Rich Text

This is the free edition of Rich Text, a newsletter about cultural obsessions from your Internet BFFs Emma and Claire. If you like what you see and hear, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Rich Text is a reader-supported project — no ads or sponsors! Coming soon: A subscribers-only episode about Netflix's batshit new reality dating show “The Ultimatum.”In the final episodes of the NBC sitcom “The Good Place,” our intrepid ensemble of Bad Place fugitives finally arrive at the real Good Place: an eternity of ease and joy. Almost immediately, they notice that all is not quite right. The denizens of the Good Place, finally delivered unto their eternal reward, are very f*****g not okay. They're happiness-poisoned, so surfeited with fun and relaxation that they're drowning in their own boredom. They've developed anhedonic armor against the relentless pleasure of heaven. The gang of newcomers looks around, shocked and horrified. All this time they'd been hearing about how rapturously wonderful the Good Place was… and this was the reality?Heather Havrilesky's new book, “Foreverland: On the Divine Tedium of Marriage,” gives us a similar surprise reveal for a more earthly dream: wedded bliss. That moment of shocking reveal is what made the pages of the New York Times, in an excerpt that catalyzed a massive Twitter storm. “Until Bill has enough coffee,” she writes, “[h]e is exactly the same as a heap of laundry: smelly, inert, almost sentient but not quite.” She also writes of his throat-clearing, his sneezes, his monologues on educational sciences. Marriage, she seems to conclude, “requires turning down the volume on your spouse.” Also, she writes, “he's still my favorite person.”Yes, this is what marriage to your favorite person might actually look like — not a rosy fantasia of passionate kisses and ardent speeches and your partner somehow doing and saying everything you'd like at exactly the right moment. It might be sort of a mess, and full of frustrations and disappointments. It might also still be really wonderful, and part of the wonder of it might come through the mess and the frustrations and disappointments. A marriage is a shared project, a puzzle; figuring out, together, how to survive the boring sameness and the human failings can be the most intimate and fulfilling part. That's what Havrilesky wanted to write about: not a perfect marriage, and not a broken one, but the gripping drama that takes place in a strong, happy marriage. The kinds of conflicts that are often breezily referred to as “ups and downs,” or with the vague admonition that “marriage takes work.” We both loved Havrilesky's book (we're long-time fans of her advice column, Ask Polly) and were baffled by the backlash to “Foreverland,” so we were thrilled she agreed to join us for a conversation about her book, marriage and long-term partnership, aging and hanging on to your identity as a woman in this society, and why people had such a strong reaction to her book. This week's episode is free. For more Rich Text episodes, including podcasts on Love Is Blind, The Gilded Age, and Bridgerton, become a paid subscriber!We've been reading…Sheila Heti's “Pure Colour,” a dreamy origin myth and love story. Also, Lydia Kiesling's crackerjack essay on Horatio Alger, “Fifty Shades of Grey,” and the weird mix of American ambition and erotic predation that undergirds our culture's most successful and enduring rags-to-riches fantasies. The disturbing truth she reveals about Alger truly shocked me, though, as she points out, it's not a secret so much as rarely discussed, and her analysis of his life and work illuminates elements of the billionaire romantic fantasy that have never quite clicked into place for me before. -ClaireBlair McLendon's New York Times magazine piece on America's Black billionaires. -EmmaWe've been watching…“Minx,” the HBO Max show about a prim feminist (a Vassar grad and tennis club member) who joins forces with a porn mag publisher (played by a swaggering Jake Johnson) after no one else takes an interest in her consciousness-raising magazine, The Matriarchy Awakens. The twist he adds: nude male centerfolds. It's not groundbreaking — it's pretty classic uptight-lady-meets-charming-dirtbag material — but it's well-executed and fun, and the 1970s hair doesn't hurt. -ClaireAll the screeners of “The Ultimatum.” Netflix's newest reality romance show is a complete mess, but I cannot look away!!!! -EmmaWe've been listening to…The bonus episodes of “Biohacked: Family Secrets” on Apple Podcasts, each of which follow someone whose life and identity was upended by a home DNA test. The stories are utterly gripping. -EmmaThis week's bonus episode of Love to See It! I couldn't make the taping because I was sick, so for this episode, I get to be a fan. Emma went to see The Bachelor Live in New York last weekend, and she recaps the whole bizarre evening with our friend Liviya Kraemer and our old producer Harry Huggins. -ClaireWe've been buying…A chelating shampoo, because apparently Jersey City has ridiculously hard water. (Our faucets have the white mineral stains to prove it.) Hard water can build up in your hair and make it dry and brittle — but chelating shampoo is also super drying?? Seems like a conspiracy. Why is it so hard to have hair? Should I just try to install a showerhead filter? My level of handiness is “Ikea dresser assembly.” -ClaireI took advantage of Sephora's spring sale to get some of my favorites lightly discounted. After months of searching and revamping my makeup routine, I've finally landed on a concealer: ILIA True Skin Serum Concealer with Vitamin C. I grabbed two of those — I have been wearing some light concealer under my eyes and on any blemishes on days when I want to look fresh but don't want to do a full face of makeup. I also grabbed Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Setting Spray, a tube of Benefit 24-Hour Lamination Effect Brow Gel, and a Beauty Blender sponge, because mine has gotten pretty gross. -EmmaGive us feedback or suggest a topic for the pod • Subscribe • Request a free subscription This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claireandemma.substack.com/subscribe

