'My favorite thing is to make things'
Here's a list of links and recommendations I made for you.
Visionary choreographer Lucinda Childs recently told The New York Times’ Gia Kourlas that her “favorite thing is to make things,” and I really hope someone catches me saying that at 85, too.
And in a new memoir, 62-year-old small screen icon and forever Real Housewife Lisa Rinna proclaims, “I will kill you if you take my hormones away!” (Who else here loved Rinna’s scene-stealing turn as Lynn Echolls on “Veronica Mars”?)
All of this is to say, what a time to be a woman of a certain age.
That’s why today we’re recapping the latest things that caught my eye in the world of midlife and beyond …
News flash
Here’s some very big news from a very big study about menopausal hormone therapy.
A Danish large cohort study featured in The BMJ found no connection between use of hormone therapy and an increase in mortality rate.
The study looked at 876,805 women born between 1950 and 1977; 11 percent of them filled a prescription for hormone therapy. Here are the highlights:
Those who used any form of hormone therapy had a slightly lower mortality rate than those who didn’t over a roughly 14-year period.
There were no unequivocal differences in deaths due to cardiovascular disease or cancer between those who used hormone therapy and those who did not.
Mortality risk also did not vary based on the duration of time hormone therapy was utilized.
Going through a rough patch?
ICYMI, there’s a nationwide shortage of estradiol patches, one of the primary forms of estrogen used in menopausal hormone therapy.
For The 19th, I dug into what you need to know if you’re having trouble finding the medication, which is used to address symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats and mood changes. In brief: Estrogen can also be delivered transdermally (via the skin) with creams, gels and sprays, and for many people oral estrogen could be a good option, as well.
Not sure what’s best for you or what your next step is? Talk to your doctor. And you can read more about the shortage and how to talk to your doctor here.
I’ll be digging into…
These books:
“Hooked” by Asako Yuzuki, translated by Polly Barton (March 17)
Yuzuki’s previous novel “Butter,” about a gourmet chef-cum-serial killer who lures her male victims with her sumptuous cooking, was a much-buzzed about book in our newsroom last year. So there’s no chance I’m missing out on the office chatter sure to come when “Hooked” comes out this month, with a plot that is firmly up my alley: Lonely woman stages faux chance encounter with popular lifestyle influencer; friendship-to-obsession narrative soon emerges.
“The Keeper” by Tana French (March 31)
The only thing I love more than a new Tana French novel is a press cycle around a new Tana French novel. Listening to the immensely gifted Irish writer wax poetic on the power of genre writing, and subverting genre writing (nominally, the detective novel), gets me every time.
These shows:
“Vladimir,” Netflix (March 5)
I loved Julia May Jonas’ novel of the same name — and yes, the title is a nod to Nabokov — about a college professor who finds herself reevaluating everything when her husband (also a professor) faces #MeToo allegations. And then — oops — she soon finds herself in a very power-imbalanced relationship of her own. Rachel Weisz is taking on the lead role, and I cannot wait to see what she does with this acerbic, droll, deviant role about a postmenopausal woman with nothing short of a dangerous erotic imagination.
“The Bachelorette,” ABC (March 22)
Ugghhhh after letting this train wreck of a canonical reality show consume my life for too many decades, I finally wrote it off a few seasons ago. But now they’ve roped me back in with “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” star Taylor Frankie Paul looking for love in literally the most wrong place ever.
These albums:
“Play Me,” Kim Gordon (March 13)
When Kim Gordon (72! Still making new things!) makes new music, I always stop and listen. The Sonic Youth alum is already luring me in with interviews saying that she “started singing in a way I hadn’t sung in a long time. This other voice came out.” I can’t wait to hear it.
“Creature of Habit,” Courtney Barnett (March 27)
The Australian singer-songwriter had me at the early single “Site Unseen,” where she partnered up with Waxahatchee for her signature sound marrying so much tenderness and bite.
This and that
A list of what caught my attention online this past month(ish).
“Whoopi Goldberg Has Unfinished Business” (Interview, February 4)
“The Rise and Fall of a Beauty Mogul” (The New York Times, February 11)
“Should We All Be Putting Estrogen Cream on Our Faces?” (Gloria, February 20)
“Higher Protein Recipes for the Reluctant” (The Smitten Kitchen Digest, February 23)
“Bye-Bye, BBL: The Great Cosmetic Undoing Is Here” (Vanity Fair, February 23)
“The boys’ club: How Epstein’s influence shaped the exclusion of women in STEM” (The 19th, February 23)
“Christina Applegate Planned to Burn Her Journals. She Made a Memoir From Them Instead” (The New York Times, March 1)
“Crying a Lot Is Good for You, Actually” (Self, March 2)
Next week we’re talking about the Oscars and what women’s midlife experiences look like onscreen (and also about a real icon, Violet Bridgerton). Have takes? Write me.