The Week In Recommendations 8.14.24
Bad (pet) moms, Baldoni/Lively drama, Raygun, RushTok, cute sandals, and kids' audio devices!
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 “Love Is Blind UK” episodes 1-4! An episode about episodes 5-9 is coming on Monday! Rich Text is a completely reader-supported project — no ads or sponsors!
Claire has been reading… 📖
This week, the Cut published a piece so provocative I actually couldn’t bring myself to read it – a first for me personally. The anonymous writer, a new mom, confessed not only to loving her cat less after having a baby, but to profoundly neglecting the cat. I saw screenshots circulating on social media that chilled me. I won’t recount the gruesome details here, and, not having read the whole piece, I won’t recommend it. But I will link to a Romper piece that editor Meaghan O’Connell reshared amid the furor over the disturbing Cut essay, which she describes as “the normal person version.” It describes writer Krissa Corbett Cavouras’s changing relationship with her beloved dog after having a baby. She doesn’t neglect or hurt the dog, but she is surprised to realize that she no longer has infinite patience and resources for her dog’s needs. Her dog doesn’t like the baby but always wants to be with her; he becomes anxious and pees on the carpet when she’s with the baby instead of him. It’s a problem she doesn’t have time for, and her capacity to sympathize has never been lower.
This is the essay I actually wanted to read about this, as someone who had a cat and then two babies. I couldn’t stomach reading about a cat being hurt (seriously, can someone help the cat?), and I was also impatient reading so many smug responses from people who love their pets MORE since having children (their dogs love their kids and vice versa! Their cats are sources of unconditional comfort and snuggles amidst their demanding children!). For some pet-owning parents, things simply work out. For others — like us — it wasn’t as we imagined. It’s little wonder that new parents often find themselves resenting their pets, or no longer finding joy in caring for them, when their caretaking duties have suddenly and dramatically increased elsewhere. This is typically temporary (or mostly temporary), and I am sure most parents who feel this way still care for their pets’ needs and still love their pets despite their struggles. But for our part, we won’t be adopting any more pets until we’re sure that we’re safely out of the tiny-child-in-the-house zone.
Emma has been reading… 📖
All about the alleged drama going on between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively surrounding the release of “It Ends With Us,” the Colleen Hoover (an author known for her very popular trauma porn) adaptation which they both star in. For those who haven’t tapped into this strain of entertainment industry chatter, Baldoni directed the film and Lively produced it. Except… that people started to notice that in all of Lively’s many promotional appearances about the movie, she and her other co-stars barely mentioned Baldoni, and the two basically haven’t interacted publicly during the “It Ends With Us” press tour and premiere. This is very odd behavior for two people who are co-starring in a hit movie!
Obviously theories have abounded — some have decided that Baldoni must have done something terrible to alienate Lively and the rest of the cast, while others believe that Baldoni was railroaded by Lively and husband Ryan Reynolds during the making of the film. We probably will never know the truth, but as Scaachi Koul pointed out in Slate, “Perhaps Baldoni should consider rumors that Lively took over to be a blessing: He can live in a world where this movie is not his doing.”
Claire has been watching… 📺
I’m still chipping away at “Too Hot To Handle” in between “Love Is Blind UK” and “The Bachelorette” episodes — though I might have spent as much time watching clips of Australian b-girl Raygun’s Olympic breaking performances as I have spent watching any TV shows this week. Her bouts looked like the punchline in a comedy sketch about Olympic breakdancing, or the result of a random normie getting tapped for the competition due to some logistical snafu. She’s a 36-year-old cultural studies Ph.D. and lecturer who wrote her dissertation on breakdancing, and she has won plenty of breaking competitions before, which has given rise to speculation that her oddly clumsy and technically weak dances were intentionally goofy, inspired by or in service to her academic research. Some have vaunted her as a sort of no-fucks-given queen, others have critiqued her as a clueless white woman who made a mockery of an art form created by Black Americans. Personally, I lean toward the latter, but I can’t deny that I watched those clips dozens of times.
Emma has been watching… 📺
“Love Is Blind UK” and “Love Is Blind Mexico”! I am mentally in the pods and / or on a vacation in a beautiful locale, full of simmering tension between my new friends! It’s fascinating to watch international versions of a show that we’ve been covering since its inception in the U.S. All of the LIBs share an extremely distinct visual language and structure — the golden goblets, the brightly-lit pods, the love triangles, the semi-famous hosts who have the infallible credentials of being MARRIED. But the magic is in the culturally-specific details. I’ve learned so much about British slang and the class dynamics of Mexico City!
I’ve also really been enjoying getting my highly-curated fill of RushTok, courtesy of
’s Instagram highlights. (Is there anything more overtly millennial than heading to IG to consume a bunch of TikToks made by Gen Z-ers?) Every year I am riveted by the overwhelming whiteness and wealth of the rush process, and by the individual PNMs (prospective new members) who try to break the mold while inevitably reifying it.
