Filtered by Category: Weekly Links

Just Good Shit: 06.20.21

Image: Kiyana Salkeld / Just Good Shit

Image: Kiyana Salkeld / Just Good Shit

It was another good week around here! Our morning glories are growing at a borderline-alarming speed; we met up with friends at Riis yesterday; we had new friends over on Thursday night and had so much fun; and I did a massive organization project today that Iā€™m so happy about. We also voted (early ā€” the primaries are Tuesday in NYC), which is always a pleasure. And a box of the best peaches Iā€™ve ever tasted arrives this week!

Hereā€™s what else I had going onā€¦

My shit

Reading

Iā€™m currently reading I Am a Woman by Ann Bannon, and really enjoying it! Also:

The Road to Terfdom, Lux Magazine.

Living Nonbinary in a Binary Sports World, Sports Illustrated.

Do You Want to Be Sad, or Skinny? The Slippery Solution of Wellbutrin, VICE.
(Just a headā€™s up that this article centers on eating disorders.)

ā€˜A Family Like Oursā€™: Portraits of Gay Fatherhood, NYT.

The Housewife and the Hustler Is a Necessary Yet Flawed Portrait of Erika Jayne, Tom Girardi, & American Greed, Jezebel.

Let's Talk About In the Heights and the Erasure of Dark-Skinned Afro-Latinx Folks, The Root.

The #gaycopsoftiktok are barely even trying, All Cops Are Posters.

The improbable true story of Judge Judy and the reporter who made her a star, LA Times.

Casey McQuiston Will Remind You What It Feels Like to Be Alive, The Cut.

#1338: ā€œ*surprised Pikachu face* Another friendship that stresses me out!ā€, Captain Awkward.
ā€œLife is too short for this NiceGirlā„¢ shit where seeming polite is more important than being honest, kind, or happy.ā€

Watching

Explant, a really interesting documentary about the history of breast implants and the thousands of women who say theirs are making them sick. The aforementioned The Housewife and the Hustler. But Iā€™m a Cheerleader, a classic. And Luca, the new Pixar movie.

Have a good evening! ā˜€ļø

šŸ‘

Just Good Shit: 06.13.21

Two people sitting at a march for Black Trans Lives in Brooklyn holding signs that say ā€œNone of us are free until ALL of us are freeā€ and ā€œProtect Trans Kids/ā€
Two protest signs: One says ā€œProtect Trans Youthā€ and the other says ā€œStop policing kidsā€™ genitals, you weirdos.ā€

Whew, what a weekend! Yesterday I spent the day at Good Judy, a newish (and, now, vaxxed-only) queer bar in Park Slope. They closed the block down and had a bunch of amazing drag performances throughout the day. The vibe was just so good ā€” mellow, communal, welcoming, fun. The DJ was playing banger after banger; when he put on ā€œAll I Want for Christmas Is You,ā€ we all absolutely lost it.

Today I spent the day at the March for Black Trans Lives, an incredibly moving (and impressively well-organized) event that started with a rally at the Brooklyn Museum and ended in Ft. Greene Park. It centered on trans youth and trans liberation, and featured several young speakers, all of whom were incredible. (I recommend checking out all of the speeches; you can see two of my favorites here and here. NYT also covered it, and there are lots of great photos.) Coming together in solidarity and community, taking to the streets, chanting in unison, protecting each other, and making time to celebrate the fact that weā€™re still hereā€¦ itā€™s just kind of the whole thing, you know?

Hereā€™s what else I had going on this weekā€¦

Reading

This week, I read The Killer Wore Leather, a very funny murder mystery that I discovered via this list of queer beach reads that I edited recently!

And a couple other articles worth your time:

The New York Timesā€™ Culture-War Definition of Free Speech, The New Republic.

I Asked My Rapist For $10,000, Lux.

Two Black Students Won School Honors. Then Came the Calls for a Recount., NYT.

