LZ Sunday Paper Newsletter: The "Unprecedented" Edition
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Hi, Folks!
My friend Julie F. and I came up with a great name for my podcast (which, like my long-planned-book-which-I-also-have-a-title-for, I have no intention of launching).
Podcaster, know thyself: the old adage is "I have a face for radio," and I've come to grips with the fact that I have a voice for silent movies. Hence, my media outlet of choice is an email newsletter. But like imperfect fruits that are now a billion dollar industry, and mismatch pairs of socks and even high class sneakers, that's why my perfectly imperfect podcast would be ironic, yet relevant and truthful, from the get-go.
The podcast is called "Unencumbered By The Facts." I would be the very popular host/moderator. Like Terry Gross, but not so informed or iconic.
"Unencumbered By The Facts" would have an interview/panel format where I invite people on to discuss a range of topics including Politics, Business, Health, Jurisprudence, and Pop Culture. Mostly about issues that have particular resonance for women. I would do some research on the subjects. Like maybe I'd spend a bunch of time reading all about them from other people's opinions-- especially journalists. But I wouldn't necessarily dive *that* deeply into the subject. Like no one would call me an expert. But I would ask lots of questions and listen very carefully and then at the end of the show I would render a strong opinion…unencumbered by the facts. And then the hummable theme song would kick in for the end-read of my great sponsors and I would credit all the people by name who helped me make the show that week.
This week I would devote the podcast to the subject of 'The Queen's Gambit.' Like in real life, I wouldn't watch any of it before discussing it quite vigorously. Everyone else has apparently done a tremendous amount of work doing just that, so I would feed off that energy, use my knowledge of every other thing I've seen or read that is exactly or even somewhat *like* that and read at least forty of the four thousand think pieces on it (two of which are below). The panelist/critics/fans/experts would tell me in various ways, which I would respect, that I should really see the show before I talk about it. I would then likely agree that I *should* watch it on the chance that I'm wrong and I *might* enjoy it. But then the likely proclamation at the end of the show is that I say that, "Unencumbered by the facts, I'm never going to watch it."
This is not just my podcast host character being difficult. Rather than creating more arguments it would solve a lot of problems. Because if I say I don't like it just from what I've read and heard about it, the 99 billion people who have made it Netflix's most streamed limited series in history are happy because they can go to bed thinking (possibly correctly) that they are definitively right and they can feel sorry for me for not realizing that. And--bonus--the very very few curmudgeonly, unknowledgeable sourpusses will *also* be really happy because they have one more person on their unenlightened side.
After a 41-minute podcast (I think that's an ideal episode length, unencumbered by the…), it's unusual that both sides walk away from a disagreement feeling satisfied. A win-win, right? Working across both sides of the aisle, see what I'm doing here?
Flaws in this argument for my podcast are that now that talking out of your ass, which used to be amusing at dinner parties, is the way our government and Facebook works. And it's currently the case, definitively, that having people walk away from a discussion not actually being any more open to the other side's view is actually destructive and terrible. Not so important when discussing popular TV shows. More important when I book epidemiology and immunization experts, I'm guessing.
I have to get over the fact that one can no longer be recalcitrant in service of spirited, if pretentious, iconoclastic debate. I am hoping that the popularity of my natural state of being (a spirited, if pretentious, iconoclastic debater) is just on pause until all this fractious destruction of democracy and civilization settles down in a few decades. Then I will for sure write my write my #1 best selling book and launch my podcast which will come up strong on your personalized year-end Spotify "wrapped" list. Maybe, like famous people who have muses who seal their letters until a certain amount of time after their death, I will record my podcast episodes and they will be unsealed in the 22nd century, playable on the platform of the future called CoSpoTwiChiKarMcIn (when Comcast, Spotify, Twitter, China, the Kardashians, McDonald's, and LinkedIn merge).
I'm getting good practice doing research but not actually knowing anything. I can prove it by this week's jam-packed curation of absolutely fascinating, important, and even fun news by, about, and in good measure for women. Politics, Business, Tech, Science, Sports, and Pop Culture await.
Thank you to veritable co-curators Julie, Nancy, Lisa, Kathryn, Karen, Emily, and many others. Readers, do send me more resources, plus any articles, photos, or videos you think I need to see right here.
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December. Getting closer to next year. Counting the days.
LZ
THE PIC(K) OF THE WEEK:
Many Firsts For Women In A Very Male Orbit via The New York Times
The Case For Michèle Flournoy As Secretary Of State via Slate
Georgia Was A Big Win For Democrats. Black Women Did The Groundwork. via The New York Times
BUSINESS & TECH:
Quarterly Funding For Female VC Founders Drops To Three-Year Low via PitchBook
We Read The Paper That Forced Timnit Gebru Out Of Google. Here's What It Says. via MIT Technology Review
NASDAQ CEO Pushes Boards to Diversify via The Wall Street Journal
Female Founders Under Fire: Are Women In The Start-Up World Being Unfairly Targeted? via Fortune
CRIME & PUNISHMENT:
Robert Kraft Had His Charges Dropped After Allegedly Getting A Hand Job In A Massage Parlor. The Women Didn't. via Rolling Stone
My Baby Sister Did A Terrible Thing. We Shouldn't Kill Her For It. via Elle
SCIENCE, HEALTH & WELLNESS:
The Pleasure Gap: How A New Program Is Revolutionizing Sexual Health Education For Young Women via The Globe and Mail
Planned Parenthood CEO Alexis McGill-Johnson Talks Black Sexual Health, Plans For Biden Era via The Grio
ARTS, FASHION, LIT & POP CULTURE:
'The Queen's Gambit' Is The Latest To Include The Iconic 'First Period' Scene. Why Don't We Ever See Normal Menstruation On TV? via The Lily
The Fatal Flaw Of 'The Queen's Gambit' via The New Yorker
All Of The Laurens On 'The Bachelor' via Jezebel
These Native American Women Are Claiming The Space They Deserve In Art and History via Travel and Leisure
Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy Of White Male America via The Cut
THE SPORTS PAGES:
Cris Collinsworth Is Shocked Women Understand the NFL. 90M Of Us Disagree via The Guardian
Climbing Routes Are Riddled With Racist and Misogynistic Names. Meet The People Trying To Change It All. via The Lily
IN MEMORIAM
Betsy Wade, First Woman To Edit News at The New York Times, Dies at 91 via The New York Times
AND WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE ABOUT?…
The Delightful -- and Timely -- Story Of How 'A Spoonful Of Sugar' Ended Up In 'Mary Poppins' via Upworthy
The LZ Sunday Paperâ„¢ 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 high and low, not much in between. Our audience is vast and not gender-driven. Every week we expect to deliver 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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