The "Half Past Ides" Edition
Dear All,
Happy (continuing) Women’s History Month!
Last week, I was so busy answering reader mail, following up on my important luggage decisions, that I forgot to invite everyone to participate in my NCAA Women’s Basketball Pool. To the 16 people who ended up in this year’s low-to-no stakes gambit, most of whom are either related to me and/or loyal Sunday Paper readers, good luck! Current Standings: David P. is in first place; Anna F. is in second place— with an auto-filled ballot, courtesy of the CBS Sports App. And I am tied for third!
Thinking about it, the closest thing to “auto-fill” in the analog (paper) ballot days was when I filled out the bracket by going down the match-ups and choosing the animal team name I thought was more fierce and could beat the other team. Or, if the team didn’t have an animal name, we looked up the mascots and I just picked which I liked better. Oddsmakers be damned—I came in second that year and won some good money!
Most everything was more elaborate and hilarious (and yes, satisfying) in the analog ballot days. First of all, you had to get a “newspaper” and rip the bracket off the back page (or out of the special March Madness “insert” section) and “Xerox” it. I wonder how many trillions of reams of printer paper the corporations of America subsidized. Because of course you had to fill out the bracket, and then Xerox it to send (ie. put it in the mail in an envelope with a stamp) a copy to your pool group’s commissioner. The phrase “post-marked by midnight tonight” is hugely under-rated.
Anyway, best unironic team name for the women’s teams still is clearly The Lady Bulls. You mean The Cows? Not so much.
Have a good week. Enjoy this March Madness smattering of news— everything about women in politics, business, health, art, pop culture, and sports, in small, digestible bites, delivered straight to your inbox every Sunday morning.
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See ya!
THE PIC(K) OF THE WEEK:
RGB Award Gala Scrapped After Ginsburg Family and Past Award Recipient Object To Honorees Rupert Murdoch, Elon Musk, and Others via EW
WOMEN’S HISTORY:
How The Black Female Head Of A Top D.C. School Was ‘Punished For Leading’ via The Washington Post
WORLD:
Gambia Must Not Lift The Ban On Female Genital Mutilation via Amnesty International
BUSINESS:
Sephora’s North American CEO Escaped A Violent Revolution and Grew Up In Foster Care. She’s Now One Of The Most Beautiful Women In Beauty. via Fortune
Kevin Plank Just Replaced The CEO Who Might Have Saved Under Armour…With Himself via Fast Company
JURISPRUDENCE:
Roman Polanski Civil Trial Set For August 2025 In Child Rape Case via The Los Angeles Times
Republican Women Don’t Care About Rape Victims via Salon
PREGNANCY & PARENTING:
The Mom Of 3 Who Has Been A Surrogate 4 Times via The Cut
SCIENCE & HEALTH:
Menstrual Fluid’s Underexplored Medical Treasures via Vox
THE ROYALS:
How The Windsor Women Became Human Shields via The New York Times
THE ARTS & POP CULTURE:
Should Black Women Stop Going On ‘Love Is Blind’? via Vox
How Quinta Brunson Hacked The SitCom via The New Yorker
7 Novels About Women Over 60 Who Defy Societal Expectations via Electric Lit
BAD HAIR DAY:
Your Hair Looks Gorgeous. It Cost…What?! via The Washington Post
SPORTS:
Angel Reese Knows That People Want A Show via The New Yorker
Figure Skating Wants Ice Princesses. Amber Glenn Said, ‘Screw It.’ via The Washington Post
OBITUARIES:
Marina Lazreg, Muslim Scholar Who Critiqued The Veil, Is Dead At 83 via The New York Times
Rose Dugdale, The London Debutante Who Became an Art Thief and An IRA Bomber via The Irish Times
AND WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE ABOUT…?:
Women Explain How They’d Like To Have Their Bodies Restricted Next via The Onion