Iā€™m using NYTā€™s new ā€œgift articlesā€ feature to share the NYT links in this post; basically, subscribers can now share 10 articles per month, and if you use a ā€œgiftā€ link like the ones above, it wonā€™t count toward your free article total.

Have a good night! āœŠšŸ½

šŸ‘

Just Good Shit: 06.06.21

Image: Kiyana Salkeld / Just Good Shit

Image: Kiyana Salkeld / Just Good Shit

Hiiiii! Tonightā€™s edition is a little late because I spent most of the day lying tits-up on the gay beach reading Beebo Brinker ā€” truly an ideal way to spend a 90 degree Sunday at the beginning of June!! Hereā€™s what else I had going on this weekā€¦

Writing

And thereā€™s a new ep of Oh, I Like That: Homosexual Tendencies (Letā€™s Talk About Pride!).

Itā€™s time for me to re-up these

Reading

Along with Beebo, I read Casey McQuistonā€™s new novel, One Last Stop, which is great. Andā€¦I didnā€™t read much else actually, because it was a short week and I was writing/editing a bunch. Also itā€™s hard to read when youā€™re playing ā€œLove Againā€ on repeat!

Have a good night! šŸŒ”

šŸ‘

Just Good Shit: 05.30.21

Image: Kiyana Salkeld / Just Good Shit

Image: Kiyana Salkeld / Just Good Shit

Hi, friends! Hereā€™s what I was up to this weekā€¦

Reading

What the Tulsa Race Massacre Destroyed, NYT.

A Day With New Yorkā€™s Bird Paramedics, Curbed.

Iā€™m a Vaccinated Transplant Recipient. I Donā€™t Have Antibodies. Now What?, NYT.

The man who didnā€™t invent Flaminā€™ Hot Cheetos, L.A. Times.

Cruella Is the Girl-Bossification of the Madwoman, Vulture.
OK, we decided to watch this out of morbid curiosity/boredom (itā€™s been pouring non-stop for three days) and had low expectationsā€¦and yet were still shocked by just how bad it was! Totally joyless, incredibly obnoxious, with too many plot holes to count, and it just, likeā€¦ does not connect to the 101 Dalmatians villain/story at all. So weird!

Cruella shows that Disney is still struggling to get its ā€œfirst gay characterā€ right, A.V. Club.

If Cruellaā€™s Ending Left You Confused, Youā€™re Not Alone, Slate.

She Put Her Unspent Love in a Cardboard Box, NYT.

Bowen Yang Is Changing the Late-Night Comedy Landscape, Slate.

How to help coworkers who have been in the office all along, Ask a Manager.

Have a good night! šŸŒ„

šŸ‘

Just Good Shit: 05.23.21

Image: Kiyana Salkeld / Just Good Shit

Image: Kiyana Salkeld / Just Good Shit

Hello! Hereā€™s what I had going on this weekā€¦

Writing

And Sally and I answered some listener questions about friendship on the podcast!

Reading

What Happens When Americans Can Finally Exhale, The Atlantic.

Covid Killed His Father. Then Came $1 Million in Medical Bills., NYT.

My Grandfather Bought a Home in Gaza With His Savings. An Israeli Airstrike Destroyed It., NYT.

Chipotle Is a Criminal Enterprise Built on Exploitation, Jacobin.

Billy Porter Breaks a 14-Year Silence: ā€œThis Is What HIV-Positive Looks Like Nowā€, The Hollywood Reporter.

Sorry, Bella Poarch, this IS ā€˜Build a B*tchā€™, The Kids Arenā€™t Alright.

It Is Unconscionable That The Gay Community Has Ostracized Me Simply Because I Was Born A Cop, Defector.

Eating

This weekend, I got motivated to deal with the ongoing problem of lunch, and Iā€™m returning to sauce theory. Iā€™m doing perfect chicken + roasted vegetables + ready rice, and then I whipped up two sauces from Simply Julia. I already feel so much better about the fact that tomorrow is Monday.