This is the free edition of Rich Text, a newsletter about cultural obsessions from your Internet BFFs Emma and Claire. If you like what you see and hear, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Rich Text is a reader-supported project — no ads or sponsors!We soft launched Rich Text one year ago. It was supposed to be a hobby, an experiment, an attempt to rediscover joy in writing after a demoralizing year of Covid scares, lockdowns, and (for Claire) new motherhood. Instead, in the 12 months since our inaugural newsletter — thanks to an unexpected layoff — it became one of our primary projects and sources of income.We rapidly ramped up our newsletter capacity, and, in an attempt to keep up with our Bachelor coverage as Matt James's season wound to a chaotic close, we began publishing our recap podcasts here as well. Our Bachelor podcast, Here to Make Friends, eventually found a new home with Stitcher as Love to See It with Emma and Claire, but we immediately realized that we had an opportunity with Rich Text to podcast about everything else: scripted TV, books, weird Twitter storms like Bad Art Friend and broader cultural topics like motherhood. We kept writing essays, if less frequently than we should have. In the year since we launched this newsletter, it's grown from a tiny side gig to the center of our work life. And that, to be honest, is about all of you. We were, and are, profoundly grateful for everyone who subscribed to the newsletter in the wake of our involuntary departure from HuffPost, and we are grateful for everyone who subscribes now. We appreciate everyone who reads and/or listens to Rich Text, everyone who shares it, and everyone who lets it pile up in their inbox because it really can be pretty hard to keep up with all your subscriptions (Claire says, eyeing her stack of unopened NYRBs in the corner). And, of course, we appreciate those readers and listeners who pay for premium subscriptions. Everyone who pays to subscribe to Rich Text makes it possible for us to keep doing what we love, which is writing and talking about culture. Starting a newsletter was a sort of optimistic, clean-slate New Year's gesture in 2021, when we wanted it to signify our renewed commitment to blogging it out and keeping our synapses firing. Now it's another new year, and another moment to take stock. Much like 2020, 2021 didn't go much like we expected (globally, politically, professionally, or personally). Professionally, it's been a terrifying and yet exhilarating new world for us. In this week's pod, we talk about how this year of Rich Text went, what we're proud of, and what we want to work on in 2022. This week, in lieu of recommendations, we're digging into the Rich Text archives. Here are our favorite podcast episodes and essays of 2021. ClaireEmmaPodcast EpisodesPlease let us know in the comments what you'd love to see more of in 2022! And again, thank you for being here. Happy New Year!Give us feedback or suggest a topic for the pod • Subscribe • Request a free subscription This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claireandemma.substack.com/subscribe

On Rich Text Book Club this week, we're talking about “Carefree Black Girls,” a new book from culture critic Zeba Blay, who also happens to be (full disclosure) our friend and old HuffPost colleague!In 2013, Zeba tweeted a post with the hashtag #carefreeblackgirl. She was an early popularizer of the term, which reached toward a conception of Black girlhood that could be joyful, relaxed, at ease in the world — carefree in a way that white girls were often shown as being. Almost a decade later, her hashtag has evolved into the title of a book of essays about Black women in pop culture and her own experiences as a Black woman and critic. In “Carefree Black Girls: A Celebration of Black Women in Popular Culture,” Zeba blends the personal and the critical in order to explore how Black women have created our culture, how they've been depicted in it and treated by it, and how these narratives affect how Black women and girls experience the world. As the subtitle suggests, it's a celebration of women like Josephine Baker, Mel B, Serena Williams, Countess Vaughn, Viola Davis, and Cardi B — but it's also a searching, tender excavation of the humanity of these women. Zeba examines how societal demands of and cultural tropes about Black women limit them, demand that they appear smaller or flatter or less complex than they truly are; she also, through her own experiences and those of the women she writes about, does an accounting of the suffering this causes. It's a beautiful and illuminating book, and we were so thrilled to talk to Zeba about it. This was also a mini-reunion, since we all worked together at HuffPost Culture for years — and getting to talk pop culture on Zoom again was, simply put, a huge treat.You can buy “Carefree Black Girls” here, or wherever you get your books!We've been watching…The new “Great British Baking Show” season. It's not quite like it used to be — I preferred it when the showstopper for Cake Week involved making a nice Victoria sandwich rather than an anti-gravity illusion cake (what is