Just Good Shit: 05.02.21

Hi, pals! I’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.

Here’s what else I had going on this week…

Reading

This week, I read Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York, which I highly recommend. It’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. It’s ultimately a book about community organizing, incompetent/bigoted policing, and gay New York in the ‘80s and ‘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.

‘The Relief Outweighed the Regret’, Vulture.
I loved this! (Content note for diet/weight loss talk.)

Pixar’s Troubled “Soul”, 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 Retail’s Biggest Bully Returned?, NYT.

Ryan O’Connell’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, we’ll both get $10 off.

What Astrologer Susan Miller Can’t Live Without, NY Mag.

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

Have a good evening! 🍻

🍑

Just Good Shit: 04.25.21

Hi again! Here’s what I was up to this week…

Writing

How to Get a Little Closure on Your Pandemic Year with a Ritual

Reading

I’ve torn through a bunch of books in the past month or so: Made for Love, Black Buck, A Special Place for Women, and Hola Papi: How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons.

Also:

Justice, I Guess., The Root.

Scott Rudin, As Told by His Assistants, Vulture.

Michigan’s Covid Wards Are Filling Up With Younger Patients, NYT.

The Nervous Person’s Guide to Re-Entering Society, NYT.

People who have been at work all along are exhausted, Ask a Manager.

Was That Racism?, The Cut.

Philip Roth and the sympathetic biographer: This is how misogyny gets cemented in our culture, Washington Post.

What Facebook Did for Chauvin’s Trial Should Happen All the Time, The Atlantic.

Look at These Safety Color Charts Before You Buy Your Kids' Next Swimsuit, Lifehacker.

My Body Got Me Through the Pandemic. It Doesn’t Need to Be ‘Bikini Ready’, Vogue.

Illustration students design post-pandemic New Yorker covers.

Have a good one! 🌸

🍑

Just Good Shit: 04.18.21

Post-vaccine selfie in a CVS wearing sticker that says “Vaccinated for COVID-19”

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. It’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, it’s pretty hard to feel safe.

Here’s what else I had going on this week…

Writing

On Thursday, I published the big feature I’ve been plugging away at for a while now: Shantay, You Pay: Inside the Heavy Financial Burden of Going On ‘Drag Race’. I enjoyed working on this article so much. Everyone I spoke to for it was wonderful — thoughtful and generous and genuinely funny — and I learned a ton from every single interview I did. (I think my first draft was…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, I’m really happy it’s out in the world, and I hope you enjoy reading it!

On another note, there’s a new episode of Oh, I Like That this week: “Breaking Up with Friends and Other Ways to Prepare for a Post-COVID Summer.”

Reading

Police Say A Lot Of Things, Defector.

“Let me tell you how bad the gun problem in this country is.”

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 “Gotta Hear Both Sides” 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

We’re still watching The Nanny, which I’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. ✨

🍑

Just Good Shit: 04.11.21

The trees in the park are blooming and spring is in the air! This week, I stress-shopped for summer clothes, watched RHONY Season 12 (absolute chaos!!!), and started The Nanny from the beginning (a joy). Here’s what else I had going on…

Writing

‘When Can I Ask the Person I'm Dating to Delete Tinder?’

Reading

“Everyone Just Knows He's an Absolute Monster”: Scott Rudin's Ex-Staffers Speak Out on Abusive Behavior, THR.

I Called Off My Wedding. The Internet Will Never Forget, Wired.

Politicians dread the sting of #KHive, the fervent online fans of Kamala Harris, LA Times.

New York’s vaccine problem is no longer supply. It’s even harder than that, Epicenter NYC.

‘We found a baby on the subway - now he's our son’, BBC.

I Work In A Ritzy Restaurant And I've Seen Some Unbelievable Behavior During COVID, HuffPost.

In Support of Shame, Slate.

Insider Really Isn’t Sending Its Best, Discourse Blog.

