I am so glad you wrote about Nancy Mace and her weird stunt. The current GOP sitch is ALL about getting eyeballs. She's a little old for Matt Gaetz, but they are running by the same playbook, if we are doing congressional matchmaking. My real joy this week comes from Grazer. She gives grandma energy, IMO. Grandma will still fight but is done with your shit. This is me. And while I'm eating salmon, this fat grandma is overjoyed for soup season. You didn't ask for recipes, but I like a good potato leek soup. As my dad would say, "first you take a leek..." I won't be here all week - I'm off to see my overly religious cousin who won't attend his gay son's wedding. My cousin lives in Scotland, and we are of an age where this may be our last in-person visit. My brother and I have decided on safe words and an escape plan if things go biblical.
Good luck with the overly religious cousin 🤞 I hope you'll have time to do fun things in Scotland, too, while you're there.
There is no one I respect more than an older woman or grizzly bear who will still fight but is done with your shit, and has no need to bluff and posture because she's fully confident in herself. I had a cat like that when I was younger: she feared nothing but didn't take stupid risks, either. If a dog or another cat was acting dumb in her vicinity, she'd give them a Look and that generally settled the matter. She hunted many rodents and raised many kittens, including me. One time I came home with a terrible migraine and spent an hour lying face down on my living room floor waiting for my meds to kick in. She lay next to my head and let me hold her paw the whole time. She was my role model and beloved companion from my early teens to my mid-twenties, and I miss her every day.
Related, Lyz, do you mean Emma Stone rather than Emma Roberts in your dual movie reference...? Get Ms Tomei the hell out of Crazy Stupid Love, though, yes please and right now.
I was watching a 2021 clip from the Graham Norton show where someone was getting interviewed (how the hell should I know who??) and Stanley Tucci was sitting in the other chair and I was like "oooooohhh Stanley Tucci" and that is all I remember of that clip
I AM a HS English teach who has taught The Scarlet Letter and is currently, right this minute trying to get through teaching on Friday the 13th. IYKYK. And your newsletter just made me FEEL SEEN. Also, you have given me a soft place to land when I get home: Easy A. Stanley Tucci. Many thanks.
Animal commentary: as my cub “grew up” and I found myself with a more-or-less independent teenager, I TOO put on an astonishing amount of weight in a short time. 🤔
Would also like to point out that those sisters are *European* frogs. Further proof that we Europeans are farther along in figuring out dilemmas related to quality of life. 😆
Hey, when I was high school senior back in the day, I took the AP English exam. And the essay was on The Scarlet Letter! Which I had read twice! I got a 5 (the top score). And then in college I took the 19th century American Lit course and read it again. I have not thought about The Scarlet Letter since. Possibly time for a re-read. But it is quite infuriating, to those of us who know what we're taking about, that certain people seize on and misuse, or blatantly reinterpret them for their own purposes, symbols that they don't understand. It's like we're living in a huge, obscurant cloud of ignorance. Sorry I don't have any fun drinks to recommend, although I have been enjoying HOP.WTR hops and fruit flavored seltzers. My favorite is Lime. It has to be reeeeeaaalllyyyy cold though.
You quoted Becky Cooper in that part from the New York Times! We Keep the Dead Close, her book, is a top 5 favorite of mine. What a gorgeous piece of work.
I am so glad you wrote about Nancy Mace and her weird stunt. The current GOP sitch is ALL about getting eyeballs. She's a little old for Matt Gaetz, but they are running by the same playbook, if we are doing congressional matchmaking. My real joy this week comes from Grazer. She gives grandma energy, IMO. Grandma will still fight but is done with your shit. This is me. And while I'm eating salmon, this fat grandma is overjoyed for soup season. You didn't ask for recipes, but I like a good potato leek soup. As my dad would say, "first you take a leek..." I won't be here all week - I'm off to see my overly religious cousin who won't attend his gay son's wedding. My cousin lives in Scotland, and we are of an age where this may be our last in-person visit. My brother and I have decided on safe words and an escape plan if things go biblical.
Good luck with the overly religious cousin 🤞 I hope you'll have time to do fun things in Scotland, too, while you're there.
