Sunday Reads #1: Barbie, Mid-Life Millennials, The Death of Diet Culture?*

Welcome to the first official Sunday Reads Edition of The Enthusiast! That’s right, I’m splitting things up in two weekly posts now, in an effort to keep consistent and not go dark for two months (I have a good reason!).

In the Sunday Reads, I'm sending five interesting articles I enjoyed and think everyone should read. These used to be at the end of the regular newsletter, but are now going to get some shine of their own.

The upcoming Friday Faves will be for subscribers only, so if you want the full Enthusiast experience, you’ll need to subscribe (it’s free!). Subscribers will also get occasional single-topic deep dives, like the 2003 music and 1993 movie rundowns, as well as the Enthusiast Index. Let’s go!

The Brain Behind Barbie: Inside the Brilliant Mind of Greta Gerwig
The Barbie hype continues to build, and you bet your ass I’ve already secured my opening weekend. I personally love writer/director Greta Gerwig, and am so excited to see her getting a really big chance to shine. Yes, it’s the absolute most mainstream intellectual property imaginable, but if Kate McKinnon’s ravaged toddler Barbie is any indication, there seems to be a lot more just under the surface that could make the Barbie movie more than just a zeitgeisty, meme-able summer flick but a really smart, fun, and funny take on the singular doll that defined the childhood (and then some) of millions of American women. I’m trying not to get my hopes up too high, but I really want it to succeed financially and artistically.

How to Recover from a Toxic Workplace, Whether You're Staying Put or Moving On
OOF, this felt a little too eerily relevant after leaving my former toxic employer to shift into a new company in a new industry three months ago. I like this article because it recognizes that not everyone can leave a toxic workplace that simply or easily, as well as the fact that the toxicity can stay with you long after you’re no longer physically at the same place.

It's the Age of Ozempic: Do We Need Weight Watchers Anymore?
I’m not going to lie, babes, I’ve been low-key kind of obsessed with the ongoing semaglutide onslaught, and not just because it’s sketchily marketed with some pretty gnarly side effects in addition to being expensive as hell, barely covered by insurance, and something you may need to take for the rest of your life.

Full disclosure? I want to try it but my BMI and blood sugar aren’t high enough, and I don’t have a spare $1,000 laying around each month to pay out of pocket. As much as I support body neutrality and intuitive eating and exercise for pretty much everything but intentional weight loss, the diet culture mindset I grew up in is intensely difficult to reprogram for myself. My metabolism is also permanently fucked from decades of weight cycling, but if I could take something that would keep me from obsessing about food and over-indulging my sweet tooth, that would also help me fit into airplane seats a little better, I absolutely would. I don’t, however, want to cut out chunks of my gut or live on nothing but raw vegetables, and I don’t think that’s unreasonable either.

ANYWAY, this interview with Sima Sistani, the new CEO of Weight Watchers, is a truly fascinating example of the lengths diet culture must go to rationalize itself and pretend that it’s remotely related to actual “wellness.” She’s clearly smart as a whip, and makes a lot of great points, but something seems off here, and I can’t tell if it’s a good or bad thing. Bonus: My fave podcast Maintenance Phase has more on WW's rise, fall, rebrand and back again in this episode from 2021.

A Millennial Looks at 40
I’ll be 39 years year old in three months, and I thought I would be okay with it but—surprise!—I am not. I feel like Millennials in general have a particularly rough spell ahead of us as we approach middle age: fewer of us have achieved the milestones of “traditional” adulthood than the established Boomer/Gen-X expectations over the last 50 years. It feels both liberating and scary as hell, especially with rapidly increasing rates of impending doom looming over the second half of our lives. If there’s anyone who can accurately express this angst and uncertainty with with dark humor and questionable nostalgia, it’s Otessa Moshfegh.

After the Police Kill Your Loved One, Who Can You Lean On?
It’s been more than three years since Breonna Taylor was murdered in her home by Louisville Metro Police executing a falsified warrant. Breonna's aunt Bianca Austin and Jacob Blake Sr., whose son was shot and paralyzed by police in Kenosha WI in 2020, started a non-profit called Families United to provide support for families like their own, filling in the gaps where the system has failed them again and again. The effects of police violence against Black Americans radiate through families, communities and beyond, and this beautiful, heartbreaking piece explores the bonds among relatives of those killed by law enforcement and how those connections empower them to keep fighting.

Quickly:

• 🦖 I love Daniel Kaluuya, but is a “surreal, A24-like” dark Milennial angle on BARNEY THE DINOSAUR really & truly necessary?
• 💅🏻 You never need to apologize about un-manicured nails to me, babes. You shouldn’t have to ever to anyone, as far as I’m concerned, but I guess that’s where we are now.
• 🧬 My spouse has a theory that everyone will eventually get cancer, and he might be right?
• 😭 I literally thought I was the only person who did this! I'm glad I'm not because it's one of the worst sensations I've experienced!!
• 👭 These sweet, saucy self-portraits of a radical, gender-bending Danish photographer couple at the turn of the 20th century are ultimate #relationshipgoals.

So concludes this premier edition of The Enthusiast Sunday Reads! Thank you for for sticking around while I recalibrate and get my head back in the game. As always, if you have an interesting article you want to share, please send it along–subscribers, share it in the comments.

See you on Friday–if you're not already subscribed, now's the time to sign up (it's free!). Be sure confirm via email link to receive every edition direct to your Inbox. If you're already a fan, share this newsletter with a friend and spread the love!!

Love & links,
LKH

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* lol nope.