The "Penultimate" Edition
Hello, Subscribers, Followers, and Readers,
It’s October, and I’m exhausted. The baseball post-season is a semi-sleep-deprivation-fest in a regular year, but in a year when both the New York Mets AND the New York Yankees both go deep, it’s a bit brutal. I’m sure happy our teams were in the race and I’m sure REALLY happy the Yankees are in the World Series (sorry, Grimace meme, #RIP). However, I’m real tired. 20 nights of post-midnight baseball is a lot for me!
Plus, it cuts in to watching or reading much else. All I can share with you is that we got 2 episodes of the Cate Blanchett thriller/mystery series, directed by Alfonso Cuaron, under our belts. Worth it so far! There’s been a spate of books—by women and men— about middle-life. Like “how did I get here” and when can I get out of here. I won’t repeat all the ones I highlighted from previous editions (email me if you want a refresher) but I did read a story by Matthew Klam that I thought was real good, in that vein. (Fun fact: his sister Julie, who is also a writer, wrote for me on Pop-Up Video 7 million years ago at VH1!)
Okay also I saw “Vladimir” on Broadway-ish, at City Center. It got a great review in many places, like the NY Times. My review is that my pre-theater meal at Miloś was great and that place is still poppin’ after a million years. Also don’t have that second glass of wine and expect to be able to be super-focused on the semi-complicated play in a very warm black-box theater.
Okay also I saw “Once Upon A Mattress” at a Wednesday matinee with a friend. The last time I was at a matinee I think I saw Angela Lansbury in Gypsy! with my mother, in the ‘70s! Anyway— Once Upon is absolutely delightful. Sutton Foster is un-be-liev-able in the lead and Ana Gasteyer as the Queen is…a Gas! Well, I personally know that Ana is phenomenal but…she was understudied the day I went. Sigh. Remember that time I ended up seeing Funny Girl three times because first I saw Beanie Feldstein, who was fine(-ish,); but then I had to see Lea Michele! But she got Covid so I saw her understudy (sigh); and then I crazily went back to see Lea. Because nobody, i mean NOBODY, is gonna…Rain. On. My. Pah- raaaaaaade.
Okay well, by the time you are reading this we will know the result of World Series Game 2. Friday night’s Game 1…uhhhh…didn’t go so great.
My curveball for you all is that this may, in fact, be the penultimate LZ Sunday Paper. The election is nigh, and I’m sort of thinking that if Harris wins — maybe it’s time to declare victory and walk away. OTOH if Harris loses… I’m sort of done. Maybe this is just bases-loaded jitters. We shall see.
But I will definitely see you next week, like every other — pull the lever for the newsletter with the absolute best content from politics to pop culture by, for, and about women in all the land!
If you aren’t already a subscriber, you should be — at least for another week:
If you have a story you think I may have missed or something to share with me, please still do, because I’m desperate for any new stuff, at LZSundayPaper@gmail.com.
And if you’d like to tell a friend about the Paper, please do—tell them that you’ve enjoyed the last 10 years and they have one week to get on the bandwagon:
See you next Sunday, that I promise.
LZ
The Pic(k) of the Week…:
Cheering For The New York Liberty’s Historic Victory via The New York Times
POLITICS:
What’s Really Fueling U.S. Voters? via The Persistent
All The Single Ladies Are Backing Kamala via The American Enterprise Institute
Tucker Carlson Has Weird Ideas On The Role Of Spanking In Democracy via The Washington Post
BUSINESS:
Marisa Meyer: I Am Not A Feminist. I Am Not Neurodivergent. I Am A Software Girl via Wired
HEALTH & SCIENCE:
How Does The Brain React To Birth Control? A Researcher Scanned Herself 75 Times To Find Out via Nature
Tara Lipinski’s Fertility Struggles Included Four Surgical Abortions via Allure
RELATIONSHIPS:
The Seduction of Solitude: Why The Idea Of Divorce Is So Tantalizing via Airmail
Behind Many Powerful Women On Wallstreet: A Doting ‘Househusband’ via The Wall Street Journal
THE ARTS & POP CULTURE:
The Sisters Behind ‘Nobody Wants This’ Are In High Demand via The New York Times
BOOK NOOK:
Rage, Revenge, and Recovery Battle It Out In Virginie Despentes’s #MeToo Novel via The New Yorker
The Women’s Middle-Life Crisis Novel Enters The Season Of The Witch via The New Yorker
Professor’s New Book ‘Hot Flash’ Examines Menopause Through A Legal Lens via University Of Virgina Law Journal
SPORTS:
Ann Kerr, A Force Of Nature, Imparts Middle-East Wisdom at UCLA via The San Francisco Chronicle
OBITUARIES:
Julia Hawkins, Centenarian Sprinter, Dies at 108 via The New York Times
Sally Butler, Nun Who Blew The Whistle On Sex Abuse, Dies At 93 via The New York Times
…AND WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE ABOUT…?:
This 71-Year Old Pole Dancer Defies Expectations — And Gravity — In Age-Obsessed L.A. via The Los Angeles Times