Loving Now: The First “One Weird Trick” That Actually Works

Welcome to The Enthusiast, a brand-new newsletter thats all yum, no yuck! Every Friday, I'll be sharing five things I'm loving from the past week. The challenge for me is keeping it to just five...

This week, I'm loving an absolute gem of a show about Native teens on a reservation in Oklahoma, natural deodorant that doesn't suck, vulnerable but powerful Swedish alt-pop, the life-changing magic of cleaning your thermal coffee carafe, and a horror love letter to teen girl friendships in the 80's. Let's get into it!

What I'm Loving from the Week of August 26:

Reservation Dogs S2

I love Reservation Dogs so much and I was so glad to see it get a second season after an absolutely stellar debut last fall. The undercurrent of grief and loss from the first season has come to the forefront in the lives of our crew, and none moreso than for Elora (full name Elora Danan, one of many excellent and unexplained Willow references on the show). Her secret attempt to move to California was an abject failure, and I cried all through last week's episode "Mabel," about her grandmother's death and the family gathering around it.

Reservation Dogs doesn't shy away from the deep wells of generational trauma among Native and Indigenous Americans—it makes them deeply relevant and impactful without resorting to trite cliches. This is what happens when you make media more inclusive and expansive: the quality and creativity vastly improves for all of it, and we viewers get to reap the benefits.

Reservation Dogs S1 is streaming on Hulu, and new S2 episodes drop on Wednesdays.

Fat and the Moon Deodorant Cream

I know that natural deodorant is still squicky for some folks, but as a chronically sweaty person who made the switch several years ago, I promise that the quality and effectiveness have gone way, way up. I like both Fat & The Moon's original and sensitive versions—both are made with effective natural ingredients, smell good without smelling too crunchy, and are handmade by herbalist witches in the wilds of Washington state. This is one of the few products I've kept using throughout several all-natural only beauty product jags, and as long as they keep making it, I'll keep buying it.

Fat & the Moon Deodorant Cream, 2oz for $16; if you want to avoid baking soda, try the Sensitive Pit Cream (it's honestly my perferred product!).

Alma, "I Forgive Me"

Alma is a criminally underrated Finnish alt-pop artist and her latest single "I Forgive Me" is basically flawless. Her debut album from a couple years ago still felt very raw and a bit messy despite featuring several certified bops, but "I Forgive Me" demonstrates not only her gorgeous voice but also some welcome maturity to her overall sound. Give it a listen if you like any of the myriad weirdo Nordic pop babes like Tove Lo, Tove Styrke, MØ or even the more mainstream ones like Dagny, Sigrid, and our eternal Swedish Queen of Pop Robyn.

Stream it on Apple Music and all other streaming platforms.

One Weird Trick to Make Your Gross-Ass Thermal Carafe SPARKLE

It's getting close to hot coffee szn after a summer of mainlining homemade cold brew, but when I dusted ours off and unscrewed the lid, I felt like I was staring into the blackest abyss of a coffee sludge black hole. I feel like I've never been able to get the damn thing truly clean in the years we've had it, so I was supremely skeptical when I tried The Witty Gritty's approach of dishwasher powder + boiling water + 30 minutes. Y'all, it WORKED. This thing is now cleaner than when we bought it, literally gleaming. I now cannot wait for my first mug of pre-fall to taste like it came from the pristine fount of an undiscovered mountain coffeefall.

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

I've been reading more horror over the past few years since I'm in the midst of writing what I'm calling a "literary horror" novel, and Hendrix has quickly become one my favorite authors of the kind of modern horror that doesn't take itself too seriously but still respects the reader's intelligence. My Best Friend's Exorcism is a truly scary testament to the abjection of being a teenage girl in high school, and the ultimate power of teen girl friendships to get us through what we're told are the best years of our life (but in actuality are not). And I repeat: it's seriously scary as hell.

The last horror novel I read that really drew me in and wouldn't let go was Joe Hill's N0S4A2 a few years ago, which I originally had on Kindle and bought a physical copy for my husband because I loved it so much. My Best Friend's Exorcism is shorter and faster-paced, but with the same kind determined heroine and powerful relationship dynamics. Highly, highly recommend, except maybe not for reading as a relaxation practice before bed (as I usually do lol). The Amazon Prime movie adaptation drops on September 30, but I'm pretty sure that this is one you'll want to read first (even if the trailer does actually look halfway decent).

5 More Things I Liked this Week:

Thank you for reading this inaugural edition of The Enthusiast! I would absolutely love it if you'd take a moment to subscribe and share what you've been loving this week, month, year, or always. We're just getting started here, but my only rule right now is: no yuck, all yum.

Wishing you all the yum you can handle,
LKH