The TueDo List: Midlife Moves + Denim Disasters + Moonwalk History
And a reminder to schedule that mammogram
THIS WEEK
📖 READ: “October brings a certain sense of dread as the ubiquitous pink ribbons remind us of lost loved ones. Yet for all the discomfort the month elicits, I recognize and embrace the importance of these symbols if they prompt a single person to schedule a mammogram.” What a breast lump actually feels like. A British journalist reports on some surprising things that happened after she got Botox. I made every big pandemic life change I could. Now what? How Cori Bush conquered Washington, DC. When America met Sinéad O’Connor at the 1989 Grammys. RIP Loretta Lynn.
👀 LOOK: The most powerful images from the Iran protests. The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s tales of inspiring women artists. The origins of the Moonwalk.
🎧 LISTEN: M.I.A. has released a new song from her upcoming album. New music from Ciara, featuring Summer Walker. Meghan Markle and Margaret Cho in conversation about harmful Asian stereotypes.
🤣 LOL: I’m a personal trainer and I can tell you need some one-on-one attention. Experts say it’s not too late to change careers at 50, though they sure as f**k wouldn’t. Extremely NSFW: A sex toy that no one wants.
🛒 ADD TO CART: Moonage Daydream: The Life & Times of Ziggy Stardust. Deluxe anniversary reissues of Janet Jackson’s The Velvet Rope and The Cure’s Wish. Sergio Hudson, Kika Vargas, and La Ligne for Target’s fall designer collection.
📺 WATCH
Thursday: Hillary Swank stars in mystery drama Alaska Daily (ABC).
Friday: Cate Blanchett plays composer Lydia Tár in TÁR (Theaters); Mila Kunis plays a “sharp-tongued New Yorker who appears to have it all” in Luckiest Girl Alive (Netflix); and the third and final season of Derry Girls (Netflix).
TUENIGHT 10: Mimi Ison, Pro-Aging Blogger
Age: 59.
Basic bio: A former creative director for a jewelry brand, Mimi is now a midlife blogger, pro-aging Instagrammer at @heymiddleage, and anti-ageism advocate. We ADORE Mimi’s dance moves on Reels (here’s a particular fave). She’s busting stereotypes in all the best ways — all while staying fit.
Beyond the bio: I’ve been physically active my whole life, but have recently had lots of physical challenges: a frozen shoulder, heel spurs, a herniated disc, and a spine degeneration and osteopenia diagnosis. After spending many nights lying wide awake on the floor, in pain at 2:00 a.m., thinking, “If it’s this bad now, how am I gonna feel in 10 years?”, I made a no-excuses commitment to become stronger and healthier, decreasing my chronic back pain by 90%. The rest is a work in progress: Boxing, pickleball, strength training, diet, mindset, social connections, sleep, and recovery. I wanted to share what I discovered so I started a blog, and then leaned into Instagram early this year.
What makes you a grown-ass lady?
My life is amplified. There’s an urgency because there’s less time. I’m decisive, secure, comfortable with being uncomfortable, and ready for anything.
Here’s her TueNight 10:
On the nightstand: Metabolical by Robert H. Lustig, MD, Trader Joe’s lip balm, mouth tape, and a MiiR water bottle.
Can’t stop/won’t stop: Calling out ageism. Ageist behavior is so normalized that many people are not aware when they see it, hear it, say it, or do it.
Jam of the minute: An Indie/Bedroom Pop/Rock playlist with Japanese Breakfast, Clairo, Phoebe Bridgers, Mitzki, and Soccer Mommy.
Thing I miss: The thickness of my hair in the early aughts.
‘80s crush: Keanu Reeves.
Current crush: Team Paxton Hall Yoshida.
Latest fav find: ISUN Antioxidant SPF 27 Sun Butter via a video with Zoe Kravitz spilling her summertime beauty secrets.
Last thing you lost: AirPods.
Best thing that happened recently: Receiving messages from women who say they started getting active because they were inspired by an Instagram post. It’s my mission to get peeps to move their bodies.
Looking forward to: Continuing to push myself out of my comfort zone, breaking age stereotypes, and boxing as long as I can at my happy place, Gloveworx.
STORY: Gloria, Calvin, Earl and Not Me: On Being a Denim Disaster
By Diane Otter
I hate jeans.
I have hated jeans since, like, forever.
This may be an unpopular opinion, perhaps almost un-American. But jeans almost never look good on me, and I dread the days I have to wear them. Which, if you work in the new media world in New York now, is pretty much every day.
Instead, I do my best to get away with the cute dresses I love and, in the winter (if I have to) black pants. But you only have to look around a meeting once to see who, among all those young denim-clad cool girls, comes off looking more like their Sunday-best-dressed aunt.
OBSESSED: Back to Bharatnatyam in my 50s
By Savita Iyer
At 54, I am the oldest student in my dance class. Fifteen years older than the next oldest student, a good five or six years older than the teacher. When I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror and see my hair (now a great deal more grey than black), or momentarily forget the bursitis in my left hip and squat deeper than I should, I tell myself that I’m too old to be (re)learning Bharatnatyam, the centuries-old, classical South Indian dance form that combines complex footwork with evocative hand and eye gestures. But do I care?
Don’t forget to schedule that mammogram, TueNighters!
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