sure was a week, huh?
Well, Dames Nation.
This isn’t aninaccurate representation of how the first week of this new administration has left us feeling. Which may be why we lolsobbed quite so heartily at Ethan Kuperberg’s painfully accurate New Yorker column “U Up?”, which imagines the drunk text conversation we might all be having with Barack Obama right now were we lucky enough to be possessed of his cellphone number. Since we can’t text Obama, though, we’re just going to have to make do with writing a newsletter to all of you lovely people.
Damesly Business: A Livetweet and a Liveshow!
But, in just NINE DAYS, we WILL know you!
Coming up on Sunday, February 5th we will be hosting our first livetweet of 2017. News that may be bad: it will conflict with the Superb Owl. News that’s definitely good: it WON’T conflict with the Superb Owl's just-announced pregame showfeaturing the original Schuyler Sisters. All told, we think many of you will prefer to watch this super stylish movie about a vengeful, skateboarding, teen girl vampire to watching The Big Game and we hope you’ll favor us with your company (but understand and cherish you just the same if you chose Sports).
When: Sunday, February 5, 7:30 PM ET
Where: Twitter! Follow along with the conversation at #nightdames
How: Netflix (or a DVD borrowed from an obliging library)
Can't make the livetweet? You may not be entirely out of luck-- at least if you live in the greater Philadelphia area!!!
"But how could that possibly be!?", you and Wishbone both ask Long John Silver.
That's because on Saturday, February 11th, Dame Margaret’s podcast Appointment Television is going to be doing a live show with Your Dames' beloved creative partners the Overdue podcast (whom you might remember from last April’s newsletter and podcast body swap) at the Free Library of Philadelphia, where we will be discussing educational TV (such as Wishbone!) and Treasure Islandby Robert Louis Stevenson, respectively. Tickets cost $15 apiece and proceeds will benefit the library (which owns the stuffed and mounted corpse of Charles Dickens’s pet raven, Grip the Knowing, IN CASE YOU WONDERED IF IT WERE A BADASS INSTITUTION or not). Dame Sophie will be in attendance at both the show and the post-show hobnobbing, which will take place at The Kite and Key at 1836 Callowhill Street. If you can make it, please please come! It’s the first time either of our podcasts have done an event with PAID TICKETS and it would mean SO much to see some of you there. Even if you've never listened to the podcasts before, we are pretty sure that you will REALLY enjoy this event.
Nourishing the Resistance
As we finish this week’s issue, the current president has just signed an executive order banning the entry of Syrian refugees to the United States. We are furious over this moral failure, and we are feeling a little...sheepish? conflicted? About our quasi-obsessive cataloging of good things. We’re hoping this cognitive dissonance quickly turns from wrenching to bracing us for action. There really isn’t much time right now for anguish, is there? And so we turn to Cap:
While we Your Dames typically advocate nonviolent methods of resistance, we aren’t made of stone, and we DID take some strength from these videos of neo-Nazi Richard Spencer getting punched set to hilariously apt music. After all, as this newsletter’s top boyfriend would remind you, sometimes punching Nazis is a moral and civil imperative.
This newsletter is super-into self-care and we love this piece on how to stay outraged without letting it wear you down to a nub. Now is a great time to create an inventory of the activities, people, and places that are restorative for you, and to make them a priority. We 100% agree with Lin that we need to eat both dessert and vegetables to carry on, so we’ll be carrying on right here by continuing to share things we love, that we think you’ll love, too. Big things, little things, silly things, important things. They all matter, and so do you.
In response to media blackout orders issued by the President, legions of National Parks, plus a host of other scientifically oriented federal agencies, are creating unofficial Twitter accounts to share important updates about climate change, extreme weather events, their work, and more. Here’s a solid list of who to follow!
Theatre is real-life magic. If you, like Dame S., missed the live-in-movie-theaters performance of George Takei’s musical Allegiance back in December, we have another chance to get it right! The original screening was so popular, it’s back by popular demand in the US on February 19th, which is the 75th anniversary of Executive Order 9066, which marked the beginning of the forced relocation and internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans during WWII.
Beef up your library holds lists with Remezcla’s Stop Trump Reading List, 16 titles about resistance, organization, policy, and history that are especially useful for this moment in our lives.
If the Resistance doesn’t include a dance party, we don’t want to be a part of it. This newsletter is also on record as believing that it’s alright to cry, so we’ve got a healthy balance of bangers and weepies in our "How has it only been ONE FUCKING WEEK????" playlist, We’ll Have to Muddle Through Somehow.
Pretty And/Or Inspiring Things That Will Make You Feel Good
The ONLY downside to the number of awards March, Book Three has won: they may obscure its EXCELLENT original cover.