Have a good evening! šŸŒ‡

šŸ‘

Just Good Shit: 05.16.21

This week, I celebrated the first anniversary of The Art of Showing Up! My girlfriend got me an amazing (and delicious) cake to celebrate. We also had two (!!) friend hangouts this weekend and watched Showgirls, a movie viewing experience that Iā€¦frankly was not prepared for. At one point, we paused, in a state of awe and confusion, to discuss what we had just seen, and she pointed out we were *not even seven minutes into the movie*. Itā€™s nonsensical, baffling, and so shockingly bad, and I kind of already want to watch it again? (Instead weā€™re watching You Donā€™t Nomi, the documentary that seeks to figure out why Showgirlsā€¦is this way.)

Hereā€™s what else I had going on this week.

Reading

Sara Yasin, my former coworker, is a good follow for news/insight on what is happening in Israel and Palestine right now. And Democracy Now and US Campaign for Palestinian Rights are two good resources (h/t Sally).

Also:

5 People Describe the Emotional and Financial Tolls of House Arrest, VICE.

Texas Is About to Pass a Radical Anti-Abortion Bill and It Should Scare You, Jezebel.

Why We Speak More Weirdly at Home, The Atlantic.

Called by God, Slate.

How To Affirm the People in Your Life Who Use Multiple Sets of Pronouns, them.

And Iā€™ve been reading a galley of The Housewives and really loving it!

Have a good one! šŸŒ·

šŸ‘

Just Good Shit: 05.09.21

Just Good Shit: 05.02.21

Image: Kiyana Salkeld / Just Good Shit

Image: Kiyana Salkeld / Just Good Shit

Hi, pals! Iā€™m officially vaccinated and ready to party aka have 1/2 of a beer with friends and then go to bed at a sensible hour! I feel beyond grateful to have made it to this point, but the current COVID situation in India is dire. I donated via GiveIndia, and NYT has more ways to help here.

Hereā€™s what else I had going on this weekā€¦

Reading

This week, I read Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York, which I highly recommend. Itā€™s true crime, which is usually not my cup of tea (and I had to kind of skim through the descriptions of the crimes), but it really focuses on the victims and their lives as opposed to centering the killer. Itā€™s ultimately a book about community organizing, incompetent/bigoted policing, and gay New York in the ā€˜80s and ā€˜90s, and I just thought it was so well done. I also read Crying in H Mart, which I thought was fantastic.

Also:

I Was 12 When We Met, Slate.
Note: this article deals with grooming and rape.

Post-vaccination Inertia Is Real, The Atlantic.

The Slander Industry, NYT.

ā€˜The Relief Outweighed the Regretā€™, Vulture.
I loved this! (Content note for diet/weight loss talk.)

Pixarā€™s Troubled ā€œSoulā€, The New Yorker.

Is This the End of the Leotard?, Slate.
I will click pretty much any story about athletic uniforms.

The Complicated Reality of Thrift Store 'Gentrification', Jezebel.

Has Online Retailā€™s Biggest Bully Returned?, NYT.

Ryan Oā€™Connellā€™s Coming-of-Age Story, Told Through Polaroids, Interview.

Love Weed, Hate the Scaries? This Legal Bud Promises the Mellowest Buzz Ever, VICE.

Can confirm, this stuff is great and I love their branding. BTW, if you shop via this link, weā€™ll both get $10 off.

What Astrologer Susan Miller Canā€™t Live Without, NY Mag.

P.S. If you still need Motherā€™s Day gift ideas, the 2020 Just Good Shit gift guides might be helpful!

