Friends, Romans, Countrymen! Lend me your ears! Or whatever. Have a super weekend and here’s some stuff to read:
You’ve probably seen this piece about grief and 9/11 marking the rounds on your social media, and it’s for good reason; it’s extremely moving and thoughtful –and, full disclosure, if you don’t have the emotional capacity to take on something about grief right now, you should know that it is emotionally intense (I cried): What Bobby McIlvaine Left Behind. [The Atlantic]
This is an excellent piece: Black voters in West Virginia are tired of being invisible. [WaPo]
So cool: A Hidden Trove Gives a Glimpse of Opera in the Wild West. Here’s a taste: “And all this because the local Elks put the old scenery away when they bought the opera house in 1901, and everybody just forgot about it.” [NYT]
This was really interesting: Why Do American Grocery Stores Still Have an Ethnic Aisle? [NYT]
I watched all of The Sopranos a few months ago, and, thus, this spoke to me despite my being an elder: How Carmela Soprano Became a Gen-Z Style Icon [Rolling Stone]
I LOVE this: The Voices We Make When We Pretend Our Dogs Can Talk (People did the voices on tape for the piece! It’s so cute!) [WaPo]
THANK YOU to Lainey for explaining why this Ross/Rachel rumor is wholly unreliable and not true. Closer will never break news of this caliber! (No disrespect to Closer but if you had massive A-list celeb dish, you’d call US Weekly too!)
If you need some primo procrastination reading, Ask A Manager is hosting Mortification Week and it’s a beaut.
This is great: Thrifting for Halston with My Son Taught Me the Joys of Personal Style [T&C]
This is a satisfying list, and also one people will enjoy arguing about: The 100 Best Ya Books Of All Time [Time]
Fascinating: Looks That Quill: The Dark Side of Hedgehog Instagram [Wired]
This is delightful from the also delightful Linda Holmes: What I Learned From Watching Every Sport At The Tokyo Olympics [Pop Culture Happy Hour]
More real truths at Slate from our friend Dan Kois: I Am Also Powerless Over Diet Coke, and It Rules. (I sort of went off the DC a few years ago but the pandemic sucked me back in and I’m fine with it.)
This is a really interesting long-read about the new Gossip Girl at NY Mag.
This is very kind, and sad: Brad Allan: A Tribute To The Legendary Stunt Choreographer By Edgar Wright [Empire]
Fun, at The Cut: 10 Beauty Enthusiasts on the Looks They Can’t Wait to Apply
I laughed: A User’s Guide to Austin’s New B-List Celebrities [Texas Monthly]
Intriguing! Dolly Parton is teaming up with James Paterson for her first novel Run, Rose, Run and accompanying album. [Socialite Life]
This isn’t a surprise but it is a sigh: The Emmys are scaling back, uninviting people and moving outdoors [Celebitchy]
Dear God: Akiva Goldsman Had to Remind Anti-Vaxxers ‘I Am Legend’ is Fictional [Pajiba]
Oooooh it’s time for a Bennifer update! [Lainey]
I thought this was really interesting: Hundreds of Ways to Get S#!+ Done—and We Still Don’t. Ugh, so true. [Wired]
ICYMI, I rounded up some cute school supplies!
We also closed out our Olympics coverage with more synchro and the glories of track and field!