this, “Nailed It”?) — but I'll accept it. -ClaireI'm still making my way through “Squid Game,” because I am a MASSIVE baby when it comes to violence. But I still am loving it. -EmmaWe've been reading…“Carefree Black Girls,” “Crossroads,” and this horrifying deep dive on a series of brutal murders at Woodson Houses, a public housing complex in Brooklyn. -Claire“Carefree Black Girls,” of course, and our bud Jess Goodman's great Bustle piece on the perils of being a Very Online author. -EmmaWe've been listening to…Michael Hobbes's goodbye episode of “You're Wrong About,” which broke my heart (all-time fave pod, changing forever!) but also inspired many thoughts about how we decide where to expend our creative energy and how to keep the joy alive in projects that were once passion projects and became, well, work. -ClaireIn the spirit of keeping this Michael Hobbes-themed, I really loved the deep dive his other podcast, “Maintenance Phase,” did on Rachel Hollis. As someone who was only peripherally aware of Hollis before her TikTok/IG scandal, I really loved having Hobbes and his co-host Aubrey Gordon walk me through it all. -EmmaWe've been buying…We've both been saving up for next week's Hill House Holiday drop. Yes, we're extremely predictable. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claireandemma.substack.com/subscribe

This is the free edition of Rich Text, a newsletter about cultural obsessions from your Internet BFFs Emma and Claire. If you like what you see and hear, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Rich Text is a reader-supported project — no ads or sponsors!In Christine Pride and Jo Piazza's new novel, We Are Not Like Them (out tomorrow at your finest book purveyors), lifelong friends Riley and Jen find their bond being tested in the most profound way possible. Riley, a Black TV news reporter recently returned to her hometown of Philadelphia, is assigned to cover a shocking police shooting of an unarmed teenage boy, Justin. Her childhood bestie Jen, a white woman who is late in her longed-for pregnancy, is also caught up in the case — because her husband, Kevin, was one of the two cops who shot the boy. As Riley is drawn into covering the case, wrecked emotionally by yet another episode of anti-Black police brutality and developing a personal relationship with Justin's grieving mother and uncle, she also must contend with Jen's resentment that her best friend isn't supportive of her husband, as he faces an investigation and public wrath. Both Riley and Jen ultimately have to face the reality of how race plays a role in both their lives, and in their friendship, after years of avoiding tough conversations about racism. Pride and Piazza drew on their own perspectives as a Black woman and a white woman, as well as their own friendship, to tell Riley and Jen's story in We Are Not Like Them. In our conversation, the four of us discussed the agony and ecstasy of creative partnership, the importance of Google Docs, how to build three-dimensional characters, storytelling for a cause, and all the tripwires that make interracial conversations about race so difficult (especially if you're talking to your white friends!). Give us feedback or suggest a topic for the pod • Subscribe • Request a free subscription  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claireandemma.substack.com/subscribe

This is the free edition of Rich Text, a newsletter by Claire Fallon and Emma Gray. Rich Text is a space for the indulgent and the incisive, for witty and wistful explorations of the cultural, the personal, and the political in both written and audio formats. If you like what you see and hear, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Rich Text is a reader-supported project — no ads or sponsors!When the pandemic began, there was talk of a baby boom. More than a year later, that never materialized. But know what did? An egg-freezing boom. Turns out that lots of women, predominantly in their 30s, decided there was no time like the Covid present to explore their options for fertility preservation. (If you peruse Instagram, you'll even find a number of “Bachelor” ladies who publicly documented their egg-freezing journeys.) It was a perfect storm for women of a certain socioeconomic class: time to reflect on their desires and life choices while not going to the office, paired with the pre-existing trends of delayed parenthood and more employers offering coverage as part of their benefits packages. Our dear friend — and OG Here To Make Friends producer — Katelyn was one of the many women who chose to undergo egg freezing in the last year and a half. She joined us to discuss fertility preservation, the terror of regret, and the general mindfuck that is being a 30-something woman during Covid. More resources on egg freezing:“How Egg Freezing Went Mainstream,” NYTimes“Everything You've Ever Wondered About Egg Freezing, Answered,” ElleWe've been reading…Ghosts by Dolly Alderton, about a 30-something writer in London who gets on dating apps for the first time after ending a long relationship, meets a guy she really likes, and then gets ghosted. It's wry and well-observed and it broke me wide open. -EmmaA Touch of Jen by Beth Morgan, a sly and sardonic novel about two thirty-something servers, Alicia and Remy, whose romantic relationship is sustained by their joint obsession with Remy's ex-coworker Jen, a microinfluencer he has long fostered a crush on. After the pair runs into Jen in real life and strikes up a new friendship, things rapidly get weirder and darker, even downright supernatural. Instagram addiction, the service economy, woo-woo self-help and the alienation of (what else) life