This week, I traveled to DC for a conference, so my writing never actually got done. But I’m staying diligent in this weekly newsletter. When life gets too busy for personal reflections and cultural critique, I’ll post a list of all the things I’m listening to, reading, and consuming that have inspired me or brought joy. So here goes…
I recently took a nonfiction writing workshop with authors Saeed Jones and Eula Biss. I signed up because I’m a fan of Saeed’s work, and I’d never read Eula Biss’s work. After the workshop, I was inspired to purchase her book, Having & Being Had. It felt like it was written for me—a white woman, mother, and writer, heading towards middle age, grappling with her own accumulation of wealth while being skeptical of capitalism. I highly recommend it to homeowners, anti-capitalists, and those who question their role in our crazy world.
Anand Giridharadas’s Newsletter The Ink, but most notably his interview with Michigan Senate candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed on why proving MAGA voters wrong doesn't help, and how we can get them to being right. It’s an important bridge-building worldview that I subscribe to.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t suggest my latest essay, published in The Nonprofit Hive on the state of private philanthropy and what it can do to support the nonprofit sector while it faces detrimental funding cuts and messaging attacks.
When I was in college, a boy told me I should read Steve Harvey’s Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man. The title alone made me scoff, so I decided against it. I’d completely forgotten about the book until Michael Hobbes and Peter Shamshiri released a new episode critiquing its insanity on their If Books Could Kill podcast. It was a fun listen, and I’m glad I decided against it in 2009.
A double feature of Michael Hobbes’ podcasts, because him and Aubrey Gordon’s latest on Maintenance Phase is a reflection (and downright wild ride) on RFK’s first 90 days and how he’s completely effing up our public health system a lá wellness influencers and MAHA moms.
That’s all I got for the week. Any great recs y’all got? Drop ‘em in the comments, I’d love to check them out.