TueDo List: Narrative Healing + Gen-X Mom Rant + Weird Barbie
Plus, finding midlife meaning in an icy plunge.
THIS WEEK
📖 READ: Chrissie Hynde is taking questions. Good tips to pivot to a new career in midlife. Brooke Shields with a new book on middle age. Thirtysomething stars rally for reboot. The Montgomery Brawl and why it’s not enough to be “not racist.” Le Tigre’s feminist rage. A later-in-life sexual awakening.
👀 LOOK: Awesome photos of the 2023 Women’s World Cup and looking back at the internet like it’s 1999. Five possible designs for Philly’s Harriet Tubman statue. Gen-X mom rants.
🎧 LISTEN: “It’s a nugget if you dug it.” A swingy Teenage Fanclub ditty (new album next month).
🤣 LOL: Wendi Aarons says “Kenough!” already. Famous taglines that have no sexual innuendo whatsoever. Weigh in on your fave pop culture jerks.
🛒 ADD TO CART: Okay, but we NEED this Weird Barbie. Kim France’s Etsy picks. Clutch sunscreen tips from How Not to F*ck Up Your Face.
📺 WATCH:
This week: The third season of the lethally delightful Only Murders In The Building starring Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez (Hulu).
Wed: Queen Latifah, Missy Elliott, MJB, Lauryn Hill, and a galaxy of trailblazers on the unstoppable rise of women in the rap game in Ladies First: A Story Of Women In Hip-Hop (Netflix).
Thurs: Matthew Broderick, Uzo Aduba, and Taylor Kitsch in Painkiller, a limited series examining the genesis of America’s opioid crisis (Netflix).
Fri: In theaters — Judy Greer in the lo-fi-sci-fi indie film Aporia, Ben Kingsley befriends aliens in Jules, and the legend of Dracula is born in The Last Voyage of the Demeter.
STORY: How I Officially Became a Middle-Aged Badass in the Finnish Arctic
By Susan McPherson
A few summers ago, I was offered the opportunity of a lifetime: a round-trip holiday junket to the Finnish Arctic region, in hopes that I’d write about the region’s beauty, sustainability and why it should be a top travel destination for millennials who are increasingly seeking meaning and purpose when they travel. But as a woman in midlife, a decidedly non-millennial, I found meaning, purpose and a little bit of a super-hero skill in the deep freeze.
I was offered two, week-long options. The first was to take the trip, featuring hiking, biking and outdoor trekking, in August. The second was a visit during January, the (nearly) darkest and coldest time of the Finnish winter. Given that I’d be traveling solo and am middle-aged, I initially leaned towards the safe and more “typical” sounding summer holiday. But, after reflection, I thought, “Hell, Susan, why not go the challenging route? Get out of your comfort zone and be a badass for once.”
TUENIGHT 10: Lisa Weinert, Literary Alchemist
Your Age: 45
Basic bio: Lisa is the founder of Narrative Healing, a mind-body writing program, book, and (forthcoming) online course. Her program is based on the premise that our bodies hold hidden, healing stories that are meant to be shared. Her first book Narrative Healing: Awaken the Power of Your Story, published by Hachette Go, is out now. The book leads the reader through an empowering creative journey that begins with the body; it provides anyone (not just writers) a comforting and inclusive pathway to heal, help and inspire by first searching within.
Beyond the bio: I owe all the blessings in my life to letting go of dependency on outside people, places and things to make me happy or help me feel whole.
What makes you a grown-ass lady?
I’m not sure I put so much weight on my physical age. What I value most is a growing ability to trust my gut, which does get somewhat easier with age because as I get older I’m more able to pursue spiritual, emotional, and physical work to free myself — with the guidance of teachers, healers and artists. I don’t think you need to be 40 to gain this wisdom; I certainly know a lot of younger people who are way wiser than I am.
Let’s open some doors this week, TueNighters!
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