Friendmendations 8.3.21

Hello, beloveds. Last week was kind of a mess since I lost my laptop for a few days after spilling water on it. We are bouncing back, slowly.

I somehow realized for the first time that Spotify embeds in Ghost just... don't show up in emails. Which is pretty annoying, since I've tried to include song recs here before.

Today is the second anniversary of Friendmendations! Year two was rocky, between the pandemic and leaving Substack and getting a new job and now leaving that job.

Topical

• "does everything feel kind of...off right now" by Sulagna Misra
• "Who Owns My Name?" by Amanda Knox – a really thought-provoking essay on how not to frame stories
• "Simone Biles and 'the twisties': How fear affects the mental health and physical safety of gymnasts" by Elle Reeve – a good primer not just on "the twisties," but on the pressure to never show weakness in the culture the Karolyis created

Evergreen

• "Liberals Who Don't Retire" by David Leonhardt – covers a topic I like to scream about until my voice goes hoarse, RBG's refusal to retire under Obama
• "The $5,000 quest for the perfect butt" by Rebecca Jennings
• "The Time Tax" by Annie Lowrey

A lovely late-summer song

Added to the Friendmendations Spotify playlist!

Okay, that's all and I love you and I'm so grateful that people have been reading this for two years. I'm going to try to make it better in its third year. Thanks for everything so far.

This week last year: