I am done: home for the summer to eat hot dogs and try to remember how to relax.
Anyway on to the selections!
Rest in Peace to the Pope, I guess. I’m not Catholic, but I loved your work (snubbing the hell out of J.D. Vance).
While I was in Portland this week, I swung by Wonderland Tattoos to visit DevDoesTattoos. She had made me the CUTEST custom piece to celebrate the end of my book tour and we put it on my shoulder. I love it!
This NPR article about DOGE has so many insane revelations that they don’t even get to the fact that a computer with a Russian IP address logged into the NLRB servers until the sixth paragraph.
I’ll only be using the big Kierkegaard dash now. Jk. I’m addicted to all dashes.
Someone should buy this adorable vintage atomic snack tray off Etsy. Imagine it full of Cheez-Its and Goldfish and Cheetos and another orange snack.
My brilliant coworker and friend Sabrina Imbler has been interviewing people who have been laid off by the federal government. The whole series is great, but I loved reading this one with a fired CDC Health Communication Manager.
I read this Harper’s article about the plight of writers and editors in Hollywood, and this felt true to me about all creative careers right now:
“I was only allowed to make the show to the extent that I was willing to take on unbelievable amounts of risk and labor on my own body perpetually, without ceasing, for years,” she said. “And I knew that if I ever stopped, the show would die.”
I bought the Wonderskin lip stain everyone was going on and on about only after my friend Ashley Houston recommended it to me because unfortunately I only trust my friends, and guess what? Everyone was right. It rules.
During my terrible multi-hour layover in the Orlando airport where the bars were closed, I picked up a Katya Apekina’s Mother Doll at the bookstore. It’s a kind of nesting doll novel about being an adult and embodying the history of your ancestors. I finished it in the Minneapolis airport and really enjoyed it.
Get in girls, there’s a new Lana Del Rey song.
I’m a big Justine Snacks fan in general, but I’ve never been as locked in on a content series as I am on her short videos about her process making her own wedding cake! The stakes! The beauty!
OBSESSED WITH THIS BIRD WHO GOT A HOT DOG AT A BASEBALL GAME
I have watched this TikTok of two idiot boys a thousand times. The sound the little muffin makes when it hits the back of his throat kills me.
I rewatched Before Sunrise on one of my many planes this weekend. I love movies that are essentially plays because they are all dialogue, and the beauty of how stupid and young and beautiful those two characters are hits so much harder a decade later in my life.
I could not be more seated for the reissue of Nettie Jones’s Fish Tales. The 1984 was acquired by Toni Morrison when she was an editor at Random House and which The New York Times still managed to call “assaultive” and “pornographic.” I’m putting it at the top of my to-read stack which is actually a bookshelf that taunts me.
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I am not doing any traveling this week! Hell yeah!
If you haven’t bought my book You Didn’t Hear This From Me, you can do that here!
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