THIS WEEK
Shakira and Jennifer Lopez with the power hair flip (Image via Romper)
J. Lo and Shakira blew the doors off the SuperBowl halftime show (at ages 50 and 43...RESPECT!), and there are oh so many think pieces analyzing everything about it. Our hearts go out to Shannen Doherty who revealed that her breast cancer has returned and is stage 4. There are unique challenges facing Gen X women when trying to make a career change in midlife. This highlight reel of conversations NPR’s Audie Cornish had with female comedians over the past six months is worth a listen. Dairy, soy, almond, oat...got milk? Starbucks makes up for every time they may have gotten a name wrong on a cup, because they get it so right with this commercial. London artist, Luchita Hurtado, will have her first gallery exhibition at age 98. We’re all about “feminamity” at TueNight!
PHOTOS FROM TUENIGHT LIVE: RISK!
The readers at TueNight Live: Risk, with Margit and Karen (Photo: Neil Kramer)
For some people, standing up and sharing a personal story feels risky — luckily for the record crowd (almost 120 of you!) at our most recent TueNight event, this was not the case, as 5 women stood up and shared stories of risks taken in their own lives. And we got to hear the good, the bad, the embarrassing, and the lovely. To scope out the full album, head on over to the gallery on our Facebook page.
Obsessed: Revlon One Step
(Image via Amazon)
Last week, I ended up going down a Twitter and YouTube rabbit hole about the Revlon One-Step Hair Dryer. Apparently, this relatively inexpensive little beauty tool has been around for a few years, but it went totally batshit viral in the past month after someone mentioned it on a popular podcast. Several people in my Twitter feed (including TueNighter, Deb Copaken) were mentioned in the Vogue blurb about it, so naturally I had to order one to see for myself.
I was a little hesitant, based on the design alone — it looked way too similar to the Conair curling brush I got stuck in my hair in 1982, when we thought we were going to have to shave my head (two weeks before my Bat Mitzvah!) until a handy neighbor dad came over with a screwdriver and unscrewed it from the top so the comb parts came right out. SHUDDER. Fortunately, it is nothing like that old curling brush. I watched a few of those YouTube videos for some hints on technique (I will never get that time back), and the only helpful takeaway was that I probably didn’t need to use it on the high setting, and this was accurate. I have slightly wavy hair that frizzes at the mere hint of humidity, and I was able to get a decent, smooth blowout much faster than with my big round brush and my BabyLiss and a big round brush. This will be my weekday go-to when I need to get ready and out the door.
—Karen Gerwin
TueNight 10: Karen Dukess
Karen walking along Ballston Beach in Truro on Cape Cod
Age: 57
Bio: Karen is the author of the novel The Last Book Party, which was published in July by Henry Holt. She has been a tour guide in the former Soviet Union, a newspaper reporter in Florida, a magazine publisher in Russia and a speechwriter on gender equality for the United Nations Development Programme. She lives with her family near New York City and spends as much time as possible in Truro on Cape Cod.
Beyond the Bio: "I’m the quintessential late bloomer, writing my first novel in my 50s. Our culture celebrates young success, but I’ve learned from experience that late-in-life achievements are all the sweeter. And publishing your first novel just as your youngest child goes to college is a great antidote to empty nest syndrome."
What makes you a grown-ass lady? “I’m much more likely to try new things and not worry about how well I do them or how foolish I might look. Only well after age 40 did I have the guts to learn to downhill ski, scuba dive, and join a rowing team.”
1. On the nightstand: Three old journals, about 30 books I’ll get to eventually (really, seriously, I will read Moby Dick), one e-reader, one bottle of L’Occitane Verbena body lotion
2. Can't stop/won't stop: Reading eclectically and voraciously
3. Jam of the minute: A Dutch folk duo called Suzan & Freek. Their music is melodic and soothing and because they sing in Dutch, I don’t understand a word they are saying and so I can listen while I write.
4. Thing I miss: Having my college-age sons home to play piano and guitar with my husband after dinner.
5. ’80s crush: Jimmy Smits in L.A. Law
6. Current crush: Jimmy Smits in in the trailer for In the Heights
7. Latest fave find: Heavenly Hunks oatmeal dark chocolate cookies
8. Last thing you lost: Six pounds
9. Best thing that happened recently: I got a letter from a reader who thanked me for creating Eve, the protagonist of my novel, whose journey has inspired her to believe in her own writing.
10. Looking forward to: Figuring out the plot of my second novel
Story: The Greatest Risk of All? Choosing Me.
By Stacy Morrison
"I got a reputation for being great at startups and turnarounds. I worked unhealthy hours. For years. I leaned into the future of publishing and digital and how they fit together. I believed in blogging and I paid bloggers years before the rest of media caught up. I single-parented like a boss. I helped build the digital/social/influencer world that would later usurp me.
So then how is it possible, that when that new world came tumbling down upon me, that I didn’t find my pivot? I expected that I would come up with a precise rotation and find myself on an alluring, new path – Vice-President! President! Head of Revenue! Chief Brand Officer! — but instead, I have been spinning around and around that central point like a maypole, trying to hide my increasing panic from my now-teenaged son, and getting ever more dizzy and confused."
Read more...
We'd be so psyched if you would, forward this to a friend!