Reading List: Let Us Go Devour All The Butter And Carbs To Cleanse Our Souls of 2020
Darlings! Just a quick one to say HEY and remind you to drink water and to take care of yourself this holiday season. I wrote this last year, but it seems all the more relevant now: “to everyone entering this holiday season after a death or divorce or lost job or lost loved one... To everyone working through substance recovery or mental health challenges or eating disorders... To everyone with a broken heart or broken leg or broken relationship or broken spirit... To everyone who can't be with family or whose family can't be with them... I see you and hold you and am with with you and send you love. We've got this. I am thankful for you.”
I’m off until 2021. See you on the other side, folks.
LONGREAD TIIIIIIIIME
Olivia Nuzzi, The Full(est Possible) Story of the Four Seasons Total Landscaping Press Conference (New York Magazine) - If you’ve ever wondered “what does Amy do when she meets journalists she’s a fan of,” please know it involves walking up to them at a party and blurting out “OMG OMG OMG I AM SUCH A HUGE FAN” as I did to Nuzzi at a 2016 DNC party. It shouldn’t surprise you: I have no chill, fam. Anyhoo, I did that because Nuzzi writes delicious pieces like this one.
Alex Abad-Santos, How SoulCycle lost its soul (Vox) - This. Is. Bonkers. And a reminder that false scarcity is a helluva capitalist drug.
Stephen Greenblatt, What Shakespeare Actually Wrote About the Plague (The New Yorker) - Speaking of drugs, HOOK THIS LITERARY HISTORY NERDERY DIRECTLY TO MY VEINS.
Constant Méheut, They Helped France Fight the Virus. Now France Is Fast-Tracking Their Citizenship. (The New York Times) - Mum of the Missive sent this to me this morning, and it’s really nice to read about countries that are doing the whole “honor the helpers” thing right.
Sean Lyngaas, How the US military used a creepy island to test cyberattacks on the grid — in the middle of a pandemic (CyberScoop) - If you’ve read Lab 257, the book on how the US government used an island off New York to research on animal pathogens, and want to go super technically deep on how Plum Island is now being used for national cybersecurity, this piece is for you!
Citizens for Ethics, Let’s talk about Duncan Hunter (Twitter) - Need a primer on the crimes of the vaping congressman who threw his wife under the bus when he was investigated by the FBI for campaign finance violations, the crimes for which Trump pardoned him? Jump on in to this tweetstorm, the water’s corrupt.
You’re great. Be kind to each other, wear a mask, and have a restful holiday.
Xoxo Amy