Keeping It Classy-fied

Ads, baby! And Dame Sophie's End of Summer Favorites

Big, big news, Dames Nation!

Introducing: The Two Bossy Dames Keeping It Classy-fied Ads 

The first issue of Two Bossy Dames went out on October 3, 2014. We can’t believe it, either! As we head into this newsletter’s tenth (!!!) year, we are launching classified ads. Full details are in this handy fact sheet, but we wanted to include a word or two here about what you can advertise with us.

There are some samples below — all fictional, from the hilarious mind of one Dame Karen, with an assistive riff for Adrian Mole from Sue Townsend, of blessed memory — but don’t take our word for what to advertise. We’d love to make sure all of Dames Nation knows about your work! Did you write a book? Do you have a newsletter? Do you want to surprise a fellow TBD reader with a shout-out for their birthday or because you adore them or just because it’s a random Friday in October and why not? We’ve got you covered.

Ads will look something like this, nestled comfortably between one of our signature “oh what a cute GIF” GIFs and some closing thoughts/links/more GIFS/you get it:

Bargain alert!! Starting now, you can advertise for one week with Two Bossy Dames for $25, or buy a month’s worth of ads (aka advertise in four consecutive newsletter issues) for just $50! That’s like getting two weeks of advertising for free! FREE! 

Ad maximum is 300 characters, and yes, you may include emojis. All ads are text only and subject to TBD approval. Limit four total ads per issue. Complete the ad reservation form to submit your ad(s).

More questions? Please drop us a line at twobossydames@gmail.com! 

---

Dame Sophie’s End-of-Summer 2023 Cultural Favorites

Ah, memories. They really are like the corners of my mind, and com to think of it, they’re also misty and water-colored, too! Huh!

Summer, I hardly knew ye! I’ll mostly remember Summer 2023 as the year my 17 year-old and I did a lot of enthusiastic and joyful off-key singing together at top volume, mostly while driving around together, mostly Taylor Swift and boygenius. We also saw Maggie Rogers live, which was so fun. That wee slip of a girl can put on a show, and I got to marvel for neither the first nor last time that attending a concert nowadays as a teen is a wildly different experience than it was during my own teen years way (way) back when. It’s so beautiful when everyone at a show—everyone, not just big burly rock dudes—feels safe and free enough to un-self-conciously rock the hell out and not worry about getting assaulted in the bathroom. It’s a low bar, and yet! Highly recommended.

My favorite not strictly new, but new-to-me song this summer was Rigoberta Bandini’s “Canciones de Amor a Ti”. The music video is an adorable love letter to her partner and their baby, and having heard it for the first time over a very cute and romantic montage in Red, White, & Royal Blue, I confess I’m now experiencing a teensy bit of whiplash, but nothing that will diminish my giddy love of this certified bop.

Thanks to lots of late afternoons lounging by the pool, I read a bunch this summer and have some favorites to share:

Something Wild and Wonderful, by Anita Kelly — it’s about two guys who, for various reasons, aren’t Formula 1 drivers Kevin Magnussen and Esteban Ocon, but who bear striking physical resemblances to Kevin Magnussen and Esteban Ocon, fall in love while hiking the Pacific Coast Trail. This was a pick for the local Romance Book Club and it was a charming and fizzy, yet emotionally hefty delight.

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, by Oliver Burkeman — I love that the title will draw in productivity cultists and then proceeds to critique productivity culture on every page. I’ve been thinking about it for months now and probably will be processing it for several months more.

John Hersey’s 70-page reported essay for The New Yorker on the US’s bombing of Hiroshima in August 1945 — this is now an annual reread for me each summer, and it was a particularly good one to pair with my memories of Oppenheimer. It’s available on the magazine’s website, as well as in their 1940s anthology.

Finally, I would hardly be your friendly local PBS nerd/enthusiastic recommender if I failed to urge fellow history nerds to seek out the outstandingly good five-part documentary series Once Upon A Time in Northern Ireland. It aired on most affiliates in late August, but is available to stream via the PBS app/PBS Passport. Also, I got to review it for Telly Visions, which is a super-great site for anyone who loves British (and British-adjacent) TV and movies!