The “Good Grief” Edition
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Folks,
I got the calendar messed up this year. I didn’t quite realize that due to the way Christmas and New Year’s fall, Saturday night and Sunday of two successive weekends, that this coming week would be somewhat of a real work and school week, not a holiday. So the unrefundable decision to depart for vacation prior to the rest of the world deciding it was okay to do so has caused some logistical and time management stresses.
We were going along with our stressful, semi-usual, overbooked — and very privileged — problem — a great vacation that impinged on real life. And then, a real problem impinged on real life: we had news of a death in the family — a near and dear Aunt.
Death does not operate on anyone else’s timeframe. It is uncertain, and then finite. Its very “inconvenience” forces us to re-orient on our own life axis. We reprioritize whatever seemed so unmanageable at that particular time into a bucket called “whatever, I’ll deal with it.”
This aunt was one who embraced life, emitted incredible energy, and valued family above all. While not extraordinary to the rest of the world, perhaps, she was amazing to us. There are David Bowies and Gwen Ifills — extraordinary to millions — but I think it is also true that everyone, every single person, is incredible and extraordinary to some, or even just one.
A trusted and dear friend and I are building a business to embrace that belief. It is also partially in reaction to the rise of the sort-of-helpful, but fleeting, social media “likes” and frowny faces on condolences and celebrations for friends and family. The initial outpouring feels good. The fact that it disappears up the feed within minutes, or is sandwiched between a political rant and a clickbait ad feels bad. Famous people get “real” obituaries. This idea fills the space between the two. It’s called LifePosts. If you have a moment over the next couple of weeks of (hopefully) downtime, check it out and think about building a little story — memorial or celebration or any other life event — of someone near and dear to you. It’s brand new, so we’ll be developing it and working on it quite a bit, and I’ll talk about it here as things progress.
This is the last non-holiday edition of the Paper for 2016. Next week and the week after, I look forward to culling Christmas and New Year’s news from places far-flung. Today’s edition of The LZ Sunday Paper is a little off kilter, methinks, but still chock full of stories of women in the news, hand-picked by me, for you.
Would you kindly forward the newsletter to those you think will enjoy it? Will you please share it on your social media channel of choice?
Do you have something you think should go in a future edition? Are you stumped by the pronunciation of a name/place/thing? Send it to me here. And I’ll likely include it in a future edition of the LZSP Pronunciation Guide.
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Have a great week!
POLITICS:
The Women’s March On Washington Explained via Vox
Donald Trump Is Sad That He Won ‘Person of the Year’ Instead Of ‘Man of the Year’ via Slate
Megyn Kelly Missed An Opportunity To Help Women via Time
Ivanka Trump Will Not Fix Women’s Issues, She Will Distract From Them via Elle
The Case For Ivanka Trump As First Lady via The Washington Post
Michelle Obama, Between Respectability and Radicalism via The Nation
THIS WEEK, SOME SOMEWHAT RANDOM NEWS ITEMS: GLOBAL, BUSINESS, RELIGION
Israel’s Parliament Draws A Line On Short Hemlines via The New York Times
Feast Your Eyes On ‘Women Who Draw,’ A New Site That Spotlights Female Illustrators via Slate
How Christianity Sends Mixed Signals On Breast Feeding via The Daily Beast
ARTS, FASHION, SPORTS, LIT & POP CULTURE:
45 Brilliant Things Samantha Bee Said This Year via The Cut
Madonna Was Right: There Are Rules If You Are A Girl via The Guardian
The Toxic-Masculinity-Destroying Magic Movie We Need Right Now via The Establishment
How Not To Talk To Somebody Else’s Daughter via Motherwell
SOME NOTABLE RECENT OBITS, 2016 (all via The New York Times):
Rose Evansky, a Pioneer In Women’s Hairstyling, Dies At 94 via The Guardian
Nancy Mairs, Who Wrote About Her Mental Illness and Multiple Sclerosis, Dies at 73
Vertemae Smart-Grovesnor Dies at 79; Celebrated Gullah Food and Culture
Aileen Mehle, Gossip’s Grande Dame Known As ‘Suzy,’ Dies at 98
Ezma Redzepova Dies At 73; Sang of Her Roma Heritage To Generations
Mahasweta Devi, Bengali Writer and Activist Who Fought Injustice, Dies at 90
Ruth Baron Ziff Dies At 92, Added Sociological Insight to Ads
AND ONE I’VE HAD IN A LZSP FILE FROM 2015 THAT I JUST UNEARTHED — CLICK ON IT JUST FOR THE PICTURE:
Gertrude Schimmel, First Female New York City Police Chief, Dies at 90
AND WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE ABOUT:
The LZ Sunday Paper™ 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 toLZSundayPaper@gmail.com.