There is no one I respect more than an older woman or grizzly bear who will still fight but is done with your shit, and has no need to bluff and posture because she's fully confident in herself. I had a cat like that when I was younger: she feared nothing but didn't take stupid risks, either. If a dog or another cat was acting dumb in her vicinity, she'd give them a Look and that generally settled the matter. She hunted many rodents and raised many kittens, including me. One time I came home with a terrible migraine and spent an hour lying face down on my living room floor waiting for my meds to kick in. She lay next to my head and let me hold her paw the whole time. She was my role model and beloved companion from my early teens to my mid-twenties, and I miss her every day.
Thanks! If only we were going to Scotland. We are merely heading up to Seattle.
Oh my bad, I read it as you were visiting your cousin where he lives. Well, what I said still applies to Seattle as well :)
As a fellow English major and insufferable kid who read the books, I really liked The Scarlet Letter and this callout is impeccable.
Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson and Thomas Haden Church in Easy A...chef's kiss.
It's perhaps the best movie of all time
Roman got a Coke Zero AGAIN!? Incorrigible.
"Oh, happy day, Mama! Oh, I thought I was gonna have to spend my dowry on booze and pills to numb the loneliness. A gentleman caller, hurray!"
"If there’s one thing worse than chlamydia, it’s Florida."
Spell it with your peas!
Yes to Stanley Tucci. 😂
Stanley Tucci thirst is real
Related, Lyz, do you mean Emma Stone rather than Emma Roberts in your dual movie reference...? Get Ms Tomei the hell out of Crazy Stupid Love, though, yes please and right now.
I was watching a 2021 clip from the Graham Norton show where someone was getting interviewed (how the hell should I know who??) and Stanley Tucci was sitting in the other chair and I was like "oooooohhh Stanley Tucci" and that is all I remember of that clip
Easy A and Stanley.
2 of my favorite things.
I think I might need a cigarette just thinking about Stanley in this movie.
I don't smoke.
Patricia Clarkson is great in it too. But she's great in everything. The wit and sarcasm in this movie is perfection.
I AM a HS English teach who has taught The Scarlet Letter and is currently, right this minute trying to get through teaching on Friday the 13th. IYKYK. And your newsletter just made me FEEL SEEN. Also, you have given me a soft place to land when I get home: Easy A. Stanley Tucci. Many thanks.
I wrote this for the English teachers!
I appreciate you. Today was one for the books.
How do you pronounce IYKYK? I think it should be a word itself at this point and would be fun to say.... ayyyk-yick??
Ike-ike?
Welp, now I need to re-read The Scarlet Letter. It's been many (many!) years.
I re-read it last year. I knew being insufferable would come in handy!
Same!!
Same!
Animal commentary: as my cub “grew up” and I found myself with a more-or-less independent teenager, I TOO put on an astonishing amount of weight in a short time. 🤔
Would also like to point out that those sisters are *European* frogs. Further proof that we Europeans are farther along in figuring out dilemmas related to quality of life. 😆
My god yes you are
Hey, when I was high school senior back in the day, I took the AP English exam. And the essay was on The Scarlet Letter! Which I had read twice! I got a 5 (the top score). And then in college I took the 19th century American Lit course and read it again. I have not thought about The Scarlet Letter since. Possibly time for a re-read. But it is quite infuriating, to those of us who know what we're taking about, that certain people seize on and misuse, or blatantly reinterpret them for their own purposes, symbols that they don't understand. It's like we're living in a huge, obscurant cloud of ignorance. Sorry I don't have any fun drinks to recommend, although I have been enjoying HOP.WTR hops and fruit flavored seltzers. My favorite is Lime. It has to be reeeeeaaalllyyyy cold though.
I've never loved frogs. I've never liked frogs. I now worship frogs.
Oh!! Also my classes voted on the Fat Bear last week!
You are a good teacher!
You quoted Becky Cooper in that part from the New York Times! We Keep the Dead Close, her book, is a top 5 favorite of mine. What a gorgeous piece of work.
It's a wonderful book!!!
128 Grazer! Wow!
I'm living for this bear love
Her Scarlet Letter A tank top has Hooters vibes. Lol
Well. Now I have to re-read The Scarlet Letter 40 some years later AND watch Easy A. Thanks?
*The irony intensifies.*
Lady Mace wearing a scarlet A is so unfathomably, deeply ironic.
Thank you for your pitch-perfect analysis, Lyz.
Thanks, this gave me a flashback to my college time in Am Lit. Great choice for this week.