One of Your Dames’ favorite annual experiences is the American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards announcements. The various awards committees for the Newbery Medal, Caldecott Medal, Michael L. Printz Award, Stonewall Award, and many more work in secret all year, so the announcements will all be surprises. This year, the awards were extra-notable for honoring veteran U.S. Representative John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell for their book, March, Book Three for a record FOUR medals, the most ALA has ever awarded a single book in one year. In the space of about 15 minutes, they won The Coretta Scott King Book Award, The Robert F Sibert Informational Book Award, The Michael L. Printz Award, and the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Teens Award. Among these, the CSK Award was announced first, prompting a massive standing ovation in the auditorium of amped-up librarians. By the time the fourth award was announced, the room was filled with a sense of irrepressible celebration and giddiness as we chanted aloud the title, authors, illustrator and publisher information along with the announcer. Truly, we achieved #PeakLibrarian & we’re all grateful to Congressman Lewis for making it possible.
Speaking of ALA, Both Your Dames have historically found WONDERFUL books on the the Amelia Bloomer List which highlights the best feminist books published for young readers in a given year and this year’s list is no exception. From personal experience, we can WHOLEHEARTEDLY recommend both E.K. Johnston’s Exit, Pursued by a Bear (which Dame M. reviewed for NPR’s 2016 Book Concierge, and left both of Your Dames undone) and Kate Schatz’s Rad Women Worldwide: Artists and Athletes, Pirates and Punks, and Other Revolutionaries Who Shaped History, which recently inspired Dame S’s daughter to write a report on India’s first female astronaut, Kalpana Chawla (who perished in the explosion of the Colombia in 2003).
Let this supercut of Wes Anderson’s slow-motion shots take you to your happy place (Gentle note to future editors: maybe The Shins are too on the nose? We recommend “Nothin’ In This World Can Stop Me Worryin’ ’Bout That Girl” instead.)
Stoke your high-end colorful pin lust with this introduction to French jewelry designer Léa Stein’s work. Dame S. is saving her pennies for a hedgehog or maybe this exceedingly grumpy owl, rendered in the most joyous colorway imaginable.
Need a little retail therapy? Combine the exigencies of this moment with your love of hot beverages & books using this handy listicle of 28 literary mugs.
We have a thing about embroidery and a thing about zoetropes, so this mesmerizing video is some REAL strong #DamesBait.
Silkpunk is a new-to-us subgenre of fantasy that has Dame S looking forward to the release of J.Y. Yang's forthcoming novellas, The Red Threads of Fortune and The Black Tides of Heaven, with almost-giddy anticipation. Just look at these covers! The plot descriptions are quite enticing, too. Temporarily sequestering ourselves from The Worst Timeline by entering fictional worlds is one of our most reliable mental health strategies.
We’d never claim that a good lipstick is essential to the revolution, but if YOU wanted one, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s favorite shade (Boot’s No. 7 Moisture Drench in Cranberry Kiss) which she names in this great interview with RACKED, could make an EXCELLENT talisman. As Chimamanda herself puts it, “I think America is at a strange place now. But I think women still need to know what damn moisturizer works in the winter.”
Earlier today, grade-A tweeter/fashion writer Samantha Powell called out Zuhair Murad’s Spring 2017 collection, which is inspired by both fireworks and the TV show Dynasty, making the resulting slideshow a true joy to browse. Join Dame M. in wondering which of these great dresses we’ll see on which actress at the Academy Awards next month.
This one would look pretty great on Emma Stone, for example!
Funny Things That Will Make You Laugh (At Least a LITTLE)
Because sometimes laughter is the best medicine.
Inspired by the aforementioned “U Up?”, Luvvie Ajayi compiled her readers’ extended riffs on drunk-texting America’s Bae/Dad and they are so, so funny & correct. Dame S has “The End of The Road” and “Nothing Compares 2 U” on repeat in her head lately, in a way that is 75% sincere and 25% self-mocking.
A nameless patriot added Speaker Paul Ryan to the Wikipedia page for invertebrates. Another one stood by Marco Rubio holding up a human spine, so that Rubio could come to identify this object clearly foreign to his entire being. We salute their service and hope people will keep addressing the spinelessness afflicting our elected officials in every way they know how.
Perennial #damesfav Kate Beaton released her annual holiday comics from Christmas 2016 and we dare you not to be deeply, deeply charmed by them.
This perfect list of Alternatives to Resting Bitch Face popped up in both Your Dames’ Timehops & it could not be more timely. Dame Sophie’s Your Unquestioned Assumptions Are Astonishing Face cordially invites your obnoxious uncle to get bent.
Similarly brilliant, and similarly gleaned from Timehop, Dame M. encourages you to revisit Katie Heaney’s hilarious series “Reading Between the Texts,”where she and unnamed friends analyzed the texts they received from various friends and paramours with abundant wit and charm. My favorite example:
And finally! Our beloved & brilliant Kate Washington pounced on the new rogue national parks Twitter accounts to bring us the gift of this true & correct transcript of the Initial Meeting of the National Parks Revolutionary Coordinating Committee.