January was an absolutely disturbing month on almost every front. Horror after horror! Personally, I’ve hardly done anything other than navigate the necessary daily work of being alive, read the news, and get together with people to commiserate. Last week, one of my closest friends had a bunch of us over to write letters and emails to our senators, which at least felt productive. We then plowed through a few bottles of red, naturally.
What happened
The Grammys
My predictions came to fruition! I love when that happens, even if Best New Artist was a dead giveaway. (Speaking of Best New Artist, I’m re-hooked on listening to nominee Leon Thomas’ Tiny Desk on repeat.) Surprises and delights of the night? Lola Young winning for Best Pop Solo Performance; Bilal’s voice in the D’Angelo and Roberta Flack tribute, led by Lauryn Hill; Pharrell and Clipse beautifully performing “So Far Ahead.” I didn’t like the gospel choir in head-to-toe Louis Vuitton (which of course Pharrell is Creative Director of), but the falling snow — a gesture to Clipse’s penchant for the cocaine trade, “there’s no business like snow business” etc. — made me LOL. Bad Bunny winning Album of the Year felt so obvious and yet, still so moving, particularly his reaction. What a lead up to tonight! (Yes, I’m publishing this live from a watch party.) Unfortunately, I still cannot get behind a live Justin Bieber performance. He sounds good, but possesses a degree of self-seriousness only child stardom and megachurch Christianity could breed. Then pair that with a Skylark marketing moment… I’m good. Billie and Finneas winning for the newer version of a song that tried and failed to win a Grammy the year previous? Tacky IMO. But Billie uttered the phrase “stolen land” on the Grammy stage, so there’s a silver lining in everything. No Taylor or Beyoncé in sight and you know what? It was refreshing.
Minneapolis Protests
There’s little to say that most of you won’t already know. Protests erupted in January in resistance to major ICE raids in Minneapolis, MN. We’ve watched as even very young children are sent to detention centers and protestors are tear gassed, surveilled, and of course, executed. Simultaneously, we’ve seen the beauty of a community rising to resist the crackdowns and protect their neighbors (more on that below). For those who aren’t there but want to help, get involved in your own local mutual aid networks. And continue to send financial support to Stand with Minnesota.
The “Wuthering Heights” press tour
There’s no other way to slice it: for years, Margot Robbie’s red carpet looks have been underwhelming (barring a few exceptions). In situations like this, I typically have the urge to say, “fire your stylist!” But ultimately, it’s Robbie herself who doesn’t seem to have great style. Or rather, she doesn’t have any style at all. Previously, she worked with Kate Young. Now she’s with Andrew Mukamal, who also styles Zoë Kravitz and Hailey Bieber — two heavy hitters who almost always look excellent. So it’s confounding that in all of her years of being one of the biggest actors on earth — and one of the most beautiful women — the looks have rarely, if ever, been memorable.
The first “Wuthering Heights” press tour fashion moment was custom Schiaparelli for the LA premiere. I get that she’s method dressing. I really do! I just think this contrast is so… unflattering. Then we got custom Chanel, nice but nothing I’ll remember beyond next week — not to mention, it also carries the baggage of her years trapped in her prior Chanel contract. The Mark Gong dress and boots (?) on SiriusXM… Someone would have to write a persuasive essay for me to get it. In the Thom Browne corset dress and suspender skirt, she looked completely uncomfortable.
But then, we got the first of two vintage Galliano looks. It was great (save for the red stockings which, as stylist Dione Davis noted on Instagram stories, would have been better swapped for baby blue or off-white, given the pale shoe). My immediate thought was, I love this jacket. I would like it with a trouser. Well, lucky me: Just yesterday, she pulled out another vintage Galliano look — this time with a skirt over pants. REDEMPTION. It’s perfect. Robbie’s appeal is ultimately mainstream, so when a stylist tries to do too much with her, it can quickly feel like she’s wearing a costume. This was the first time where her stylist seemed to really hit the venn diagram of her gorgeous face, “basic” demeanor, and movie’s theme. And God, is it good.
The gutting of legacy media marches on
On Wednesday, The Washington Post laid off 300 of approximately 800 journalists. Quickly, “laid off Posties” began sharing the news on X in disbelief at the magnitude, despite the dire context of modern media we’ve all been swimming in. Each time the lay offs still burn. The same day, Hearst employees walked out, citing “a month of contract negotiations with management [that] failed to reach a deal,” per Deadline.
Popularity of sports gambling reaches freakish levels
Okay so this whole sports betting proliferation… Dystopian, if I may! Kendall Jenner dropped a Super Bowl ad with Fanatics Sportsbook, “the sportsbook and casino that’s just better,” as the brand refers to itself. Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia has been promoting DraftKings. Somehow, the nation has forgotten what betting is for: making a major profit off peoples’ risk — and often, addiction. As Dan Piepenbring wrote in The New Yorker, “Even the addiction hotline 1-800-GAMBLER suddenly sounds like the number you’d dial to start gambling.”
What’s in my cart
I want many things from Lié Studio (namely the Norma Tote in moss green) but they just dropped this ring and I instantly screenshotted. Very much must acquire!!! I love the silver with the smokey quartz stone.
