TueDo List: Molly Ignored + Sibling Drift + Fave Fall Jackets
Plus, two documentaries on pioneering Black models, and Gen X at fashion week.
THIS WEEK
📖 READ: Menopause parties, okay, I guess, but do we really need uterus-shaped cakes? (Although this one is cute.) “Temporarily blanking on names is normal.” Phew. A Gen-Xer goes bat-mitzvah-dress shopping. Poet Rita Dove’s lifetime achievement award. The broken book-blurb industry. Not cool, Drew.
👀 LOOK: Gen X at fashion week: Janet, Alicia, Christina, Jennifer, Gabrielle, and more. Robin Roberts’ wedding story. The midlife Love Island. How often do we really need to wash our bras? How did we go from my midday nap to “bed rotting.”
🎧 LISTEN: Synthpop pioneers Soft Cell’s Nostalgia Machine remix. Digging the Aimee Mann vibes of Squirrel Flower. Zadie Smith’s Gen-X novel.
🤣 LOL: Molly Ringwald erased! “If a mature vagina doesn’t want to give a fuck, it doesn’t give a fuck, and not giving a fuck is incredible.” Hormonal friends with benefits. Oops, I forget my reusable bags… AGAIN! Bee kind.
🌳 DO GOOD: How to help Morocco earthquake victims. Chatbot to get abortion options in every zip code. Happy Rosh Hashanah to those who celebrate!
📺 WATCH:
This week: Stand-up comedy special from Michelle Wolf: It’s Great To Be Here (Netflix). Literary icon Joyce Carol Oates offers a unique glimpse into her life, creative journey, and the influences on her writing in A Body In The Service Of Mind (Theaters, Amazon, Apple TV).
Wed: Donyale Luna: Supermodel chronicles the life and career of the first Black model to grace the cover of both Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue (HBO Max).
Thurs: Danish romantic comedy/period drama Ehrengard: The Art of Seduction (Netflix).
Fri: A true-life tale of José Hernández, a migrant farmworker turned NASA astronaut in A Million Miles Away (Prime Video). Fashion revolutionary Bethann Hardison looks back on her journey as a pioneering Black model, modeling agent, and activist in Invisible Beauty, while Michelle Yeoh and Tina Fey star in the latest film based on an Agatha Christie novel, A Haunting in Venice (Theaters).
STORY: What Happens When Our Longest Relationships Change?
By Benish Shah
A few weeks ago, I found myself rewatching The Originals, the CW Network show about the first vampire siblings, which found them vowing to stay by each other “always and forever.” I started pondering why so many shows with cult followings focus on the evolving relationships between siblings or long-time friends. Despite our general cultural obsession with romantic relationships, Supernatural, Buffy, Boy Meets World, How I Met Your Mother, and other shows all held family — those that are chosen and those given from birth — at their core. While of course these programs had elements of romance intertwined in their plots, they centered on the changing dynamics between family members (except Cory and Topanga, who ruined it for all of us).
It made me think about what these shows are mirroring in offscreen relationships. For many people, our longest relationships are with our siblings or friends. So, why is it that we are taught 101 ways that romantic relationships may change, but no one ever taught us how to manage the evolution of other relationships?…
#GENXAPPROVED: What are your favorite transitional jackets?
TueNighter Shelly is looking forward to cooler weather and on the hunt for a fab new jacket that will keep her warm all the way through fall.
She writes, “I have a lot of jackets. I love jackets! But not the perfect one for almost chilly weather. I am also kind of inspired by the fake (I think) fur coat over the jean jacket that Jenna Lyons wears in Real Housewives of NYC…. so I’m open to coat layering as well! 😂 ”
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They can’t ignore us TueNighters! Enjoy your week.
I was interviewed for that Fortune piece and I was sort of disappointed because... for me, the party idea was more about a rite of passage for stepping into your power. I had talked about actually attending my mom's own perimenopause night back when I was 18... it was super meaningful and filled with stories, tarot readings, cooking together, and wine. She had amazing, forthright, feminist friends--one who'd come all the way from Africa to SF to celebrate her. It wasn't trivial... she was truly changing. For my own part, I was so in love with "The Great" at the time, having an Empress night seemed a no-brainer, but to do it over, I might lean more into the actual mission of what we're doing now, and make it night of sharing how to make menopause less hellish one 'pragmagic' lesson at a time :)