LZ Sunday Paper Newsletter: The "Isn't It Romantic" Edition
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Friends and Lovers,
Happy Valentine's Day!
Everyone is sharing this piece from a New York Magazine female-authored compendium entitled "What Is Romance?" In case you don't have time to read it right now (either because you are about to be served breakfast in bed or because you can't wait to get to the good stuff down below), here's the Spark Notes version:
Approaching a 10-year wedding anniversary, the author shares that she has a bout of diarrhea but doesn't make it to the toilet in time, falls and cracks a rib, her husband cleans it--and her--up, and still loves her.
Conclusion:
"True romance, though, is more like the movie True Romance: Two deluded, lazy people face a bewildering sea of filth and blood and gore together, but they make it through somehow, some way, without losing their minds completely."
Okayyyyy.
Look, I'm not exactly the most classically romantic person in the world. For instance, I LEFT PARIS on Thursday night even though it's a long weekend and today is Valentines Day and we could have arranged child care and my husband technically could have come. That, and I brought stinky cheese, not wine or macarons home as a gift. But even so! I just don't know if the above example qualifies as "romance." Love, maybe. Devotion, yes. Even more pedestrian: it's the duty (pardon the pun) that you kind of promised when you did that whole ceremony/vows thing.
I'm just thinking it's a good thing this article wasn't published before the big push for the Marriage Equality Act. I may not have voted for it!
Also, if that qualifies as romance after a scant 10-year relationship, then my near-three decades of mutual stomach flus, bad oysters/food poisoning, over-imbibements, bad breaks, brain scans, bone scans, not to mention childbirths, afterbirths, a near-decade of diaper management, usual and unusual vomit incidents, ringworm, tics in strange places, lice, fungi, hemorrhoids, dental emergencies, unspeakable cysts and dermatological challenges, and the crowning achievement: colonoscopy prep-- add up to the romantic equivalent a marriage proposal in a gossamer gown on a rose-petal-strewn path with a champagne waterfall at sunset with a winged unicorn delivering a diamond studded tablet of God's unpublished poems.
Still, I am glad for the author that she is thinking about the multi-dimensionality of real relationships and that the storybook definition of candy and flowers, or whatever idyll of a romantic gift, can be more hollow than anything. There is no knowing other peoples' relationships because there is no one way to have a relationship. There's only, in essence, the wildly gyrating curves of love, companionship and yes, romance.
Sticking with the marriage theme, here are some poems, very popular on Valentine's day, appropriately titled Valentine's Day Poems For Married People. Here's an excerpt:
Our love is like the padlocks on the Pont des Arts, in Paris—
Thousands of locks, symbols of unbreakable love.
Isn’t that beautiful?
Apparently, though, all those locks are too heavy for the bridge.
Did you hear this?
I read it somewhere.
The locks are weighing the bridge down.
So you know what they’re going to do?
They’re taking them off with bolt cutters and throwing them out.
Isn’t that beautiful, too?
So now the people aren’t locked together anymore.
They’re free to maybe see other people.
I thought that was interesting.
Hopefully you're in for whatever qualifies as a Romantic day for you, from Poetry to Dysentery. But first, here's an inbox of bon bons for you, in the form of a round-up of this week's news by and about women in business, politics, digital, media, film, tv, fashion, sports, literature and general pop culture.
You can peruse the back catalogue for the issues you missed, forward the Paper to someone you think would enjoy it, or sign up at LZSundayPaper.com.
Please send me any items of interest or send questions/comments: here.
Sometimes there's so much interesting stuff out there I can't wait 'til Sunday so I tweet it during the week. Follow me @LZSundayPaper.
Enjoy the Grammys, whether you are freezing to death in New York or burning up in LA! I will be doing both at various points this weekend.
LZ
THE PIC(K) OF THE WEEK:
Read All The Sexist Ways Female Characters Are Introduced In Scripts via Time Magazine
NEWS & INSIGHTS:
The Sexist Double Standard Behind Why Millenials Love Bernie Sanders via The Washington Post
Nobody Involved In The Madeline Albright-Gloria Steinem-Hillary Clinton Flap Has Much To Be Proud Of via The Washington Post
Laws Written By Men To Protect Women Deserve Scrutiny, Supreme Court Told via The Washington Post
Businesses Owned By Women Less Likely To Win U.S. Contracts, Study Shows via The New York Times
Women In Company Leadership Tied To Stronger Profits, Study Says via The New York Times
Why Women Are The Best Opportunities For Businesses via Entrepreneur
Scientist Mary Somerville To Appear On Scottish Banknote via The Guardian
Kurdish Female Fighters Commandeer Tanks In Battle To Capture Aleppo Air Base via Newsweek
Women Had No Voice In 64% Of 2016's Super Bowl Ads via Motto
Women And Guns: The Conflicted, Dangerous, and Empowering Truth via Marie Claire
ARTS & CULTURE:
Meryl Streep On Diversity At Berlin Film Festival: 'We Are All Africans' via Variety
Samantha Bee's 'Full Frontal' Nails It: Your New Must-See Late Night Talk Show Takes Down The GOP, Hillary and Bernie, and Her 'Woman-ness' In Hilarious Debut via Salon
Saying Goodbye To 'The Good Wife' via The Atlantic
More Women Are Nominated For Rock Grammys Than Ever Before via Forbes
A Former Space Exec And A Team Of Scientists Are Building A Four-Inch Heel That's Actually Comfortable via Bazaar
British Airways Crew Members Can Finally Wear Pants via Refinery29
Why Do Bridesmaids Traditionally Wear The Same Dress via Mental Floss
THE REST:
Sororities To Allow All Female-Identifying Students To Rush via The Brown Daily Herald
Can You Be A Feminist And Like Rough Sex? via Mashable
The 'Playboy' Centerfold That Helped Create the JPEG via The Atlantic
AND WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE ABOUT:
Sign The Petition: Grant Military Burial Honors To Women WWII Pilots via Change.org
The LZ Sunday Paperâ„¢ (soon to be registered trademarked and copyrighted) launched at the dawn of 2014. We expose and recirculate interesting content that is about, and frequently by, women in business, with a dose of ultra-relevant culture. We think that culture comes in size high, medium, and low. Our audience for this content is vast and not gender-driven. Every week we expect at least one good laugh. Send suggestions, clips, or names of people you think might enjoy this to LZSundayPaper@gmail.com.
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