under late-stage capitalism all take on an eerie sheen in this book, which is equally funny, disturbing, and uncomfortably revealing of the world we live in. -ClaireWe've been listening to…“A Little Bit Culty,” a podcast by former NXIVM members Sarah Edmonson and Anthony “Nippy” Ames. I would especially recommend their bonus interview with India Oxenberg. -EmmaThe recent "Decoder Ring” episode on selling out, which actually offers a new insight on a topic I thought I'd already considered exhaustively: Jonathan Franzen's selection for Oprah's Book Club for The Corrections, and his public comments expressing that he didn't want the Oprah's Book Club sticker on his book because it would scare away his coveted male readers and diminish his artistic cred. Willa Paskin is a razor-sharp critic and, as always, I learned a lot from her analysis and research. -ClaireWe've been watching…Ok so this might be embarrassing but I am low-key obsessed with TLC's “Welcome To Plathville,” and season 3 just premiered. -EmmaI just finished AMC's “Kevin Can F*ck Himself,” a high-concept drama built around a traditional multi-camera sitcom featuring a schlubby, prank-pulling, Pats-obsessed, cable-repairing dude named Kevin and his hot, long-suffering wife Allison. When Kevin is offscreen, Allison, played by Annie Murphy (“Schitt's Creek”), lives in a gritty drama about marital dissatisfaction. Fed up with his endless capers, his narcissism, and his inability to leave space for her to be anything but a tireless servant and comedic foil, Allison decides to kill him. The premise is a neat bit of commentary, if a bit heavy-handed (as is the execution). -ClaireWe've been buying…Supergoop! Unseen Sunscreen in SPF 40 so that I can carry it around in my tote and hopefully actually be reminded to put it on every day multiple times a day. -EmmaThe Ordinary retinol serum, in hopes that I'll soon have successfully weaned my son and be allowed to contaminate my breast milk with aggressive skincare products again. Optimism! -ClaireGive us feedback or suggest a topic for the pod • Subscribe • Request a free subscription  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claireandemma.substack.com/subscribe

This is the free edition of Rich Text, a newsletter by Claire Fallon and Emma Gray. Rich Text is a space for the indulgent and the incisive, for witty and wistful explorations of the cultural, the personal, and the political in both written and audio formats. If you like what you see and hear, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Rich Text is a reader-supported project — no ads or sponsors!Welcome to our third Rich Text book club! We have officially reached trend status, y'all. For this episode, we were joined by our friend Jessica Goodman, the author of “They Wish They Were Us,” who has a twisty, page-turning new novel out this week called “They'll Never Catch Us.” Like her fantastic first book, it's a Y.A. thriller about murder, gossip, the terror-scape that is the high school lunchroom, and competitive young women with ambitions too big for the boxes they're expected to fit into. The book's primary narrators are Stella and Ella Steckler, two sisters who are competing for the top spot on their competitive cross-country team at a high school in the Catskills — as well as athletic scholarships that could be their ticket out of town. Stella's college hopes have already been shaken by a murky scandal from the previous season, and she's more determined than ever to catch the eye of recruiters. When Mila Keene, a star runner from Connecticut, moves to town and begins to compete with them for dominance on the team, the girls are rattled but also drawn to Mila's warm personality and competitive spark. Then Mila goes missing, and suspicion quickly turns to the two sisters who had most to gain from her absence in competitions. Did one of the Steckler sisters take out their competition? And if not, what happened? In this chat, we talked about the intense pressure placed on elite female athletes, who are asked to be explosively competitive on the field while always maintaining a polite, ladylike facade; the complexity of the bond between sisters; the gentrification of the Catskills; and so much more. You can buy the book here!Give us feedback or suggest a topic for the pod • Subscribe • Request a free subscription  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claireandemma.substack.com/subscribe

This is the free edition of Rich Text, a newsletter by Claire Fallon and Emma Gray. Rich Text is a space for the indulgent and the incisive, for witty and wistful explorations of the cultural, the personal, and the political in both written and audio formats. If you like what you see and hear, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Rich Text is a reader-supported project — no ads or sponsors!We'll admit it: we weren't exactly champing at the bit to watch “Sex/Life,” the new lightly pornographic Netflix drama. The trailer, and first twenty minutes, suggested that the show would be both heavy-handed (a butterfly in a jar to symbolize a hot mom being smothered by the confines of domesticity? groundbreaking) and bizarrely menacing in tone. If we're going to watch a campy, graphically sexual romance, we prefer a bit more spark and frothy fun and a bit less foreboding voiceover. But then, well, everyone started watching it. A lingering moment of male full-frontal fueled a think-piece cycle. Reviews were, uh, less than kind. Against our own initial instincts, we grew intrigued. And so, at last, we binged. “Sex/Life” tells the story of Billie, a ragingly hot and miserable Greenwich stay-at-home mom. She has a preschooler and