The Week In Recommendations 5.1.24
Bravo binging, SUFFS the musical, fave newsletters, a matching set and new sneakers!
This is the free edition of Rich Text, a newsletter about cultural obsessions from your Internet BFFs Emma and Claire. If you like what you see and hear, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Our latest podcast was about Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department.” A check-in on “VPR,” “Summer House” and “The Valley” is coming later this week! Rich Text is a completely reader-supported project — no ads or sponsors!
Claire has been reading… 📖
Some Substack links today!
Our former colleague
writes a newsletter about health inequities and Black health, Salt + Yams, and her latest post digs into research on how maternal health can be negatively impacted by stress — and how this plays into the heightened maternal mortality risk for Black mothers.
I also enjoyed the second issue of Maris Kreizman’s The Maris Review, which digs into the abysmal response of literary human rights organization PEN America to the ongoing atrocities in Gaza:
And Hamilton Nolan’s How Things Work newsletter on the campus protests, “College Is an Education in Bullshit”:
And finally,
’s Guardian anti-beauty advice column, in which she gets into why perfumes are currently all the rage (there’s a preview on her Substack):
Emma has been reading… 📖
The New York Times profile of author, activist and Substacker Virginia Sole-Smith which dropped last week and has sparked some real ire from some in the anti-diet-culture space. The profile, written by Lisa Miller and titled “Let Them Eat… Everything,” digs into Sole-Smith’s work dismantling anti-fatness, and certainly brought a flood of new subscribers to
. But it also emphasizes Sole-Smith’s divorce, an argument she and her ex got in over their child eating butter, the fact that her children are welcome to eat as many Oreos as they want, and the fact that “at her last checkup, her blood work showed high cholesterol for the first time, and her doctor suggested she limit saturated fats and start baking cookies with margarine.” Writing about fatness and anti-fatness and diet culture and weight loss always feels thorny, especially when unpacking the work of a particular individual and trying to weave in outside observations about her health, her mothering and her food choices. I was left feeling a bit icky, and wasn’t quite sure why. Luckily, other people had already written about the profile!Lyz Lenz of
had some thoughts on the profile, as did Kristi Koeter over at . Both pieces are worth a read.
Claire has been watching… 📺
“Summer House”! We’re planning a Bravo check-in, and I had to finally find out what Carl and Kyle looked like. And now… I sort of wish I still didn’t know. Kyle is 41 and has the same haircut as the 17-year-olds I see playing pick-up basketball by our neighborhood playground. So does West, a newbie this season, who is described as a “sports journalist.” And to that I say: Don’t let journalists on reality shows! We’re meant to be cave-dwelling slobs who flirt by pointing out each other’s typos and then hook up after having $5 PBRs at Blue and Gold. I did not sign up to watch a 28-year-old media guy with a mustache pull a model. It’s also getting frustrating to keep hearing Carl and Lindsay rehash arguments that happened off-camera, accusing each other of gaslighting and trying to “change the narrative” repeatedly, when we have little to no knowledge of what the truth is. However, I am locked in and ready to discuss at length this week.
Emma has been watching… 📺
On TV, I’ve been catching up on this season of “Vanderpump Rules” so we can do a Rich Text Bravo check-in later this week, and it’s throwing me into a constant state of rage. (Tom Sandoval cannot be redeemed! He simply cannot be! The man wouldn’t know accountability if it slapped him in the face! Stop trying to make me feel bad for Sandoval, “Vanderpump Rules”!!!)
In real life, I went to see the brand new musical SUFFS on Broadway with my friend Liv. This show, about the passage of the 19th Amendment which gave women the right to vote in this country, has been a passion project of actor/writer Shaina Taub and producer Rachel Sussman for close to a decade. And now it’s finally on Broadway. I laughed, I cried — in a cathartic way — during both acts, and I learned about some figures in the fight for women’s suffrage that I truly had never heard about. (Inez Millholand! An underrated icon!) The show is refreshingly hopeful while not painting a dishonestly sunny picture. Instead it explores the messiness of coalition-building, and the slow and imperfect realities of major social, political and cultural change. And this week it got nominated for six Tony Awards, including Best Musical! (Also, I got to buy a hat that says Great American Bitch on it.)
