Things I loved this week: A veritable smorgasbord!

How to help the strikers, Rick Astley vs Morrissey, Gen Z, houses that own you, and my fave movie of the summer so far

Welcome back for another bi-monthly Things I Love newsletter. Free subscribers always get a sneak peek excerpt, but this is my one recurring column for paid subscribers only. So! I decided to offer a 25% discount off an annual subscription for the rest of this month, which comes out to less than $5 a month. Hey, it’s hot out there. I’m worried about you. I need you to put the savings towards electrolyte beverages and air conditioning.

While these roundups take me a while to put together, it’s a joy for me to share other great writing I’ve found, important news stories, thoughtful commentary, humor we can all use, and hopefully amplify a few new-to-you voices. Plus, I’ve included gift links to articles where possible so you don’t hit any paywalls.

Happy reading! - Liz

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Not a rick-roll, promise

The best music I’ve heard this week: Rick Astley and Blossoms crushing Smiths covers at Glastonberry this summer. As a few people have aptly pointed out, it’s like getting all the feelings of hearing the Smiths without the icky feeling Morrissey gives these days.

Bless you Rick Astley — as promised, you never did let us down.

“I botched the birth announcement”

What a pleasure to do a podcast interview with Kate Brookes, the TV anchor and big-time producer turned author of the upcoming , Transister: Raising Twins in a Gender-Bending World. She’s so funny, thoughtful, and candid in discussing her trans daughter’s journey, along with her own revelation about parenting any kid struggling with individuality—even if that means playing chess when you had your heart set on them playing soccer.

In-Between Days

I’ve long admired Amy Shonethal’s work. She’s a journalist, author, entrepreneur, speaker, and tells great stories of fascinating women in her ForbesWomen column. Well I just discovered her excellent newsletter promising “a dose of inbox optimism.” I love this recent essay about Thriving in the Gray Space:

What, you might ask, is the gray space? It’s the in-between. It’s when you’ve outgrown one season of your life but you don’t yet fit neatly into the next one. To put it simply, it’s a transition. You know there’s something coming but you’re not there yet, or if you are, you don’t feel comfortable existing there just yet. Some of us resist these moments, while some of us embrace them…The gray space is uncomfortable, but it’s simultaneously a place to find comfort and flow, because you don’t have to make a choice yet.

The gray space is the VIP lounge for the indecisive.

She only publishes about once or twice a month so low-commitment, high reward. You can subscribe free to Amy’s newsletter here.

“We are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines”