10 Things

Stuff worth sharing on May 16, 2025

There’ll be no newsletter next Friday; I’m taking the week off!

On a recent walk, I took photos of three different gates. I’m trying not to read too much into this, but it’s gotta mean something.

1. Can’t get to NYC to see George Clooney’s “Good Night, and Good Luck?” Don’t want to shell out $350+ for a ticket? CNN will broadcast the second-to-last (I refuse to say “penultimate”) performance of the show live on June 7 at 7 p.m.

2. You’ve heard that boys and men are struggling: this article, from the NYT’s “The Upshot,” quantifies that struggle with data, graphs and charts. And while we’re on the topic of men and boys, in this interview, renowned marriage therapist (and author of “Us: Getting Past You and Me to Build a More Loving Relationship”) says therapy would help with a lot of these struggles.

3. This piece about Nadia Conners first feature film (at age 59) made me so excited to see “The Uninvited.” In the article, Conners, who is married to Walton Goggins of “White Lotus” season 3 fame, laments, “I took sort of a back seat, willingly, because I could, but I didn’t realize what I was really doing.” Oooof.

4. If you’ve been searching for a special thing for a special tiny someone, you should buy them this Elsa Peretti bubble blower. Obsessed.

Photo: Tiffanys.com

4. We are well past the “Spirit Days” season of life in our household, but I’m still mad about them. Dress like your favorite book character! Your favorite professional athlete! A historical figure from your favorite decade! There are enough real things for parents to stress out over. Can we please stop adding fabricated (and 100% avoidable) ones?

5. Do you know how much you’re spending on newsletter subscriptions? Writer and editor

   Sari Botton
   was shocked to learn that she had paid subscriptions to 127 different newsletters! She edited that down to about 60, which still cost her about $3,000 a year. While we writers appreciate your support, it might be time for you to do an audit, too.

6. I’ve always been interested in birth order and how our siblings affect who we become, so this was a great listen for me. Susan Dominus’s new book, The Family Dynamic, is out now.

7. In our family, there are a lot of blondes who wear a lot of black. We also have a black cat and white bed linens. So I’ve spent more time than I should thinking about lint rollers. This is the best one for your clothes; and this is the best one for furniture.

8. Enough with the processed protein products. “How about a chicken breast, people? How about an egg?”

9. Decision fatigue is real. And so are these strategies for defeating it from

   Jonathan Fields
   of
   Awake at the Wheel with Jonathan Fields
   .

10. Finally, this week’s poem

    Poem Beginning with a Retweet
    —by Maggie Smith
    
    If you drive past horses and don't say horses
    you're a psychopath. If you see an airplane
    but don't point it out. A rainbow,
    a cardinal, a butterfly. If you don't 
    whisper-shout albino squirrel! Deer!
    Red fox! If you hear a woodpecker
    and don't shush everyone around you
    into silencje. If you find an unbroken
    sand dollar in a tide pool. If you see
    a dorasal fin breaking the water.
    If you see the moon and don't say
    oh my god look at the moon. If you smell
    smoke and don't search for fire.
    If you feel yourself receding, receding,
    and don't tell anyone until you're gone. 

Have a great weekend,