Have a good evening! šŸ»

šŸ‘

Just Good Shit: 04.25.21

Just Good Shit: 04.18.21

Post-vaccine selfie in a CVS wearing sticker that says ā€œVaccinated for COVID-19ā€

This week, I got my second dose of the vaccine, something I feel incredibly grateful for. Getting such an effective vaccine this early in time feels like a miracle, and I feel very overwhelmed when I sit with the reality of how lucky I am to have made it to this point. Itā€™s impossible not to think about this in the context of not just the 566,452 known COVID deaths in the U.S., but also in the context of Daunte Wright and Adam Toledo and George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and so many other people who are no longer with us who should be. I feel hollowed out by all of the gun violence and racism and misogyny in the U.S., and anxious about re-entering a society where, vaccinated or not, itā€™s pretty hard to feel safe.

Hereā€™s what else I had going on this weekā€¦

Writing

On Thursday, I published the big feature Iā€™ve been plugging away at for a while now: Shantay, You Pay: Inside the Heavy Financial Burden of Going On ā€˜Drag Raceā€™. I enjoyed working on this article so much. Everyone I spoke to for it was wonderful ā€” thoughtful and generous and genuinely funny ā€” and I learned a ton from every single interview I did. (I think my first draft wasā€¦11,000 words? lol) It was also really nice, after a year of sameness and sadness, to talk to a bunch of really talented artists about making stuff. I miss making stuff! Anyway, Iā€™m really happy itā€™s out in the world, and I hope you enjoy reading it!

On another note, thereā€™s a new episode of Oh, I Like That this week: ā€œBreaking Up with Friends and Other Ways to Prepare for a Post-COVID Summer.ā€

Reading

Police Say A Lot Of Things, Defector.

ā€œLet me tell you how bad the gun problem in this country is.ā€

How You, Personally, Can Fight the Anti-Trans Bills Surging Across the U.S., VICE.

The Soul of Bravo, Vulture.

The Political Media Is Having a ā€œGotta Hear Both Sidesā€ Relapse, Slate.

Baby proof: talking to kids about what it means to be transgender or non-binary., Reading My Tea Leaves.

I'd Like This To Stop: Praise For A Promising Young Woman, Ayesha A. Siddiqi.
Perfectly sums up everything I disliked about this movie!

Watching

Weā€™re still watching The Nanny, which Iā€™m enjoying so much. We also watched Operation Varsity Blues on Netflix, which was good/infuriating, and started This Is a Robbery (good so far!) and Couples Therapy (ehhhh??????).

Have a good evening. āœØ

šŸ‘

Just Good Shit: 04.11.21

Just Good Shit: 04.04.21

Image: Kiyana Salkeld / Just Good Shit

Image: Kiyana Salkeld / Just Good Shit

Happy Sunday! Hereā€™s what I have been up to this weekā€¦

My shit, elsewhere

A new episode of the podcast is up! This week, we talked about birthdays.

Reading

Vaccine Cheat Days Are Adding Up, The Atlantic.

My staff is anxious about reopening, even though they're vaccinated, Ask a Manager.

HGTV Is Getting a Renovation, The New Yorker.

The Therapy-App Fantasy, The Cut.

The Untold Story of Queer Foster Families, The New Yorker.

When the Mob Comes, Men Yell At Me.

The Mysterious Case of the F*cking Good Pizza, VICE.

How Big Dogs' Big Progressive Rebrand Went Wrong, GQ.

Have a good evening! šŸ°

šŸ‘

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Just Good Shit: 03.28.21

Just Good Shit: 03.21.21

Image: Kiyana Salkeld / Just Good Shit

Image: Kiyana Salkeld / Just Good Shit

Hi, pals. I hope youā€™re doing OK, given what a dark week it was here in the U.S. Hereā€™s what I was up toā€¦

Reading

ā€˜A specific kind of racismā€™: Atlanta shootings fuel fears over anti-sex-work ideology, The Guardian.

The Solution to Violence Against Women Will Never Be ā€˜More Policeā€™, VICE.

SuChin Pak Reveals ā€˜Misogynistic, Violent, and Racistā€™ Incident at MTV, Vulture.

Behind the Scenes at a Five-Star Hotel, The New Yorker.