How Pies ‘n’ Thighs Survived and Thrived in the Pandemic, GQ.
I love Pies ‘n’ Thighs even though one of the founders once asked me and my girlfriend if we were twins!

Do You Have Nafas, the Elusive Gift That Makes Food Taste Better?, NYT.

I’m a Person of Color and Everyone Is Suddenly Interested in Me—Something Bad Must Have Happened, The New Yorker.

Have a good one! 🌧

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Just Good Shit: 04.04.21

Happy Sunday! Here’s what I have been up to this week…

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! 🐰

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Just Good Shit: 03.28.21

Hello! Here’s what I had going on this week…

Writing

Also, Sally and I talked about the past year/living in a pandemic, and I discussed friendships (right now and post-pandemic) on the podcast Spawned.

Reading

How Billionaires See Themselves, Current Affairs.

What the ‘Invisible’ People Cleaning the Subway Want Riders to Know, NYT.

Dear Fuck-Up: How Do I Make My Husband Love My Fat Sister?, Jezebel.

Enjoy Breakfast by Candlelight, Eater.

“I have nightmares about hosting the Fancy Lady Craft Circle in my terrible apartment.”, Captain Awkward.

There Is Nothing We Can Say About Meghan McCain's Hypocrisy That Her Hair Isn't Already Saying for Us, The Root.

Have a good one! ✨

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Just Good Shit: 03.21.21

Hi, pals. I hope you’re doing OK, given what a dark week it was here in the U.S. Here’s what I was up to…

Reading

‘A specific kind of racism’: Atlanta shootings fuel fears over anti-sex-work ideology, The Guardian.

The Solution to Violence Against Women Will Never Be ‘More Police’, VICE.

SuChin Pak Reveals ‘Misogynistic, Violent, and Racist’ 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.

Don’t Sleep on Drag Race U.K.’s Bimini Bon-Boulash, Vulture.

Watching & listening to

We rented The Orange Years, a documentary about ‘90s Nickelodeon that I loved. I also listened to the “Is Some News Just Voyeurism?” episode of the new podcast The Big Question and really enjoyed it.

Have a good evening. 💛

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Just Good Shit: 03.14.21

Hello on this shorter-than-usual Sunday! I hope you’re having a nice weekend. Here’s what I was up to this week…

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: “Pissed off during the post-pandemic party because nobody kept in touch.”, Captain Awkward.

Watching

I feel like I’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! ⏰

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Just Good Shit: 03.07.21

Heyoh! Here’s what I was up to this week…

My shit

Sally and I talked about cleaning and organizing on the podcast, and I had a lovely chat with the Meetup CEO about showing up for your community.

Reading

Blame the anniversary effect, My Sweet Dumb Brain.

There Is No Vaccine for Grief, NYT.

The Demise and Potential Revival of the American Chestnut, Sierra.

Bing Bang Bong: On the Unbridled Thrills of Drag Race UK, Vogue.

The World to Come and the New Wave of Queer Period Pieces, Town and Country.

Drag Kings Are Ready to Rule, NYT.

Jenna Lyons on Coming Out (and Being Outed) After 40, The Cut.

How to Deal with Crushing Vaccine FOMO, VICE.

I Forgot How to Hang Out, The Cut.

Go Ahead, Throw the Social Grenade, Gen.

Have a good one! 🧽

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Just Good Shit: 02.28.21

Hi! I’m back! Here’s what I’ve had going on since my last one of these…

My shit

Testing positive for COVID-19
All the things I found helpful when dealing with my mild COVID case
We dropped a couple of new podcast eps: Best Celeb Sightings, Favorite Advice, and Other Burning Questions and *Cough Cough* Coping with a Mild Case of COVID
I guest-hosted another episode of NPR’s LifeKit: What Makes A Good Partner — And How To Cultivate Connection

Reading

Tipping Is a Legacy of Slavery, NYT.

COVID Doesn’t Discriminate. But People Do., Eater.

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

It’s Always The Same Lie, Defector.
“Anyone 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.”

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. Here’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.