Claire has been listening to… 🎧
A real grab bag this week! I’ve been getting deeper and deeper into “The Tortured Poets Department,” and even begun to like songs that I actively hated at first (“So Long, London,” “Guilty as Sin,” “The Prophecy”). I’ve seen commentators describe this as Swifties “talking themselves into” liking the album, which irritates me. We already accept that albums from many artists take time to get into; no one expects a National album to be packed with radio-friendly bops, just to name an example that happens to include one of Taylor Swift’s frequent collaborators. Taylor has written plenty of pop albums, but this album just isn’t that. Once you let go of that expectation, it’s easier to let the album be what it is.
I’ve also been listening to a radio-friendly bop from Sabrina Carpenter, “Espresso,” which has earwormed a hole into my gray matter. I will never stop repeating “that’s that me espresso”; the thought fills every quiet moment and mental space that I have. Guess that’s just her me espresso.
And, like Emma (see below), I’m getting back into Normal Gossip! I always stockpile this podcast (though I know I shouldn’t because it’s bad for ad sales, sorry Kelsey and Alex!) so that I can binge four or five episodes in one breathless plunge, so I’ve been finishing off last season as well as starting the new one, and it has been fucking delightful.
Emma has been listening to… 🎧
The new season of Normal Gossip!! Been missing a steady stream of
in my ears, so I have been so happy to have Normal Gossip back in my life. I will not be over the season premiere for awhile. The gossip involves an unrequited crush, a hip worship pastor, and a beautiful blood celebrity. It also inspired these unhinged texts that I sent to Kelsey:
Also, like Claire, I’ve been in a deep “Tortured Poets Department” hole! The album continues to burrow its way into me. I’ve been especially moved by “So Long, London” — a real grower of a song! — and “The Bolter,” which I have a whole new level of appreciation for after our conversation with B.D. McClay.
Claire has been buying… 🛍️
This Beyond Nine linen top and trousers set in green and black gingham! I’ve mentioned my obsession with this co-ord here before, and I finally succumbed. This English maternity-ish brand releases prints in such small quantities that they usually sell out fast, and I had wavered on the green gingham until it sold out several times in the past. The set has arrived, it’s perfect, and I can’t wait to wear it together and mixed-and-matched. It’s also sold out again (almost), but the Mabel pants and Esme top are a staple in their rotation. Just the perfect summer co-ord for always feeling easy, breezy, and not squeezed, whether you’re pregnant or postpartum or simply love being comfortable.
Emma has been buying… 🛍️
Since I bought my Adidas Sambas last year, I’ve been wearing them pretty constantly. And when I was in France, walking around like 7 miles a day in the rain, my poor sneakers took quite the beating. So I decided it was time to get another pair. This time, I went with the light blue Handball Spezials, and they’re so much fun! I like that the sole is a bit thicker than on the Sambas, and the color feels very fitting for spring/summer. They’re sold out of most sizes on the Adidas site, but I found a few in-stock colorways on End Clothing. These indigo and bright blue Spezials and these navy and seafoam ones are especially good deals!
Claire has been making… 🧶
Trail mix energy balls, using this Well Plated recipe! While working on our household budget recently, I had to confront how much we spend on packaged snacks — granola bars, little bags of bunny grahams, applesauce pouches, and so on until our preschooler is not hungry for dinner — so I’ve been making an effort to DIY more snacks. These energy balls were such a hit that I rationed them so they wouldn’t all be gone by the next morning. Next time, I might just make a bigger batch. We mixed in some chia seeds, dairy-free chocolate chips, raisins, and chopped peanuts, and they were the perfect bite, reminiscent of eating raw cookie dough but with more fiber and less salmonella.
Emma has been making… 🧶
Honestly, not a whole lot, because we were traveling over the weekend for a wedding, and then I didn’t get to the grocery store until Tuesday evening. We did order some truly delicious Chinese food from Han Dynasty though. (Sometimes that’s just what you need to do!!!)
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I can’t stop listening to TTPD and every time I try to put on something else I find it actively annoying even if it’s music I love lol. She really does put narcotics in her songs… 😔
A friend of mine from college, Jenna Bainbridge, is in Suffs! She’s the first actor in a wheelchair to originate a role on Broadway 💖