a newborn, a sculpted Greek god of a husband who is also a successful hedge funder and living saint, a long-abandoned career as a psychologist and PhD candidate, and a throbbing need for sexual adventure and fulfillment that has begun to explode messily all over her life. In a melodramatic voiceover, taken from the pages of her Word doc journal, Billie recalls the explosive sex she used to have with her bad-boy ex, Brad, who broke her heart, and yearns for a rekindling of that part of herself. And then, oops, her husband reads the diary — AND she runs into Brad, who she learns has been hooking up with her best friend, Sasha, but still has feelings for her. Who will she choose? What will her husband do? The drama unfolds from here, but all the plot is crammed into a handful of minutes in between endless explicit sex scenes, which manage to feel more grim than sensual.In this discussion, we cover the first four episodes of “Sex/Life”: getting to know the paper-flat characters, unpacking the themes, and breaking down the credulity-stretching plot turns. We hope you enjoy!We've been reading…Filthy Animals, the new short story collection by Brandon Taylor, author of the recent novel Real Life, which I absolutely adored. There's a thread of linked stories, about an unusual relationship that forms between three young people at a university — two dance students, who are dating, and a man who becomes entangled in a sexual game between them — that serves as a spine for the collection, but the stories also dip into the lives of a desperate nanny, a tenuously closeted woman in her first lesbian relationship, and more. The whole collection is acutely observed and emotionally nuanced, a true pleasure to read. -ClaireWe've been watching…“My Unorthodox Life,” a reality show on Netflix about Julia Haart — current CEO of Elite World Group, and former member of an Ultra-Orthodox community in Monsey — and her four children. It's a fascinating look at religious fundamentalism and the path one family took in walking away from it. -EmmaThe second season of “I Think You Should Leave”! I almost cried with joy when I saw a new season of Tim Robinson's relentlessly uncomfortable, painfully funny sketch comedy show in my Netflix carousel. The new season is rife with absurd bits that spoof office politics, social niceties, and the death throes of capitalism. (If you've never watched the show, start with this season 1 sketch and then watch all two seasons.) -ClaireWe've been listening to…“Drama Queens,” the podcast where former “One Tree Hill” stars Bethany Joy Lenz, Sophia Bush and Hilarie Burton recap the series, episode by episode. The first episode gave me all the nostalgic feels about my days of WB-watching. -EmmaWe've been buying…Heeled sandals from Zara. I decided I needed to mix up my shoe collection and wanted some fun heels that also weren't super high and weren't super expensive. I landed on these fun pearl-trimmed ones! -EmmaI'm on a personal spending fast after months of trying to figure out what my summer style would be, in a postpartum world — I've figured it out, it's floaty dresses and high-waisted shorts with tank tops, next question — but my neighborhood park has a composting drop-off site, so I got a compost pail for our kitchen counter! It's part of my long-term plan to suck less at making sure everything in our home is recycled and disposed of in the most sustainable possible way. Recently I've also been trying out Bee's Wrap and Stasher bags to cut down on our plastic use, and reusable paper towels. -Claire This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claireandemma.substack.com/subscribe

This is the free edition of Rich Text, a newsletter by Claire Fallon and Emma Gray. Rich Text is a space for the indulgent and the incisive, for witty and wistful explorations of the cultural, the personal, and the political in both written and audio formats. If you like what you see and hear, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Rich Text is a reader-supported project — no ads or sponsors!Last year, it seemed like everyone was predicting a pandemic baby boom; this year, it turned out to be a baby bust (maybe because, thanks to reliable and accessible birth control, it takes more to get even straight people pregnant than forcing them into lockdown with their partners for months on end). Cue the media freakout. “Experts sound the alarm on declining birth rates among younger generations: ‘It's a crisis',” blared a CBS headline. Time went with “Why the COVID-19 Baby Bust Is Bad for America.” Arguments swirled about the need for stronger benefits to encourage young people to start producing kids in order to replace the population, or, conversely, the oppressive nature of pro-natalist policies. Should everyone be pushed to have lots of kids? Should everyone, rather, be discouraged from it? As a mom and a non-mom belonging to the fail-generation in question — those hapless millennials — we were both vaguely aghast by this discourse, which seemed to betray parents and non-parents alike. In our free time, we talk a lot about motherhood and the ways in which it's both fetishized as a concept by our society (especially for white women) while actual mothers are left without the resources or support they need. We talk about the ways in which a lower birth rate can be reflective of hard-won and valuable new freedoms for women, but also of a failure by our country to provide economic and healthcare benefits that would make having kids feasible for more people. We talk about how non-mothers are made to feel as if they're simply mothers-in-waiting, or as if they've failed to achieve the pinnacle of female value and