A weird few days
Keeping this brief this week...
It’s been a weird few days.
My texts and email inboxes are full of candidates, partners/loved ones of candidates, operatives, and friends, all stressing about the safety and security of themselves and their families.
One person running for office sent me screenshots of texts from their son — “something like that could happen to u,” the 9th grader texted their parent, wishing they hadn’t watched the video of Charlie Kirk getting shot. The candidate went on to tell me that in return, they’re just as worried about their son’s safety at school.
On Wednesday evening at a political event in downtown Manhattan with a mix of creators and Democratic operatives, I could feel the nervousness and anxiety radiating off people’s chests. Conversation revolved around the news of the day: How do you feel? (Not great.) What happens now? (Who knows!) Are we safe? (Unclear.)
I took the train on Thursday to a political conference and upon arrival, was told by the organizer they’d beefed up security substantially — a consideration and cost that needs to be taken into account for basically any and all political events.
At the reception last night, you could feel everyone letting out a collective exhale. It was nice to be with others who were feeling the same way. Even while gathering may feel risky, being together in person is the cure for what ails us.
I have no new things to say about the violence or the victim. The discourse that has ensued in the last 48 hours has been mostly a tornado of unhelpful (or actively harmful) bullshit. My singular post on the topic was quoted in the New York Times’ editorial on the event, which was a good reminder that I do not have the luxury of posting haphazardly. (Probably for the best, tbh!)
And personally, I am carrying the heaviness of what it means to ask people to run for office and get engaged in politics in 2025, knowing the risks that now seem par for the course.
It’s a lot! So today, just book recs & links. Until next week.
Books:
Sweet Heat by Bolu Babalola - Kiki’s a podcast host whose career is falling apart; Malakai is the ex-boyfriend who broke her heart and fled the country - they reunite over a shared friend’s wedding/possible dream job for them both. Second chance romance set in a Nigerian/British friend group; very easy to read.
Hot Desk by Laura Dickerman - Two competing editors (Rebecca and Ben) have to fight over/share a hot desk at an office until a literary icon dies and they end up fighting over his literary estate as well. This did not go where I thought it would and the romance isn’t perfectly done but the B-plot about Rebecca’s mom (who worked for aforementioned literary icon in the 80s until something tragic happens) is genuinely excellent.
Last Night was Fun by Holly Michelle - Emmy works as an data analyst at a MLB team; her handsome coworker Gabe is competing with her for a promotion. All the while, Emmy is texting with/flirting with/falling for a stranger who accidentally texted her after getting a wrong number at a bar. You can see where this is going; I’m a sucker for retellings of You’ve Got Mail.
Bring the House Down by Charlotte Runcie - Alex Lyons, the harsh theater critic for a big British paper, has a one night stand with Hayley, who starred in a one-woman show he proceeds to pan in the paper, ruining her career. She turns this story into a new theater production and proceeds to ruin Alex’s life — all of this as told to/narrated by Alex’s colleague, Sophie, who’s with him at the theater festival. Not sure I TLDR’d that right but this is a really good novel about art, power, and female rage. I liked it a lot.
Hazel Says No by Jessica Berger Gross - High school senior Hazel and her family relocate from Brooklyn to Maine for her dad’s job as a college professor — when on the first day of school, the principal hits on Hazel and she (as spoiled in the title) says no, things spiral out of control for the whole family. A messy family drama in a mostly sweet, funny way.
Other recs:
“I hope that you respond to the famous conservative activist being shot the same way you have long been responding to a world where the best thing about life— that we get to do it with each other— has been so thoroughly obscured and degraded. I hope that yesterday and today and tomorrow you are awed by life, by the fact that we are given a certain amount of time to care deeply for one another. I hope you remember that it is a tragedy to squander any of that time feeding the systemic machinery of death. I hope that you are showing love in direct ways— to your neighbors, to the people in your immediate circle, to people you once harmed. I hope that you are showing even more love through the politics you practice and the movements you build. And I hope, with an increased sense of urgency, that you show love by standing in the breach against those who preach the gospel of blood and power.” [ in The White Pages]
“But these pieces do not make the crucial connection – the fact that in American politics, “authentic,” “normal,” and “working class” all always seem to be male-coded. And that’s a major omission, because masculinity is now more loudly, blatantly central to American politics than it has ever been in my lifetime.” [Spot fucking on by Danielle Kurtzleben]
I’m so bad about being on my phone but I’m trying to be better. If you’re out with me and I’m on my phone, you have my permission to make me feel bad about it. [New rules for a post-smartphone society]
- has some excellent thoughts on the NBC News poll that shows Gen Z men and women have very different definitions of success. (TLDR: Men want families, women want independence.) I am chewing on this more and have some quibbles with the way the question is worded (for example: I love my kids; I do not think having kids is related to success or failure.) Rachel’s takes are worth a read. [Trad Husbands > Trad Wives]
You can pick up a copy of When We’re in Charge in any format you’d like — hardcover, e-book, or audio book (narrated by yours truly) anywhere you get books, including Amazon or Bookshop.org or literally anywhere else. If you have Spotify Premium, you can listen to for free right this very minute.
Another option: Get your book along with an excellent I DO NOT DREAM OF LABOR tote bag at the Crooked Media shop.
On the masculinity point, I highly recommend the Carbon Bros series on Drilled podcast by Amy Westervelt - the final episode even cited Kirk, which feels a bit surreal now.