TN10: Laurie White, Writer

Laurie seaside (left and center) and visiting the Grand Canyon (right). (Photos provided by Laurie White.)

Editor’s Note: Please join me in saying a warm farewell to our fabulous Margaret Crandall who produced this newsletter for the last two+ years with verve and wit. In her stead, we’re thrilled to have Laurie White join us as our new TueDo List editor! Laurie was in fact the very *first* author of our burgeoning TueDo List, when it was just a regular feature on the Tuenight.com website. Here’s her (updated!) TueNight 10 — Margit

Your Age: 51

Basic bio: I’m a writer, editor, and online community builder. A nine-year-old Puggle named Hoover runs my life. 

Beyond the bio: I realized ten years ago after a lifetime in the closet — including, for several decades, to myself — that I didn't know exactly what I was but it definitely wasn't straight. (I've settled on queer now, which just feels right to me.) When I got sober in 2013 I necessarily threw my whole self into recovery, to the exclusion of some minor details like love and sex and identity, so coming out has been...well, imagine a sloth coming out, or that dog in the old school cartoons who ran the elevator? Right, super slow. Then a pulmonary embolism after COVID in 2020 necessarily shrunk the aperture on my life again. One of every four people who have a PE die suddenly, so don't skip your next physical, stay hydrated, and truly don't ignore your body if it tells you something weird is going on, because a lot of the time we're right about that. Anyway, my concept of time and luck and the vagaries of blood clots has gotten really clear, so I'm going to try to make this next chapter more honest and, hopefully, a lot more fun, GOP be damned. 

What makes you a grown-ass lady?

I walk away from situations that aren't working, aren't healthy, that make me sick or sad or exhausted. I tell people more that they matter to me.

Here’s her TueNight 10:

1. On the nightstand: Many pens, always one earring looking for the other one, hopefully a phone charger, my friend Kristen Chase's galley for "A Thousand Miles to Graceland" and a S'well water bottle.

2. Can't stop/won’t stop: Hoarding memes, and posting on InstaStories. (Come find me @lauriemedia!) 

3. Jam of the minute: "Love You for a Long Time," Maggie Rogers and "A Hundred Years Old," Brittney Spencer. Women always make so much of the best music out there, but we are in a particularly golden time right now. No one should miss it.

4. Thing I miss: Life without COVID. I  try not to regret things and keep my eyes on the road, but I'm not there with this one quite yet.

5. ‘80s crush: John Taylor from Duran Duran and Lloyd Dobler, total tie.

6. Current crush: This cute person I met recently, and can someone please tell them for me? I'm still really the worst at this.

7. Latest fave find: Trauma therapy. Related, TherapyJeff on Instagram/TikTok, where he breaks down all things relationships.

8. Last thing you lost: Reproductive rights. Also the mailbox key.

9. Best thing that happened recently: I got to see the Grand Canyon again after many years a few weeks ago. Still a breathtaker. I also just came back to edit the TueNight newsletter! I wrote the TueDo List years ago, and it's fun to be back as the me, now, who is considerably different from me, then. 

10. Looking forward to: Midterms being over so we can get past that ambiguity and focus on how we can protect ourselves and our communities in this insane climate. And always the next time I get to go to the beach.