TueDo List: Whitney + Sophfronia Scott + Midlife Etiquette
Plus new drops from Black women authors you'll love
THIS WEEK
📖 READ: Whitney Houston’s legacy of lifting up Black women. SZA in Malibu (and what a lede!). Long live the octogenarian sex record (musical record, that is). Why Amazon is so full of random brands you’ve never heard of. Asexual on Valentine’s Day. Planning for a 60-year career. Margaret Atwood dares you to ban her book.
👀 LOOK: A Christian Louboutin house tour. The street styles are always the best part of fashion week (except that carrot bag). The rise of the low-stakes murder mystery.
🎧 LISTEN: Rest in peace Trugoy the Dove, the De La Soul Daisy Age is forever. Nigerian Afro-pop star Ayra Starr’s new single “Sability.” Sumptuous new song from Lana Del Rey.
🤣 LOL: One weird trick for keeping your home clean, organized, and aesthetically pleasing. Knives Out, Muppets edition. Powder, powder, powder!
🛒 ADD TO CART: You don’t have to be a chef to covet Tilit’s kitchen clothing, or a nurse to admire Clove’s indoor sneakers. Wisdom from the groupchat: Our feet are ready for Vionics. New book Unraveling by Peggy Orenstein takes on knitting, Covid hobbies, and life in the sandwich generation.
📺 WATCH:
Tonight: Your V-Day watch list: If you ever wondered what her voice sounds like, Planet Sex with Cara Delevingne will reveal that and more (Hulu). Netflix has Love is Blind: After the Altar, Perfect Match, and a seemingly bottomless well of romantic K-dramas.
Wednesday: Gucci: Sex, Money and Power. And murder. Don’t forget the murder. (Paramount+)
Thursday: Return to Seoul: a 25-year-old adoptee raised in France impulsively books a trip to the South Korean capital where she was born. (Theaters)
Friday: Sharper, a neo-noir thriller featuring con artists, billionaires, Julianne Moore and John Lithgow. (Apple TV+)
Anytime, all weekend long: The annual Great Backyard Bird Count is on.
The Midlife Woman’s Version of New York Magazine’s Etiquette Rules
Once upon a time back in the mid aughts, when technology was really starting to take over our lives, I pitched an idea to write a modern manners column for Real Simple (an old magazine with ink, as well as my workplace) but it never took hold. “No one cares about technology,” I was told. Ahem.
Back then, life moved at the speed of a Palm Pilot; now, it moves so much faster as the interwebs are ever more interwoven in our everyday lives. Social mores have shifted, too. After reading New York Magazine’s now-viral article on etiquette—and the counterpoint, and Buzzfeed’s tech version (which was so illuminating)—we decided we too would weigh in with our multi-decade experience of life online and off.
We asked ourselves, we asked our friends in midlife media (yup, it’s a thing), and we asked TueNighter regulars about the etiquette they’d recommend to our comrades in (aging) arms. Some of it is etiquette; some is just good advice.
Think of this as a jumping-off point and add your own etiquette ideas in the comments below. Are they hard and fast rules? Well, no. We’ve lived this long, we can basically do and say what we want, right?
STORIES: New Drops from Black Women Authors You’ll Love
By Demetria Wambia
“What are you reading?”
With countless book choices and the endless scroll of the internet to entertain you, it’s a common question. But the better question is who are you reading? And if you’re not reading new drops from Black women authors, are you even reading at all?
#BlackGirlsAreMagic, that once trending hashtag, still rings true in the literary world today. Pick any genre and you’ll surely find a Black woman who wrote a dope book. To that end, allow me to introduce you to debut books and genre debuts from Black women authors from the past couple of years. We’re talking memoir, fiction, self-help…you’re bound to find something that suits your fancy.
TN10: Sophronia Scott, Author & Educator
Your Age: 56
Basic bio: Sophfronia is an award-winning author and the director of Alma College's MFA in Creative Writing — which she says means she gets to create books AND design a supportive artistic community where writers can develop their own life-changing work. Sophfronia’s latest novel “Wild, Beautiful, and Free” is due to drop on March 1st!
Beyond the bio: At this age when I discover something that brings me joy, I don't hesitate to get or do more of it. Last summer, for example, I went fly-fishing for the first time. Standing in the middle of a river felt so life-giving that I knew I had to keep doing it. I took lessons and now I'm practicing tying knots and waiting for the season to begin. Who would have thought??
What makes you a grown-ass lady?
I'm comfortable in my own skin, I cherish my peace of mind, and I'm fierce about protecting this sense of well being. No one gets to push me out of myself. No one gets to mess with my joy. Period.
Rules or no rules, you rule, TueNighters!