The TueDo List: #1 Daughter + Gen-X Gifts + Duran-y Sandra
The TueDo List: #1 Daughter + Gen-X Gifts + Duran-y Sandra
Girls on film! Join our storytelling event TONIGHT!
NEW ISSUE! #1 Daughter
Helloooo! Sending your TueDo List a little early because tonight’s the night kids — we’ll be gathering together for our last event of the year! We hope you’ll join us! Register here.
And if you can’t join us, peruse the amazing stories as part of our winter issue — #1 Daughter — on TueNight.com where we talk about the pressures and joys of being the go-to, responsible one.
See ya in a few hours!
xo
Margit
THIS WEEK
📖 READ: How much alone time is too much? Throwing the birthday party you want. Alice Bradley
honestly loves you, more than her therapist, even. ’s roommate is her Bonanza-binging mom. Lisa at on tiny brass Buddhas and blueberry bars.👀 LOOK: Emma Thompson does not rewatch Love, Actually. Lizzo recognizes a vanguard group of women and trans activists. Sandra Oh’s name is Rio. Michelle Yeoh is Time’s Icon of the Year. Trevor Noah thanks Black women.
🎧 LISTEN: Mariah and her daughter duet “Away in a Manger". Brandi Carlile killed “The Story” on SNL. Sari loves “Free to Be You and Me,” but wants your music recs.
🤣 LOL: Why Kathy Flann cracked jokes when her dad died. We regret to inform you this school is in goblin mode.
🛒 HOLIDAY GIFTS: Need some help choosing the perfect gift book? A perfect present for every sister. Punk’s not dead on these socks. Roxane Gay’s elegant Draft-Writing Journal. Color the Eurythmics.
📺 WATCH
Now: Idina Menzel answers Which Way to the Stage (Disney +). The late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman and Catherine Keener in Capote (Amazon Prime). Ralphie’s all grown up in A Christmas Story Christmas (HBOMax). Maya Rudolph and Amy Poehler are back and Baking It (Peacock).
Wednesday: Saturday Night Live’s Christmas Special tradition (NBC). Octavia Butler’s Kindred adapted for television (Hulu).
Sunday: Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford in Yellowstone spinoff 1923 (Paramount+).
STORY: I Took the Wheel on My Mom’s Care
By Ophira Eisenberg
After my mother had pacemaker surgery, my siblings and I took turns taking care of her since she wasn’t supposed to do housework, drive, or be under stress for six weeks. Taking care of my mother is no small task. She never sits down. Every meal is made from scratch, the house is scrubbed every day, the garden tended, the laundry washed — but never dried in the dryer, as she likes the clothes hung out on the line. She’s a homesteader living in suburbia.
Initially, neither my older brother or sister called me to schedule my week. Why? Because I am the youngest…
STORY: Who Made me the Boss, Exactly?
By Margit Detweiler
“You’re in charge.”
Friday night, 1979. I’m 11 years old, sitting on stools with my sister and brother in front of the tiny kitchen TV, flipping the knob between Fantasy Island and One Day at a Time. My parents give us each quick hugs — smelling of Hermés perfume, a pre-game martini and scratchy tweed — as they breeze off to the next-door neighbor’s cocktail party, leaving me with a phone number for any emergencies and this look-in-the-eye directive: “Now, you’re in charge of your brother and sister, okay?”
I remember feeling elated with my new, important designation, but, also, mildly terrified. I looked at my little sister, who was holding her brand-new guinea pig, Frisky, and sticking her tongue out at me in rebellion….
Hear Ophira and Margit share their stories live TONIGHT along with our other fab storytellers and enter to win a fab gift tote of goodies!
STORY: GEN X Gift Guide
By Liz Thompson
Need some Gen-X gift ideas? We’re here to help with your holiday shopping — here are eleven things (under $100) we wouldn’t mind unwrapping:
Here’s to #1 Daughters everywhere!
Support women writers and help us do what we do! We pay writers and editors to bring you your favorite newsletter each week. Consider becoming a paid subscriber to The TueNight Social or gift a subscription to a friend!
Excited for tonight! Who is coming? (600 of you have signed up! )