TueDo List: Beyoncé + Giving Tuesday + Superblooms
Plus photos and stories from our 10th Birthday bash!
THIS WEEK
❤️ GIVING TUESDAY: Why not give to a few of TueNighters favorite charities? You still have time!
Collective Power for Reproductive Justice: “In one sentence, collective power reminds me never to be hopeless” — Sarah
Tri-Faith Initiative: “They make religious pluralism a social norm by convening diverse communities, encouraging candid conversations.” — Wendy
We Sow, We Grow: “An award-winning agricultural non-profit urban farm, based in West Pullman, Chicago, and founded by TueNighter Natasha Nicholes” — Liz
HIAS: “HIAS for sponsoring my family and millions of other immigrants who come to the U.S.” — Leora
American Indian College Fund: “Provides educational support to one of the most in-need populations in our country. And November is Native American Heritage Month!” — Margit
The 19th: “I’ve been a fan since their inception. They bring more voices into our public discourse via evidence-based journalism.” — Susan
Find more here!
📖 READ: Does your to-do list run your life? Don’t try this on vacation. ‘90s pop star Tiffany redefining success in her 50s. Former supermodel Elle Macpherson’s sobriety journey. What it means to be “slow dumped.” How menopause changes the brain. Leslie Jamison’s essay on attempting to finish a dear friend’s novel. Last year we talked about #1 Daughters — Atlantic follows up!
👀 LOOK: Revisiting Winona Ryder’s ‘90s style. A health update from Mari Lou Retton. Beyoncé’s star-studded Renaissance film premiere. Dolly Parton crushes Thanksgiving halftime and shatters the internet with her jaw-dropping outfit.
🎧 LISTEN: Björk drops a duet with Rosalía to help fight fish farming and it’s pretty damned good.
🤣 LOL: Signs that you’re a Gen-Xer going through menopause. That time Dame Judy Dench accidentally FaceTimed someone from her bathtub. Anti-social butterfly memes.
🛒 GIFTS THAT GIVE BACK: Holiday gift boxes from Emma’s Torch, a non-profit training refugees, asylees, and survivors of human trafficking in culinary careers. Greyston Bakery fosters inclusive employment, hiring bakers regardless of their past.
😋 YUM: A dive into pop culture cookbooks, including Recipes from the World of H.P. Lovecraft and more.
📺 WATCH:
Wed: A new take on Dickens’ The Artful Dodger (Hulu). Christmas in Rockefeller Center marks the 91st annual tree lighting (NBC, Peacock).
Thurs: Jennifer Garner in Family Switch (Netflix). Stand-up comedian Sebastian Maniscalco in Bookie (Max).
Fri: Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé hits the big screen (Theaters). Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore in May December (Netflix).
Sat: Loni Anderson, Morgan Fairchild, Linda Gray, Donna Mills, and Nicollette Sheridan in Ladies of the Eighties: A Diva’s Christmas (Lifetime).
PHOTOS: Snaps from our Birthday Bash!
Photos: Auden Barbour
We hit the big one-oh, y’all! A decade. Can you believe it? Our 10th birthday bash unfolded on a rainy November night in NYC, but that didn’t dampen our spirits one bit. We soaked up a decade of incredible Gen-X storytelling with six captivating storytellers who took the stage to share their tales of “Ambition,” the evening’s theme. Add in a few quick “secret ambitions” from the audience, and connecting with TueNighters (old and new) was just pure magic.
STORY: Going Soft: Why Life in the Slow Lane is Delicious
By Abbe Aronson
“More incredulous than being struck by lightning, my taste has completely morphed, from modern to…mushy. Because I finally had an easy-living epiphany and it’s this: You know what’s comfortable for snuggly Sundays in front of the fireplace? Not tightly-upholstered Florence Knoll sofas. No, when I want to relax, I want to burrow deep down, not in a Bertoia chair but rather in a well-worn leather club chair, a quilt thrown over my knees. My “Little Blue House That Could,” as it’s come to be called, has actual rooms (ROOMS!), with lowish ceilings, decorative trim over the doorways and a peeling-paint front porch, on which I love to luxuriate in my Early American rocking chairs, listening to the crickets, the birds, the silence….”
TUENIGHT 10: Kristen Hayes, Founder of the Floriculture Community, Superbloom
Basic bio: Kristen is a flower-obsessed and design-loving brand strategist, marketer, creative director, mother, nature enthusiast, and winner of a brownie-baking contest.
Beyond the bio: After working for two decades for and with more than 50 brands in the retail, apparel, home design, media, tech, and social-good sectors, I decided to finally start my own brand called Superbloom. It’s a hub for flower-focused abundance, imaginative botanical art and design, and maximalist floral finds for your closet and home. And in a serendipitous twist, its launch coincided with 2023’s actual superblooms here in California (!).
What makes you a grown-ass lady? Knowing that I don’t need to fit into the expectations of other people, that the true measure of success is just being my full self. When I started Superbloom, so many “best practices” echoed in my head after years of working in brand marketing, but instead of following them all, I’m creating a space that’s all about natural abundance, maximalism, and celebrating people just as they are. When I’m working on other brands, whether it was in a past role or if it’s for a current client, marketing principles and audience-focused strategies are essential, but when it comes to your own passions, why not follow what inspires you? At this point in life, I’m enough of a grown-ass lady to know that just because so-called rules exist doesn’t mean I have to follow them.
#GivingTuesday: Give what you can, TueNighters!