One of the perks of being in consumer-oriented media is that I get some free items to test. I’ve had my eye on the Moccamaster for ages — my best friend from college, Chloe, who now lives in Finland where these are very popular, put me on years ago. I knew it would suit me because I’m shallow and think it looks good, but also because I’m extremely pro-drip. Espresso is too finicky. Additionally, at the top of each year, I like the corny ritual of picking one or two words for the year, as an affirmation of sorts. One of my words for 2026 was “ease.” For some years now, my life has been, um, difficult! These days, I’m trying to simplify where I can, which in this case meant ditching my manual Hario V60 setup. An automatic drip machine is a nice support for my mornings, my preferred time to write and work and read. And because this one is “the best” of the drip world, according to coffee people, I feel chic, Scandinavian, and on top of my shit when I use it. I picked the polished silver.
Sophie Bille Brahe Jewelry Box
In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, this is a directive for anyone who reads my newsletter and is giving a gift to a woman this year. While most of us can’t afford Sophie Bille Brahe diamonds, the brand also sells this little velvet box that is so giftable and sweet; I think you should buy it for her. It’s perfect for displaying on her dresser and for travel. It comes in a ton of colors. It’s also inessential, which is romantic. My other recommendation, of course, is just to take her out for dinner at a nice restaurant and pay for it with no expectation of return, for the love of God. Add a bouquet (preferably not wrapped in plastic). If she says she doesn’t care about that stuff, I want to remind you that women can be good liars, too.
What I read
“Minnesota Proved MAGA Wrong” by Adam Serwer for The Atlantic
If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend this story on ICE protestors and organizers in Minnesota. The piece is beyond necessary — it unpacks the Trump administration’s hopes, the ways neighbors are organizing covertly, and how the right’s idea that all leftists will forgo their values at any indication of sustained pressure may be true for some political leaders, but not millions of Americans. “Perhaps the Trump-administration officials had hoped that a few rabble-rousers would get violent, justifying the kind of crackdown he seems to fantasize about,” Serwer writes. “Instead, what they discovered in the frozen North was something different: a real resistance, broad and organized and overwhelmingly nonviolent.” This paragraph is a clincher, too:
The secret fear of the morally depraved is that virtue is actually common, and that they’re the ones who are alone. In Minnesota, all of the ideological cornerstones of MAGA have been proved false at once. Minnesotans, not the armed thugs of ICE and the Border Patrol, are brave. Minnesotans have shown that their community is socially cohesive—because of its diversity and not in spite of it. Minnesotans have found and loved one another in a world atomized by social media, where empty men have tried to fill their lonely soul with lies about their own inherent superiority. Minnesotans have preserved everything worthwhile about “Western civilization,” while armed brutes try to tear it down by force.
White Negroes, Lauren Michele Jackson
I’ve been chipping away at building out a “feminism and pop culture” syllabus, and this book of essays was something I had been meaning to read for a while in case it’d be of use. It is, and then some! The essays are about cultural appropriation, from music to fashion, language, and beyond. Jackson has that tough-to-find skill of weaving fact after fact with beautiful prose. I found her arguments stickier — in a good way — than others I’ve read on the subject. I’ll be turning back to it again and again. (I should add that I read this on Kindle through Libby, which I recently converted to, and now love.)
“What Makes a Good Mother?” by Rebecca Mead for The New Yorker
This month, I received a copy of Amil Niazi’s new book, Life After Ambition (a spinoff of her essay, “Losing My Ambition”). As a fellow Canadian and longtime fan of her series “The Hard Part” in The Cut, I’m excited to see this book popping up. I’m still midway through, so I’m inclined to hold back any comment, but it was just excerpted in The New Yorker, as part of a broader conversation on the state of motherhood. “If the supermom thought she could have it all, and the Pinterest mom prided herself on doing it all, and the performative trad wife believed that she could be it all, Niazi offers a depleted maternal alternative: fuck it all,” Rebecca Mead writes. It’s an interesting addendum to Jia Tolentino’s coverage of Angela Garbes’ Essential Labor, though not as thorough. And noteworthy, as two major movies this year, Die My Love and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, both featured severely struggling mothers.
What I listened to
Is Your Social Life Missing Something? This is for You, The Ezra Klein Show
The news cycle has been so dire, so this month most of my listening has just been trying to stay on top of the daily news. But this episode of The Ezra Klein Show (with which my relationship is… complicated) provided a nice breather. Klein interviewed Priya Parker, who famously wrote The Art of Gathering, a book on bringing people together that I’ve been meaning to read since it came out in 2018. The pair get into not just why it’s important to gather, but the ways to do it so people actually have a good time. I grew up in a family that “hosted” all the time (I’d prefer we all just call it “having people over”). I don’t think there was a day that went by during my childhood when there weren’t other people in my home. As a quiet, introspective kid with outgoing parents, I resented it at times, longing for a bit more privacy. But as is typical, in adulthood I’ve turned out very much like my mom and dad, and there are few things I’m more grateful for that open door policy. It taught me so much about extending care beyond our immediate families — love gets overwrought and a bit calcified when just poured into four or so people who are already, for the most part, covered. This episode left me thinking about how I can start to organize gatherings beyond my own friend group. And in particular, how I can be better at bringing people together more intergenerationally (hanging out exclusively with people my age gives me the creeps). The episode was both validating and a call to action.
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i look forward to these so much! so pleased i found you on a random little tuesday. you’re a star x