Feb 5

Feb 5 Weekly Roundup 14: Super Bowls and Crock-Pots

The Eagles won. Need I say more?? It was a joyful final Sunday of the 2017 football season. I’m not going to go on and on about how the Patriots finally got the punch of humility to the face they deserved, I’m just going to end this week’s intro with a “Bye, Brady.”

Reading

The Things We Keep, Sally Hepworth. This is a reread of an Advance Readers' Edition I got while working at a New Jersey magazine. Very reminiscent of Still Alice.

SF will wipe thousands of marijuana convictions off the books, San Francisco Chronicle. "The district attorney said his office will dismiss and seal more than 3,000 misdemeanor marijuana convictions in San Francisco dating back to 1975. Prosecutors will also review and, if necessary, re-sentence 4,940 felony marijuana cases, Gascón said." Beautiful.

A Protest Divided, ESPN. Speaking of San Fran... [After Trump's Alabama speech] "For the first time in a year, the players had a cause that could band them together as a union. In the week after, white and black players knelt, shot their fists into the air and locked arms." I still get teary-eyed thinking about those moments, when everyone gathered in support. It's so frustrating that we're still debating players' rights to use their unique platforms to speak up for what's wrong with our country. They're not turning their backs, they started out respectfully kneeling. First Amendment gives them this right. That Kaepernick is still being black balled, Jerry Jones gets away with threatening his players, the NFL thinks they can just throw money at the problem. It's not okay. Not enough has been done and it breaks my heart that players have to sacrifice so much just to unite for a good cause.

Chris Long 'Honored And Humbled' By NFLPA Award, Philadelphia Eagles. Just as a little teaser of why this man was awarded, he donated his entire 2017 salary to charity after the violent protests in Charlottesville.

Here's What Happens When Your Mom or Dad Steals Your Identity, Buzzfeed. This would be just horrible. Most people wouldn’t find out until they start applying for credit or loans themselves, but apparently, even if it is caught before then, it’s still incredibly difficult to clear your history. It’s ridiculous there isn’t a better system to prevent this.

A Family's Race to Cure a Daughter's Genetic Disease, Wired. So heartbreaking and so inspiring all in one.

The Skincare Con, The Outline. “Skin has withstood millions of years of evolution. How could we be getting it so wrong now?” Who says we are, Krithika Varagur? Also, there weren't all the pollutants, holes in the ozone and processed foods millions of years ago. Even 100 years ago. And did Varagur ever think that women just like feeling like they're doing something for their future skin? It feels good to take care of your skin, especially at night, it's my way of winding down. Yes, skincare has absolutely been capitalized, but hasn’t everything now (unfortunately)? And the horror stories she relays, I mean, come on. Retinol is known to 1. Be effective and 2. Be reactive with other ingredients, which is why every article waxing on and on about the benefits of retinol also says to be careful when applying and be aware of what else you’re using. Also, use sparingly. As for using a loofah to apply and exfoliator?? I mean, my god, people. Just be aware of what you’re using, research and READ THE INGREDIENTS.

The man’s man’s kitchen, Curbed. Long live the Crock-Pot. It's a go-to for my partner and I when meal-prepping. We also have switched the stereotypical roles, as discussed in this article. I've always been happy with simple meals—pasta and pesto, pita bread and hummus, cheese and crackers—so I never really bothered with cooking too much. He has always been the cook in our relationship, but it's been fun to play around with recipes now and learn techniques (and the importance of a good knife). I like to think our kids won't have any assumptions on who is "supposed" to be in the kitchen because of this.

I’m the Wife of a Former N.F.L. Player. Football Destroyed His Mind., The New York Times. That the NFL tried to cover this up for so long is disgusting. This is tragic and ruin lives, all in the name of entertainment.

Grammys 2018: 12 things to know, from Jay-Z’s shutout to Ed Sheeran’s controversial win, Washington Post. The Bruno Mars sweep was a surprise indeed, at least to me. I know he's talented, but I never think of him as a pioneer or outstanding in the world of music. Pretty sure I'm not giving him nearly enough credit, but even so...I also can't believe "Shape of You" won over "Praying," I mean, what. And Jay-Z snub? I don't care much either way. SZA snub? Oh HELL NAH! Can I get a consolation puppy?!

Logic Reveals 'Shithole' Comment During Grammy Performance Was Last-Minute Addition, Billboard. I love him. Also, if you follow him on Instagram, you'll likely have already seen that this was a last minute change to his speech.

Gentrification Takes Its Toll on Nightlife in America’s Oldest Gay Neighborhood, Eater. “Is the gayborhood losing its sparkle?” Saddest. Use. Of “sparkle.” Ever.

I Got An Orgasm Shot And Here’s What Happened, Nylon. Color me intrigued...

The Follower Factory, New York Times. This irritates me so much. So many of these influencers who get paid at least $2,000 for a single promo post are just faking the followers so they get paid more per post. It's absolutely ridiculous. It's also sad...these people are so desperate to look like they're "popular," they're willing to pay for fake bot followers and retweets.. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to shoot up to have a "K" after my number of followers, but I want to get there because people genuinely enjoy my content. Not because I paid for them.

An ER visit, a $12,000 bill — and a health insurer that wouldn’t pay, Vox. “Anthem tells patients: ‘save the ER for emergencies — or you’ll be responsible for the cost!’ ” This makes me so angry. Yes, I can see when sometimes this makes sense, but this is asking people to self-diagnose themselves, which is incredibly dangerous and _____ . (Distancing themselves from the blame) The woman in the story thought her appendix had ruptured, and this was after she called her nurse mother because she had no idea why she was in so much pain. How could either of them have properly diagnosed in that setting? Plus, the fact that Anthem isn’t sharing how many patients have been affected, or any results since starting this new policy, is extremely shady.

NFL players, including Tom Brady, take the political field and give $700,000 to PAC, USA Today. Let's get political, political!

Fenty Beauty Is About To Best All The Kardashian Beauty Lines, Refinery29. YAS KWEEN!!

Grammys President Says Female Artists Need To “Step Up” To Win Awards, Nylon. Yes, because women are so lazy.

Billie Lourd celebrates mom Carrie Fisher's posthumous Grammy win with emotional post, USA Today. Yes, Carrie! Plus, all the tears.

Killer whale learns how to mimic human speech, CNN. I mean, that's just cool.

10 Things Smart People Never Say, Ladders. Good little reminders of phrases you shouldn’t be caught dead saying in the workplace if you have any intention of moving up. And no, they’re not what you think.

Get Ready for a Month-Long Financial Detox, Two Cents. Anyone else need to do this (slowly raising my hand...)? Ok, first step, I'm committing to detoxing clothes shopping. Although, I did recently say I need to do quality over quantity and was planning on giving away a lot of clothes to clear room for new "quality" purchases...oh well, here we go.

Listening

Lore. Got back into this podcast by Aaron Mahnke about the sometimes frightening history behind common folklore.

I decided I'm going to start calling out a couple songs I "discover" each week in this section as well. So for the end of this long, gray month, I have:

Drew Barrymore, Bryce Vine. This song just made me happy.

Cold, OLSO. I started a whole new playlist for this song because I loved the beat so much.

Watching

The End of the F***ing World, Netflix. I thought I knew where this was going and then we took a sharp turn on the road and through the forest. Jessica Barden and Alex Lawther do a great job with their intricate characters and some of you Black Mirror fans may recognize Alex. In my opinion, this kid has a knack for playing truly fucked up characters.