THIS WEEK

Two women in 1980s clothes sitting on folding metal chairs and smiling at each other — Jessica Biel (right) is a 1980s axe murderer in *Candy*. (Photo: Hulu)

📖 READ: Paulina Porizkova’s #OldandUgly campaign is neither, and we love her for it. The Great Resignation is becoming a “great midlife crisis.” Not sure we’d want the same first names as our mothers, but we appreciate the argument. Women over 50 on TV: Don’t call us golden girls. A lunch date with dementia: My mother is a new person now. How manufactured girl power became real: The legacy of the Spice Girls.

👀 LOOK: Portraits from a new book called The Second Half: Forty Women Reveal Life After Fifty. The most creative (if unappetizing) cakes we’ve ever seen.

🤣 LOL: An AAPI Heritage Month wish list. Mastering the art of stress eating. Welcome to the middle-aged restaurant. How to break in Doc Martens with minimal pain, as if that is even possible.

🛒 ADD TO CART: This Woman’s Work: Essays on Music (co-edited by Kim Gordon). If you loved TueNighter Deesha Philyaw’s Secret Lives of Church Ladies, a new edition of the book has an additional story. A new biography of Anna Wintour and new memoirs by Minnie Driver and Peloton’s Tunde Oyeneyin.

💪 TAKE ACTION: The news about abortion access is — potentially, and likely — devastating. But in the words of our friend and activist Allison Turkos, “This isn't the time to move with urgency, it's the time to take a beat, take a deep breath, and listen to the folks on the ground. Listen to people who have been doing this work for years, for decades.” She’s shared this fantastic list of resources with us about how you can help and what’s next.

📺 WATCH

Thursday: Toni Colette and Colin Firth star in The Staircase (HBO Max) and a new season of Girls5eva (Peacock).
Friday: Sheryl, a documentary about Sheryl Crow (Showtime) and Glenn Close returns in the second season of Tehran (Apple TV+).
Monday: Jessica Biel plays a 1980s axe murderer in Candy. (Hulu)

IT’S ME, MARGIT: Oh, Rat! An NYC Horror Story 🐀

By Margit Detweiler

I’ve lived in New York City for 21 years, and, for the first time ever, I had an actual rat in my apartment.

I know most of you will stop reading right here and now, but this could happen to you too, so consider this a cautionary tale. We live with a reported two million rats in NYC; typically they don’t co-mingle with us humans, but as evidenced by this recent, hilarious, and unfortunately relatable Modern Love essay, perhaps it’s the latest trend.

It’s unclear how the rat made his way in on that bright and shiny Sunday morning a few weeks ago, but I think, after we’d had eggs and sausage for breakfast, and after husband left to walk our beagle Bo, a nearby rodent whiffed the aromatic goodness, saw the space was hound-free, somehow got in on the first floor, shuttled up our building stairs and wedged itself under the gap at the base of our door…

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TUENIGHT 10: Michela Di Carlo

a woman outside, smiling oer her left shoulder

Age: 51.

Basic bio: Michela is a professional journalist and late bloomers' advocate, founder of the digital illustrated magazine Crunchy Tales, dedicated to bright women over 40 and counting. She’s on a mission to reset the meaning of middle age, focusing her work on inspirational content to empower women feeling stuck in the second acts of their lives.She believes playful women don't get old!

Beyond the bio: Getting older has made me stronger and more confident (that includes having learned to effortlessly run in heels on the cobbled streets of Rome). Being more mature has also helped me learn how to filter whose opinion is worth something and whose you can safely ignore. Getting some wrinkles doesn't bother me as it did during my youth: I had to deal with something worse - acne.

What makes you a grown-ass lady? I believe midlife is a time of renaissance, rather than a time of winding down so I encourage everyone to age playfully rather than gracefully. There's much more to us than menopause, cardigans, and baking! It's important to be open to challenge and change: I left Italy at the age of 45, ready to start over in England and I'd do it again.

Here’s her TueNight 10:

On the nightstand: Dory Fantasmagory, a book by Abby Halon (it's the 100th that I've read it to my daughter), a hand cream by Santa Maria Novella Firenze, a glass of water.
Can't stop/won't stop: I believe pasta and prosecco are the Italian answer to Botox. So I won't stop drinking and eating the good stuff. I can't stop expressing my opinions even though I might sound a bit controversial at times.
Jam of the minute: "Bad Guy" by Billie Eilish.
Thing I miss: Those ‘80s underground parties, picking cherries from my grandpa's big tree in Italy, and university life.
'80s crush: George Michael.
Current crush: William Zabka (Johnny Lawrence in Cobra Kai).
Latest fav find: This eye brooch by Céleste Mogador and a vintage typewriter.
Last thing you lost: My home keys and some supermarket saving stamps.
Best thing that happened recently: Welcoming a kitty to our family.
Looking forward to: Summer holidays, our next "CrunchyTalks" (bi-monthly panel discussions which explores midlife issues, aging, and repurpose in life with a group of professionals from different backgrounds), the next great illustration our art director, Veronica Niccolai, will draw for CrunchyTales.

Happy Mother’s Day, TueNighters!

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The TueNight Social

The TueDo List: An '80s Axe Murder + Crunchy…