experience; we also talk about how once women become mothers, their material needs are ignored and their individual identities are viewed as disposable. We also talk about how fraught it can be for women to talk with each other about the big question of motherhood from different experiences. Moms and non-moms are often set in opposition, resentful of the freedoms or plaudits offered to women who made the other choice, rather than being encouraged to connect across different experiences and find shared purpose in improving the lives of women who have kids — and their children — and the lives of women who don't. So we decided to have a talk about it! We unpack some of the discourse around the baby bust news cycle, look back at the Elizabeth Bruenig essay on early motherhood that fueled days of controversy back in May, and try to sort through our feelings about parenting, or not parenting, in a society that is hostile to parents and yet, at the same time, hostile to childfree people. We hope you enjoy! (And let us know if there are other topics like this one that you'd like to see us discuss!) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claireandemma.substack.com/subscribe

This is the free edition of Rich Text, a newsletter by Claire Fallon and Emma Gray. Rich Text is a space for the indulgent and the incisive, for witty and wistful explorations of the cultural, the personal, and the political in both written and audio formats. If you like what you see and hear, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Rich Text is a reader-supported project — no ads or sponsors!Welcome to another book club episode of Rich Text. Our second! Three times will make it official, right? Our book today is God Spare the Girls, a powerful exploration of American evangelical girlhood and coming of age, by Kelsey McKinney. (If you missed our first book club episode with Laura Hankin, you can listen to it here.)McKinney is a features writer and cofounder of Defector Media, as well as the author of God Spare the Girls, which will be out on June 22. Her novel tells the story of two young women, the daughters of a wealthy megachurch preacher, who begin to question their lives and their faith in the wake of a scandalous revelation about their father. You can pre-order the book here!On this episode of Rich Text, we chat with Kelsey about the appeal of celebrity pastors, what it's like to grow up in a community whose tenets you come to question, and the way the capitalism intersects with American evangelicalism (and other organized religion) in icky ways.We also get into one of our favorite topics: the way that evangelical Christianity has become inextricably linked to “The Bachelor.” Come for the book talk, stay for the in-depth conversation about Ben Higgins' Bible verse tat. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claireandemma.substack.com/subscribe

This is the free edition of Rich Text, a newsletter by Claire Fallon and Emma Gray. Rich Text is a space for the indulgent and the incisive, for witty and wistful explorations of the cultural, the personal, and the political in both written and audio formats. If you like what you see and hear, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Rich Text is a reader-supported project — no ads or sponsors!Be warned: This chat contains ALL THE SPOILERS. Who murdered the durder? We finally found out on Sunday night, after a spasm of national curiosity so intense that it overloaded HBO Max and left “Mare of Easttown” fans hanging. The show ultimately revealed itself to be as much of a family drama as a whodunnit, following the titular detective Mare (Kate Winslet) as she attempted to finally grieve for her late son, solve the disappearances of two young women and the murder of another in her small community, and hold her own crumbling family together. In the finale, the central mystery of the show — who murdered young mom Erin McMenamin? — is dramatically solved, and the relationships between Mare and her loved ones are further tested. Special guest Esmé Wang joined us to discuss whether “Mare” is actually a good show, the Delco accent PR blitz, how the show explores motherhood and friendship, and the thorny question of how to make murder mysteries without making copaganda. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claireandemma.substack.com/subscribe

This is the free edition of Rich Text, a newsletter by Claire Fallon and Emma Gray. Rich Text is a space for the indulgent and the incisive, for witty and wistful explorations of the cultural, the personal, and the political in both written and audio formats. If you like what you see and hear, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Rich Text is a reader-supported project — no ads or sponsors!It's been a minute since we've podcasted, so this week we're trying something a little bit different. There's so much in pop culture world we want to talk about and dissect — sometimes in obsessive detail. And we've absolutely loved getting to expand beyond “The Bachelor” here on the newsletter. That's something we will continue to do on “Rich Text,” in both audio and written formats. Some episodes, like this one, will be public. Others will continue to live behind a paywall, for subscribers only.Today's episode is all about The Kids (sort of). First, we talk about Pilot Pete and Kelley Flanagan, who can't stop giving long-winded, extremely vague podcast interviews (well Pete's was really just a monologue on his own podcast) about the messy end of their relationship.Then we really get into The Teens with a discussion of Freeform's soapy, ‘90s-set, teen thriller, “Cruel Summer.” Beyond just being a fun watch, the show is really a meditation on the power and danger of being a teenage girl, dressed up as a fast-paced, nostalgic mystery.Finally, we dive into Olivia Rodrigo's debut album, “Sour.” Is it creepy that adults — like us! — have been listening to it on repeat? What does it say about our culture that even we adults form obsessions over the things teenagers produce? Should we all just stop worrying and give into the ecstasy of playing “traitor” and “good 4 u” at high volume while dancing around our living rooms and/or driving down the highway?Happy weekend, and please enjoy our (slightly long, extremely fun) conversation about Kids These Days! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claireandemma.substack.com/subscribe

