Recommendation Roundup 2

A list of recommendations on everything from F1 to 'RuPaul's Drag Race'

Hi! I’m a little frozen in my tracks by how many of you are here now, but I’m glad last week’s post resonated with so many of you. Big shout-out to Virginia for sharing it. Since a lot of you are new, I’ll tell who I am real quick.

I live in Nashville and work as a digital editor at an alt-weekly. A lot of you may know me from Joy the Baker, where I wrote a guest column for the past two years. I’ve been around and on the internet since 2006, first as a blogger, then as a social media strategist and podcast host. I also write, teach and take care of stray cats.

If you liked last week’s post, you may also like this one on jeans, and this one on the politics of comfort. Thanks for being here!

If you’re curious about my job, good news: I’m on the Nov. 10 episode of Lamestream Sports with Steve Cavendish. We talk about the role of social media in journalism, my background in politics and where did everyone go when they left Twitter. I come in around 12:50.

Ashley C. Ford is one of those writers who constantly teaches me something about myself. She was featured on Joanna Goddard’s Substack, Big Salad. In it, she talks about having to rediscover what she likes after a childhood of internalizing that she should not want anything. I grew up in a similar way and didn’t realize how often I don’t know what I like, especially when faced with big generosity, like ‘let’s go on vacation,’ or ‘let’s go eat somewhere fancy.’ Much to unpack, I fear.

Do you have friends who say things like, “vroom, vroom,” and “I can’t today. I’m watching F1.”? If you answered yes, welcome to the F1 friend widow club. My friend Nicole has been F1 since day 1 and went on Anne Helen Petersen’s Culture Study podcast to explain it to the rest of us. Not all heroes wear capes.

Speaking of driving, did you read the story in the NYT about how we’re not losing our minds, driving is really bad right now? It’s a long read, and if you have a specific kind of anxiety, the kind that makes you think every time your loved one leaves the house, they’re going to die, this will not help! But. It’s worth it for the validation that yes, something happened during the pandemic and now everyone drives like a maniac.

I recently caved and got Paramount+ so I can watch RuPaul’s Drag Race in real time. Joke’s on me. They don’t stream the current season. So I decided to go back and watch the season of All Stars (season 7) where all of the contestants are past winners. OMG I LOVED IT. It’s a small cast, no one gets eliminated and they grow so close throughout the show. It really is RuPaul’s Best Friend Race.

In case you don’t know, Sam Irby makes incredible Spotify playlists. I’ve been listening to it’s chilly out for weeks on end. The song I can’t get out of my head is “warm” by Junggigo.

Here are a couple of Nashville things. Misery is playing at the Belcourt and I wrote about America’s original stan, Annie Wilkes for the Nashville Scene. I also wrote about our local drag competition SiSSi, that kicks off tonight.

On Feb. 20, I’ll be in conversation with Mary Liza Hartong at Parnassus Books for the release of her new book, Love and Hot Chicken: A Delicious Southern Novel.

Nothing but respect for MY president (Cindy Mindy).

Last, but not least: Just the Tip! In my old newsletter, I ended every post with an eggplant emoji and a social media tip.

If you’re trying to grow your IG following, use your account. Spend a few minutes a day scrolling your feed, liking and commenting on other people’s posts. A shortcut is to utilize the “favorites” feature. Then you can just scroll your favorites and like and comment on those posts.

See you next week!