The best things I read and wrote in 2019
Image: Sincerely Media / Unsplash
Happy New Year’s Eve! As we head into 2020, here are some of my favorite things from 2019…
Writing
The best $16 I ever spent: Old Navy pajamas after my husband left, Vox.
How to Say No During Wedding Season, The New York Times.
The Art of Saying No to Invites When You Really Don't Want to Do Something, SELF.
Not Great, Bob! The Case for Actually Being Honest When People Ask How You Are, SELF.
19 Practical Ways To Get Through Your Bad Season, BuzzFeed.
Reading
This year, I read 30 not-for-work books. The best book was Know My Name by Chanel Miller. Other books I loved/recommend: Bad Blood, Educated, Destiny of the Republic, Red, White, & Royal Blue, In the Dream House, and Nothing to See Here.
Also:
The Trauma Floor — The secret lives of Facebook moderators in America, The Verge.
A 4-Year-Old Trapped in a Teenager’s Body, The Cut.
The Night The Lights Went Out, Deadspin.
The Crane Wife, The Paris Review.
The “Cancel Culture” Con, The New Republic.
Fifty shades of white: the long fight against racism in romance novels, The Guardian.
'These kids are ticking time bombs': The threat of youth basketball, ESPN.
Suzy Batiz’s Empire of Odor, The New Yorker.
I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb, VICE.
Athleisure, barre and kale: the tyranny of the ideal woman, The Guardian.
‘For five years we dreaded every meal’: my infant son’s struggle with food, The Guardian.
My Cousin Was My Hero. Until the Day He Tried to Kill Me., The New York Times.
The Catastrophist, or: On coming out as trans at 37, Vox.
The Pink, n+1.
Dear Internet: The Little Mermaid Also Happens to Be Queer Allegory, LitHub.
The End of Straight, GQ.
No distractions: An NFL veteran opens up on his sexuality, ESPN.
Psycho Analysis, Bookforum.
What It’s Like to Grow Up With More Money Than You’ll Ever Spend, The Cut.
Cal Newport on Why We'll Look Back at Our Smartphones Like Cigarettes, GQ.
How “soccer girl” became the indisputably coolest look, Vox.
We Have Always Lived In Presidential Primary Season: A Half-Assed Activist Post About Getting Through This Shitshow Without Perpetuating Or Tolerating Bad Behavior And Keeping Some Tiny Spark Of Hope Alive, Captain Awkward.
How to Date After a Divorce, Lifehacker.
America Has Never Been So Desperate for Tomato Season, The Atlantic.
Happy reading! ✨