*Apologies for the occasional interruptions in this episode. We were contending with door knocking, phone calls and very loud package deliveries.*Imagine, if you will, a very safe and special place for women. It's candy-hued and tastefully lit; it's a space of female community and mutual empowerment. Most of all, it's secret, exclusive, guarded. If a cis man ever tries to enter, he will be met with force. It's The Wing meets Skull and Bones, and behind the gates, New York's most elite women are plotting change.This is Nevertheless, a clandestine social club at the heart of Laura Hankin's witty, suspenseful satire A Special Place for Women. The novel follows an out-of-work, lonely journalist named Jillian Beckley who pitches a moonshot story to her old editor and crush: An exposé of what really goes on inside the long-rumored, never-confirmed-to-exist club. She believes that the powerful women of Nevertheless were behind the election of the city's first woman mayor, and that they engineered her downfall after she tried to pass a wealth tax. She infiltrates the club — with some help from her childhood friend, Raf, a celebrity chef who agrees to pretend to be her boyfriend — and quickly discovers there is a lot going on. But what exactly? Is it just kitschy cute you-go-girl feminism, salary negotiation workshops, and virtue signaling? Or is there something darker… even something genuinely spooky?We chatted with Laura — who is, full disclosure, a longtime close friend — about her new book, safe spaces for women, girlbosses, Rachel Hollis, capitalism, female friendship, and so much more. Here's a brief excerpt of our conversation:Claire: There's so much to discuss in this book: corporate feminism and girlbosses, pastel furniture and cute neon signs that say, like, f**k the patriarchy, Tarot decks on sale at Urban Outfitters, and, of course, being special women, which we all are. Laura, thank you so much for joining us.Laura: Thank you so much for having me. We've had so many conversations over the years, but never one recorded before. Emma: The pressure is on! To kick us off, where did the idea for this book come from?Laura: So the funny thing that I don't think you knew until today, Emma, is that you played a role. About four years ago, you invited me to come and meet you for a coffee at this exclusive women-only space, The Wing. I remember being so excited to meet you there. I had never been before, but I had obviously seen the gorgeous Instagram. And I was like, “Oh my god, it's gonna be this incredible utopia for women. I'm gonna feel so welcomed. Maybe I'll try to join.” And I was at this place in my life where I didn't feel particularly impressive — [My first book], Happy And You Know It, had not been published yet. I was running around to a bunch of day jobs. And I remember going and meeting you and you were so wonderful. But I just felt so out of place and so self-conscious. I was like, “What am I doing here? My dress is so wrinkly. I'm too short.” It just made me wonder, what would happen if a woman who really did not picture herself being part of an exclusive club had to infiltrate it for her career? Claire: I was really intrigued by the idea of setting a really dark thriller/satire/mystery in these really glossy, cozy spaces that are supposed to be safe spaces for women who are threatened by male violence at every turn. I'm curious for you, what appealed to you about this juxtaposition of genre and setting?Laura: I think I was always like, “Oh, if I could just get into those beautiful spaces, and be surrounded by other women, and suddenly, I just had my allies in the fight and we could rest together, then everything would be great.” And that is obviously not the case. And so I wanted to dig underneath these shiny surfaces. Because I feel like sometimes the shiny surfaces can hide the deepest secrets. And also, I'm really drawn to shiny surfaces, and I want to be a part of them.Emma: In the book, you get at the inherent tension between advocating for gender equality and the exclusivity of an elite club — even if it is focused on women. It erases so many other ways that oppression plays out in our culture [other than gender], and also turns this social justice mission into a capitalist product. It's something that I think was you dealt with really compassionately, which, as someone who was a member of The Wing, and loved it, but also felt really conflicted about it the whole time, I really appreciated. Claire: It's so seductive to believe that you could belong to this beautiful place full of impressive people. And I feel like your book really gets at this. [Places like] The Wing, and more importantly, Nevertheless [the fictional women's club in the book], they're trying to embody an ideal of acceptance. That is what social justice is built on. It's not exclusivity, it's everyone gets the same, everyone gets their needs met equally. But what we really want in our communities