Claire has been listening to… 🎧
Nothing new, sadly!
Emma has been listening to… 🎧
Some podcasts that are constantly in my rotation: The Ezra Klein Show and If Books Could Kill. More months now, Ezra Klein is one of the few voices in the political space that hasn’t made me want to tear my hair out with anxiety, so now that the vibes have shifted (in a very good way!) I’m enjoying his sharp analysis even more.
I also live for Michael and Peter’s perfect takedowns of flawed pop sociology books, like this week’s episode on “The Anxious Generation.”
Claire has been buying… 🛍️
The Yoto Mini, a kids’ audio player that allows our older son to play songs and stories from cards. We previously had a Toniebox, which was a nice option for a toddler – it’s sturdy and doesn’t require much in the way of fine motor skills to operate, just the ability to place a magnetized figurine on top of a box – but we had started to see some limitations as he got older. Each Tonie figure is EXPENSIVE, and the content seemed more geared toward younger kids. He likes to listen when he’s going to bed, or when he wakes up at night, but the headphone jack quickly stopped working so he plays it at top volume; this situation was not going to work once his baby brother moved in. His cousins have Yoto devices, and the book/music selection seemed extensive, cheaper, and easily customizable with make-your-own cards. Unlike the Toniebox, they support Bluetooth headphones. Plus the Yoto Mini is much smaller and more portable than the Toniebox.
But our hand was really forced when we went on vacation and lost an ENTIRE BAG of Tonies – almost every Tonie we owned. It was hard to admit to myself that this bag of Tonies probably amounted to about $400 in total. It was even harder to accept that there is simply nothing you can do about this. The Toniebox operates using an app, which knows your library of Tonies, but you can’t play them without the figurine. (A lost Yoto card can be played through the app or reassigned to a cheap make-your-own card.) All we had left were “Peppa Pig” and “Matilda.” Feeling foolish but cornered, we decided it was time to get the Yoto. And he’s OBSESSED with it. He gets to listen to “Frog and Toad” or “Pout Pout Fish” whenever he wants! And while we love reading to him, we love that even when we don’t have the time or space to do so, the Yoto always can.
Emma has been buying… 🛍️
I said last week that I would report back on how that gingham shorts set was, and… it’s awesome? The fabric is surprisingly soft for the price, and I like that I can wear each piece separately or together for a truly cohesive look. (I sized up one size from my normal size, and I was glad that I did because the elastic band on the shorts waist is a bit tight.) I wore the shorts on a hike over the weekend upstate, and then threw the top on when we went into town for dinner! First and foremost, this set is *comfy* — and because it’s matching, it feels more elevated than your average boxer-style shorts and tee.
I also snagged a pair of these suede studded flat sandals from Maje which were on major major sale, but unfortunately the sale seems to have ended and the shoes are no longer on their site! I did however find them here on Editorialist.
Claire has been making… 🧶
Just some staple meals (Yasmin Fahr’s one-pot pasta with sausage and spinach, Yossy Arefi’s miso-honey chicken and asparagus) and staple treats (Duncan Hines box-mix chewy fudge brownies) to get us through the week. It was an off-kilter late-summer week; the baby has been slightly under the weather, with a temperature hovering below a fever and a crabbier mood than usual, and the huge five-day Italian street festival thrown by a local church every year was half-rained-out thanks to Hurricane Debby. We normally go to La Festa almost every night, because we’re party animals, but instead the preschooler spent a few nights perched in front of the window watching for lightning while we made slightly spicy, entirely irresistible pasta and comforted his clingy brother. By Sunday afternoon, the sun had returned and we got to indulge in a Festa dinner: food-truck pizzas, gelato, and margaritas in plastic cups. New recipes were put on ice for the time being.
Emma has been making… 🧶
Crispy air fryer tofu to top my summer salads with! The corn starch made such a difference, and gave the tofu the crunch factor that I’ve been craving. On Sunday night I made tofu and tossed it with a homemade balsamic vinaigrette, chopped tomatoes, cucumber slices, and strawberries. Delish!
I also made the trip upstate over the weekend and got some much-needed fresh air and friend time. I love Brooklyn so very much, but sometimes you just need to be somewhere that doesn’t smell like rotting trash in August. We were in the western Catskills, which is one of my most cherished places in the world, and had the most delightful dinners at The Dale in Mountaindale and Stumble Out in Livingston Manor.
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My kids are going on 7 and 9 and they each have their own Yoto. They each love it and use it daily, listening to friendly Jake do the little ‘Yoto Daily’ pod, and their shared card collection which has grown over time. My only quibble at this age range is some classics that my older is getting into, like Little Women, is verrrry abridged. But even so these versions have piqued her interest in these books and reading the real version on the page. We never had the toniebox but Yoto is wonderful.
Emma, did you stay at Jeremy’s AirBnB this weekend 👀? Would love a review if you ever do 😂