Friends, Romans, Countrymen! Lend me your ears! Or whatever. Have a super weekend and here's some stuff to read:
You've probably seen this piece about grief and 9/11 marking the rounds on your social media, and it's for good reason; it's extremely moving and thoughtful --and, full disclosure, if you don't have the emotional capacity to take on something about grief right now, you should know that it is emotionally intense (I cried): What Bobby McIlvaine Left Behind. [The Atlantic]
This is an excellent piece: Black voters in West Virginia are tired of being invisible. [WaPo]
So cool: A Hidden Trove Gives a Glimpse of Opera in the Wild West. Here's a taste: "And all this because the local Elks put the old scenery away when they bought the opera house in 1901, and everybody just forgot about it." [NYT]
This was really interesting: Why Do American Grocery Stores Still Have an Ethnic Aisle? [NYT]
I watched all of The Sopranos a few months ago, and, thus, this spoke to me despite my being an elder: How Carmela Soprano Became a Gen-Z Style Icon [Rolling Stone]
I LOVE this: The Voices We Make When We Pretend Our Dogs Can Talk (People did the voices on tape for the piece! It's so cute!) [WaPo]
THANK YOU to Lainey for explaining why this Ross/Rachel rumor is wholly unreliable and not true. Closer will never break news of this caliber! (No disrespect to Closer but if you had massive A-list celeb dish, you'd call US Weekly too!)
If you need some primo procrastination reading, Ask A Manager is hosting Mortification Week and it's a beaut.
This is great: Thrifting for Halston with My Son Taught Me the Joys of Personal Style [T&C]
This is a satisfying list, and also one people will enjoy arguing about: The 100 Best Ya Books Of All Time [Time]
Fascinating: Looks That Quill: The Dark Side of Hedgehog Instagram [Wired]
This is delightful from the also delightful Linda Holmes: What I Learned From Watching Every Sport At The Tokyo Olympics [Pop Culture Happy Hour]
More real truths at Slate from our friend Dan Kois: I Am Also Powerless Over Diet Coke, and It Rules. (I sort of went off the DC a few years ago but the pandemic sucked me back in and I'm fine with it.)
This is a really interesting long-read about the new Gossip Girl at NY Mag.
This is very kind, and sad: Brad Allan: A Tribute To The Legendary Stunt Choreographer By Edgar Wright [Empire]
Fun, at The Cut: 10 Beauty Enthusiasts on the Looks They Can’t Wait to Apply
I laughed: A User’s Guide to Austin’s New B-List Celebrities [Texas Monthly]
Intriguing! Dolly Parton is teaming up with James Paterson for her first novel Run, Rose, Run and accompanying album. [Socialite Life]
This isn't a surprise but it is a sigh: The Emmys are scaling back, uninviting people and moving outdoors [Celebitchy]
Dear God: Akiva Goldsman Had to Remind Anti-Vaxxers 'I Am Legend' is Fictional [Pajiba]
Oooooh it's time for a Bennifer update! [Lainey]
I thought this was really interesting: Hundreds of Ways to Get S#!+ Done—and We Still Don’t. Ugh, so true. [Wired]
ICYMI, I rounded up some cute school supplies!
We also closed out our Olympics coverage with more synchro and the glories of track and field!