is to be special. There's no community, the way that humans build community, without some people not being in it. And that is fundamentally inextricable from the appeal of a social club. So how do you find community without betraying the ideal of “everyone is equal, everyone is accepted”? It's very difficult for the women of Nevertheless to resolve that. Do you feel like you're still struggling with resolving that?Laura: A little bit? It's really nice to be able to have a “common enemy.” That might be the wrong [term], but to be able to be like, “well, the men can't come.” And I think a lot of the women in the club in the book will say the right things. Like, “we have to remember these other women, too, we have to support them, the ones who are not as fortunate as us.” But it takes hard work to actually reach out and include those other people. And also, then it would make going to the club not feel quite as exciting and fun, right? Having something be secret or exclusive makes it automatically feel so much more important than it actually is.Emma: I think so many of us don't want to admit the appeal of that, because it feels kind of gross to be like, “I like being special. I like being included in the thing that not everyone is [included in].” And so if you can dress that up in a mission, then you don't have to feel bad.Claire: There's this incredible balancing act that these companies are trying to do, which is marketing both acceptance and exclusivity, and trying to capitalize on both of those desires. Because what we all want is to be accepted and for other people not to be. And so if you can sell both sides of that, that's very effective.Emma: Laura, you do a really good job of interrogating those impulses, and universalizing the experience [of wanting to be chosen] and then picking it apart, but doing it from a really compassionate place, which makes A Special Place For Women such a fantastic read.Laura: Ultimately, I always really love my characters. And so I always do want them to succeed and try to be better. So I think I was coming at the writing of the book from that place. It's like, okay, they might fail, they might do some bad things. But is there hope for redemption for us all? Can we find a way to both belong and not keep people out unnecessarily?This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. You can listen to the full Rich Text audio chat in this newsletter, or wherever you get your podcasts! You can buy “A Special Place For Women,” which comes out May 11th, here, check out her virtual book launch here, and follow Laura on Instagram and Twitter! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claireandemma.substack.com/subscribe

On Wednesday morning, Colton Underwood sat down with Good Morning America's Robin Roberts to make a big announcement: He is gay.“I've ran from myself for a long time. I've hated myself for a long time. I'm gay and I came to terms with that earlier this year," he told Roberts.The interview packed a lot into less than 15 minutes. Underwood discussed the ways in which growing up in the Catholic Church and in the uber-macho world of professional football impacted his desire to avoid reckoning with his sexual identity. He talked about the mental health issues this repression wrought, culminating in a morning last year on which he “didn't have the intentions of waking up.” He spoke about the heterosexual cachet of “The Bachelor” franchise, so powerful that when he was named the titular lead, he remembers “praying to God the morning I found out I was the Bachelor and thanking him for making me straight.”He also addressed ex-girlfriend Cassie Randolph, although Roberts did not press him much on the temporary restraining order Randolph was granted against Underwood in September 2020. “I would like to say sorry for how things ended. I messed up. I made a lot of bad choices,” said Underwood. “I'm sorry from the bottom of my heart. I'm sorry for any pain and emotional stress I caused. I wish it wouldn't have happened the way it did. I wish I would have been courageous enough to fix myself before I broke anybody else.” We felt like Colton's interview — and all of the discourse around it — deserved more than a bonus chat. (There are layers! So many complex layers!) So we talked about it with the wonderful Daryn Carp, host of PeopleTV's Reality Check, and podcasts “Scissoring Isn't A Thing” and “Shaken And Disturbed.” In our hour-long conversation, the three of us all sorted through our reactions to the news, the broader implications of Colton's coming out, how to ensure Cassie's pain is accounted for in this moment, and the reports that he will be starring in a Netflix series currently being filmed.We also didn't want this one to be behind any paywalls, so we are making this post and the episode public. (You can copy the RSS feed from this newsletter into your podcast app of choice, or you can search Rich Text directly on Spotify.)Happy listening, friends

Special thanks to Sara Patterson for producing and editing this Rich Text audio chat. If you need an amazing audio producer, hire her! This week on Rich Text we dive into the finale of Matt James season of “The Bachelor.” As you can imagine, we had *a lot* of thoughts on the bleak conclusion of a season that was meant to signal historic change for the franchise. After you listen, check out our essay about the finale and After The Final Rose special on Cosmopolitan.com! Want more Rich Text? Consider becoming a paid subscriber to support this now-curricular writing project, and receive subscriber-only posts and audio. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit claireandemma.substack.com/subscribe