July 25, 2025, 12:19pm

It was a rough one out there. No need to beat around the bush. Our happiness involved escape. We binged period pieces and anticipated glorious trash. We snacked and cycled. We zoned out to masters at work, and applied ourselves to our own crafts.

Oliver Scialdone is taking a poetry workshop about crying, which he curiously claims has been a site of solace.

I, Brittany Allen, have been listening to a lot of Nina Simone. (Inspired in part, by a timely rewatch of this documentary on the late artist.) I take a lot of heart and vigor from Ms. Simone, who modeled a type of political art-making that feels useful to these times. This version of “Ain’t Got No…” has been keeping my pilot light on this week.

James Folta has “one thing that is not hell” for you—this flower arranging gram, from master floral artist Yuan Zheng. “The constant close-ups of toothpicks going into stems are a little visceral, I will say,” our staffer couches. But the overall effect is one of serene beauty.

Molly Odintz, inspired by the discourse surrounding Jonathan Bailey’s internet-breaking “slutty little glasses,” has been binging Fellow Travelers. The 2023 mini-series following two queer politicos caught up in the Lavender Scare has ignited many a fluttering heart and many a fan-fic. Molly’s been reading those, too.

Emily Temple‘s favorite bad TV show, The Challenge, is coming back this week. And our favorite managing editor assures us that “even though it’s a far cry from its glory days,” the show is still a source of great comfort and joy. A descendant of MTV’s Road Rules, this reality show pits teams or pairs against each other and requires they complete—you guessed it!—high-stakes challenges. Strap me in.

Drew Broussard has a cookbook recommendation. Hot Sheet: Sweet and Savory Sheet Pan Recipes for Every Day and Celebrations, by Olga Massov and Sanae Lemoine, has “genuinely changed” his cooking life. This recipe book, which has so far produced three snacks in the Broussard household, looks to be a boon for those of us with stovetop aversions.

Jonny Diamond and Jessie Gaynor bring reports of nice things in nature. Jessie got a bike, and is now actually enjoying errands and toodles about town.

Jonny is freshly the recipient of his father-in-law’s old chicken coop, hauled from its home base fifty miles away this week. “So we can finally get chickens and become egg barons,” says our editor. May we all be so lucky.

Wishing you a weekend of deep rest, productive hijinks, and little glasses.

And while I have you, one nice thing we all might do is give to one of the Gaza aid groups that Dan Sheehan collected yesterday.