She Was Just Walking Home, NYT.

Here's why Substack's scam worked so well, The Hypothesis.

Donā€™t Sleep on Drag Race U.K.ā€™s Bimini Bon-Boulash, Vulture.

Watching & listening to

We rented The Orange Years, a documentary about ā€˜90s Nickelodeon that I loved. I also listened to the ā€œIs Some News Just Voyeurism?ā€ episode of the new podcast The Big Question and really enjoyed it.

Have a good evening. šŸ’›

šŸ‘

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Just Good Shit: 03.14.21

Image: Kiyana Salkeld / Just Good Shit

Image: Kiyana Salkeld / Just Good Shit

Hello on this shorter-than-usual Sunday! I hope youā€™re having a nice weekend. Hereā€™s what I was up to this weekā€¦

Reading

Abuse and Power, NY Mag.
Very good longread on the Cuomo administration.

Against Child Hostages, Model Citizen.

The Crisis Candidate, NY Mag.

The Art World Has Bigger Enemies Than Forgers, Defector.

Can Small-Scale Subscriptions Change Food Media for the Better?, VICE.

Thoughts on rejection from a hiring manager in a competitive field, Ask a Manager.
I also loved this comment.

#1318: ā€œPissed off during the post-pandemic party because nobody kept in touch.ā€, Captain Awkward.


Watching

I feel like Iā€™ve been watching a lot of stuff lately, and it ranges in quality! The good: Allen v. Farrow, The Golden Girls. The pretty dece: Made You Look. The pandemic-good-enough: I Care a Lot, Murder Among the Mormons.

Have a good one! ā°

šŸ‘

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Just Good Shit: 03.07.21

Just Good Shit: 02.28.21

Image: Kiyana Salkeld / Just Good Shit

Image: Kiyana Salkeld / Just Good Shit

Hi! Iā€™m back! Hereā€™s what Iā€™ve had going on since my last one of theseā€¦

My shit

Reading

Tipping Is a Legacy of Slavery, NYT.

COVID Doesnā€™t Discriminate. But People Do., Eater.

How the Police Bank Millions Through Their Union Contracts, ProPublica.

Itā€™s Always The Same Lie, Defector.
ā€œAnyone who has lived in Texas for any period of time and experienced any kind of dire need knows that the government is not going to help you.ā€

Going Hungry in the Most Magical Place on Earth, In These Times.

Britney Spears Was Never in Control, The Cut.

Coming of Age in Rush Limbaugh's America, The White Pages.

Why Opening Restaurants Is Exactly What the Coronavirus Wants Us to Do, ProPublica.

Inside a Nursing Home After the Vaccine: Joy, Relief and Game Night, NYT.

Snowed under in a state of emergency., Reading My Tea Leaves.

Millions of Americans Qualify for the COVID-19 Vaccine Based on BMI. Why Should We Apologize for It?, Vogue.

The Shocking Meltdown of Ample Hills, Marker.

Figure skating is on thin ice. Hereā€™s how to fix it., Vox.

Steve Way on the Maddening Injustices of Dating While Disabled, GQ.

A World Without Pain, The New Yorker.

The Vintage Furniture Sellers of Instagram Are Burned Out, Curbed.

How the New York Times Crossword Became Too Big to Fail, Study Hall.

How Philadelphia Cream Cheese Took Over the World, Bon AppƩtit.

Six Months of Soft Food Set Me Free, Eater.

The Secret, Essential Geography of the Office, Wired.

17 Cooking Tips Our Food Staff Swears By, NYT.

Do This If You Lose Your Child in Public, Lifehacker.

A drunken cowboy, gingerbread house chaos, and other office contests that went badly, Ask a Manager.

Have a good one! ā˜ļø

šŸ‘

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Just Good Shit: 01.24.21

Just Good Shit: 01.17.21

Image: Kiyana Salkeld / Just Good Shit

Image: Kiyana Salkeld / Just Good Shit

Hello, friends! Hereā€™s what Iā€™ve got for you this week.

