should we start an article club?

I love the idea of an article club.

Aliza Sir and Aja Frost wrote about it in Platonic Love, and it’s the kind of gathering I want more of - and I feel like it’s something we can reimagine virtually.

Here’s what I propose: a Wednesday lunchtime (Eastern time zone) virtual hangout here on Substack live. I’ll kick things off with some thoughts on an article from this week’s check in, and I’ll open the floor for folks to share their own smart reads and thoughts.

Please come. Otherwise I’ll be yapping my thoughts into the void.

• Was Nara Smith Lying to You The Whole Time? (Over The Influence) - the Nara Smith interview on Call Your Daddy has hijacked my group chats and my brain, and Jo Piazza called the end of the trad wife (and these entrepreneurs embracing the boss title they’ve earned) for months. Jo astutely called for the need to see Lucky Blue’s sharing of the home load (instead of just talking about it). It’s why I’m really enjoying House of Stassi (I binged half of the season this weekend). You see Beau oversee the work at home as much as you see Stassi work outside of the home, and I think it’s refreshingly honest and vulnerable to watch Beau grapple with the loss of identity when focusing on family life - something we only really see and hear women talk about.

  • in case you missed it, Jo Piazza took over last week’s check-in.

• Bernard Arnault ‘Has No Friends’ (BackRow) - Amy Odell’s analysis of the Bernard Arnault deep dive is just outstanding, and a searing rebuke that the richer you get, the more sensitive and triggered you are. Arnault is the head of LVMH and one of the richest men in the world, and apparently an awkward, lonely one (according to his wife). The Le Monde deep dive is savage to Arnault, and Odell’s zooms out to study the emotional fragility of billionaires who are aghast that people don’t like them, and for good reason.

  • Speaking of BackRow, I loved this conversation between Amy and Caroline Halleman on the Kennedys, the Windsors, and modern royalty in general. I’ve been saving Halleman’s book for a specific mood, which is now (having just finished The Windsor Affair).

• The Past Has Entered Postproduction (Study Marry Kill) - never have I seen so many reviews about a review, but it makes sense when Emily Wilson (whose translation of The Odyssey is superb) delivers a lengthy, critical review of Nolan’s adaptation of the same work. I haven’t read the book in years (nor have I see the film yet), so I’ll reserve judgement. But the discourse is a part of a bigger trend of the production of history, which Alexis Coe knows all too well. I’m taking her advice and listening to Reconstruction with Jamelle Bouie and Rebecca Onion over the Obama-Gladwell production, and will be diving into a narrative reading (audiobook + physical at the same time) of Wilson’s The Odyssey (annoyingly only available at Amazon right now).

• The Anti-Reality TV Essay Every Woman Should Read (father_karine) - as someone who dissociates from the stress of life with reality TV, this was an uncomfortable read - and a necessary one. I can’t begin to summarize or provide my commentary without sitting with this piece and slowly making my way through the comments section. Perhaps I need to move that narrative reading1 of The Odyssey up in my TBR, as a way of cleansing my brain from its Love Island hangover.

• A tiny pill could beat the world’s biggest killer (Vox) - My day job involves living, breathing, and staying on top of all things in cardiovascular disease. The promise of drugs like enlicitide (a small molecule drug like statins) which bridge into gene editing for incredible efficacy is huge - and will save lives at scale.

• I’ve been stopped multiple times and asked where I got this bag and these sunglasses. Both are inexpensive, excellent quality, and zhush up an outfit perfectly. I took my friend Komal’s advice and added a little dwilly (a twilly dupe) to the handle of the bag.

• I always knew I had big witchy energy. I think this is another book to narrative-read as well.

• I do not need La Boule, I do not need La Boule (even though it adorably looks like it’s right out of Star Wars). It’s one of those things that’ll live in my ‘one day’ list for years.

• This is as close to a vacation as I’m getting this year.

• A few things I have my eye on - this bright dress (I saw it on Abra Belke and immediately saved it to my ShopMy), a silky version of my favorite skirt, and a simple bangle bundle to wear everyday.

• Note to self - start observing the microjoys.