Greetings, friends! We arrive at the weekend yet again. Here in the US, we are less than 2 weeks out from Election Day, and many many states have opened early voting! If you haven’t already voted, I encourage you to make your voting plan now — the Vote Save America site has a really useful tool to help you figure out early voting places near you, with their hours, and where the actual polling room is (and if it’s inside). They also have all the deets you need on dropboxes (which is what I used) and vote-by-mail. I dropped my ballot off last Monday and it felt so good to be done! (Especially once I got the confirmation that it had been received and would be counted.) If you have voted, now is the time to nag your friends to do it too — which I guess is what I am doing here!
Nagging over!
PSA: Our LA Times Festival of Books panel with Kevin Kwan and the great Jade Chang is this upcoming Wednesday, from 6-7pm PT! You can register for it here — and Vroman’s will have signed books for The Heir Affair! (Well, technically, they are signed bookPLATES.)
Also: Do you need a cozy new sweatshirt? Well, here are some cute ones!
This story is amazing: ‘We’re like athletes’: the secret lives of giant-vegetable growers. [The Guardian]
I thought this was a helpful piece: The #endSARS Movement In Nigeria: What to Know [Marie Claire]
This is an amazing story: Jacob Lawrence Painting, Missing for Decades, Is Found by Met Visitor [NYT]
At Lainey: GLOW actresses asked for better representation, and we won’t see it.
This is a wonderful piece at Bon Appetit from Jasmine Guillory: I Could Never Get Grandma’s Thanksgiving Dressing Quite Right—Until She Was Gone
This is perhaps a niche subject, but I think you will enjoy this interview with Norwood Young, who used to own the House of Davids here in LA, even if you’re unfamiliar with the House of Davids (a house that had 16 replicas of Michelangelo’s David in front of it). [Curbed]
IMPORTANT WORK HERE: The official Halloween candy power rankings. [LA Times]
At Elle: How Politicians Became 2020’S Biggest Fashion Influencers
Again at Lainey, further developments in the Lily James/Dominic West thing.
I honestly find this so amusing: Blake Lively truly Photoshopped fake shoes on herself for her ‘Vote’ Instagram
This piece is so, so good: A Journey to the Center of a Spicy Dunkin’ Donut. “The Spicy Ghost Pepper Donut isn’t primarily a food item at all. It’s an experience, an activity. For $1.50, you can excuse yourself momentarily from your daily life and allow a strange pastry to overwhelm your consciousness. The sensory experience, sure, but also the underlying questions about it.” [The Ringer]
Via Pajiba: In Case You Forgot, Daniel Kaluuya is Still Making That Weird ‘Barney’ Reboot
I truly LOL’ed at this, at the New Yorker: How to Throw Yourself a Middle Age Reveal Party.
Colbert is all of us here: Stephen Colbert Reduced To Tears During Dolly Parton A Cappella Performance. TRULY Dolly is a saint and an American treasure. [Socialite Life]
At Elle: Faking Optimism Is Hard. But Then, It Works.
Tell me more about this scandal: There’s Drama in the Queer Penguin Community. [The Cut]
More animal-drama: 2 masked bandits broke into a Redwood City bank. The culprits? Raccoons. [LAT]
At The Goods: Why everything from furniture to diet soda is so hard to buy right now
And finally, we had some good Afternoon Chats this week, like this very wonderful one where everyone shared something good that’s happened for them recently. We also talked about our favorite baked goods recipes!