My shit, elsewhere

Sally and I dropped a new episode of Oh, I Like That: ā€œAnd Now for Something Light and Fun: Home Safety Tips.ā€

I also keep forgetting to link to a couple other recentish podcast appearances: I talked planners and journaling on Best Laid Plans, and shared my best tips for logging off with Carolyn Kylstra on Checking In.

Also, it seems like a good time to re-up this post from last January: Reading list: Race, white supremacy, and anti-Black racism in America.

Reading

The Capitol Rioters Werenā€™t ā€˜Low Classā€™, The Atlantic.

Only Democracy Reform Can Stop Trumpism, Crooked Media.

Nebraska meatpackers breathe for hours through blood-soaked masks. This canā€™t keep happening., Washington Post.

Why Arenā€™t We Wearing Better Masks?, The Atlantic.

How MAGA Extremism Ends, The Atlantic.

ā€œAll Bets Are Off the Next Few Weeksā€, Slate.

The Dream Job That Wasnā€™t, The New Republic.

Sea Shanty TikTok Is on Fire, Slate.

ā€œThe Sopranosā€ for Women Is Just ā€¦ ā€œThe Sopranosā€, Inside Hook.

'Why Do I Spend Weeks Avoiding Tasks That Will Take Me 10 Minutes to Do?', VICE.
I have been thinking about this articleā€¦pretty much every single day.

Life shit

Utilizing the wisdom from this Swole Woman column, Iā€™ve been getting back to working out regularly! Iā€™m doing a Nerdfitness kettlebell workout twice a week (which is, for me, a less overwhelming/more attainable goal for the first month or so) and the foldable exercise bike we ordered arrived this weekend! I had my own spin bike at home for years and loved it, and Iā€™m really looking forward to using this one. Between the workouts and my nascent knitting habit and the fact that my family members are getting vaccinated (!!!), Iā€™m feeling pretty OK overall at the moment, despite *gestures around tiredly* everything.

Have a good night and a safe week! šŸ„½

šŸ‘

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Just Good Shit: 01.10.21

Hi, pals. Hereā€™s what Iā€™ve got for you this weekā€¦

Reading

The Only Strategy Left for Democrats, The Cut.
ā€œGovern like you won, winners.ā€

The Man Who Saw Yesterdayā€™s Coup Attempt Coming Is Only Surprised It Wasnā€™t Much Worse, GQ.

The American Abyss, NYT.

They Were Out for Blood, Slate.

ā€˜Senate Being Locked Downā€™: Inside a Harrowing Day at the Capitol, NYT.

Nazis Stormed The Capitol. Why Are People Afraid To Call Them That?, Refinery29.

I Donā€™t Know What The Answer Is, But Itā€™s Definitely Not More Cops, Defector.

A Domestic Terrorism Law Canā€™t Solve Right-Wing Violence, NY Mag.

How SoulCycle lost its soul, The Goods / Vox.

On the internet, anything can be a lesbian, Xtra.

The Man Who Turned Credit-Card Points Into an Empire, NYT Magazine.

Is ā€˜The Bachelorā€™ Just a Christian Dating Show Now?, Alma.

Rookieā€™s Popular ā€˜Life Skillsā€™ Column Is Back, The Cut.

The Best Two-Player Board Games, According to Experts, The Strategist.

Why Is it So Hard to Design a Good Can Opener?, Curbed.

For An Easier Parchment Experience, Do the Crumple, Epicurious.
Genius.

Watching

None of the footage I saw from the Capitol on Wednesday captured the terror quite like this Chris Hayes segment ā€” I think, in part, because of the incredibly chilling audio that is present throughout it.

Meanwhile, if you want something cathartic, definitely watch Joe Scarboroughā€™s rant, along with this video.

Be safe and well this week. āœØ

šŸ‘


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