Quick Spin: RFK Jr., Friendships as Self Care, and the Shoe That Broke The Internet
Hoka made a loafer???
I’m playing with formats for this weekly newsletter, so if you like a particular section or style, let me know. Also if something isn’t working, you should tell me, too. (Just say it nicely please, I’m fragile.)
This week reinforced what I already know and have been thinking about a lot: your relationships are self-care. I spent six days on a work retreat in Joshua Tree with
and , both amazing writers and journalists (yes maggie, you’re a journo). We already talk on a near-daily basis via group text, but having this time together in person was much more rewarding. We laughed and shared ideas and reassured one another and ran around the desert and sat together working in silence. After spending so much time solo lately easing into a new year of freelancing, this quality friendship time felt so necessary for my mental health.
We’ll get it out of the way and I’ll try to keep it brief: RFK Jr.’s confirmation hearing. If confirmed, he would head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services—overseeing everything from healthcare to scientific research to emergency response to the FDA and CDC.
Many of the issues he claims to care about are important. We do need more research on the toxic chemicals in our environment. We should demand transparency about what’s in our food and hold big corporations accountable. Our healthcare system obviously isn’t working. And our chronic disease crisis is real— and just because Republicans are talking about it doesn’t mean we should dismiss it. Health should be a bipartisan issue, but this administration is making that damn near impossible.
All the solutions RFK Jr. offers—if he has anything to say at all beyond “I will do what President Trump tells me to do”—are meager and uninformed. Not to mention he is a professional fear-monger who spews anti-science rhetoric and tailors his stance to whatever benefits him most. (A highlight: NH senator Maggie Hassan—the first woman to speak, 1 hour and 25 minutes into the confirmation hearing—calling him out for abandoning his lifelong stance on abortion and selling out to Trump.) He spent the entire hearing insisting he supports vaccines….despite making millions in lawsuit referrals for people who may have been injured by one. (He has since backpedaled and says he’ll stop collecting payouts.)
This Rep. senator may be our only hope?
In case you missed it: Thanks to Trump’s executive orders, government agencies are quietly taking down essential health information—reproductive health, sexual health, domestic violence resources—from their websites, under the guise of removing inclusive language like “pregnant people.” There’s probably more to the story that we don’t know yet because more and more sites are taken down daily. Luckily, some internet angels have been archiving the pages before they disappear and posting them here.
Chirp sent me their Wheel+ and Wheel XR and I unboxed them on Friday when I got home from the gym. I had been dealing with some brain fog for a few hours at this point, started I started rolling my back out, and oh my god, everything started to clear. The large wheel—which is mocking me when it says “gentle pressure”—nearly exorcised all the demons from my body. It’s very different from a foam roller—more intense, more satisfying, less versatile. But dare I say a must-have for desk workers?
Other things I’ve liked this week:
This fluffy puffer jacket from Salomon is the ideal length. I’ve been wearing it in the color Shitake. It feels sooo soft, too.
This website, Public.Work, is full of copyright-free art from the Met, the New York Public Library, and other cool sources, so you can expect to see some of them as my cover photo from now on.
I’ve been using the breathwork and meditation app Open for about a month now. Beautiful graphic design, James Blake soundscapes, and no decision fatigue because the daily meditation is right there when I open it.
Rivian loaned us the RS1 for our girls’ desert trip (!!) and it was a ton of fun to drive, but I could’ve used another month with it to make use of all the features. (I didn’t even get to use “Rally Mode” on the dirt road!) Also, I got too used to the automatic braking and might crash my minivan now.
We used ResortPass to book a day at Miracle Manor Spa, an independently-owned hotel, outside of Palm Springs. The soaking tubs full of mineral water were a dream. They have complimentary day passes for those affected by the wildfires right now, so LA friends check it out.
I leave you with this little bit of internet magic from this week: Hoka set the internet on fire this week (at least the running community) with its “Speed Loafer”: A leather upper slapped onto a Speedgoat midsole. Objectively ridiculous, but honestly sort of brilliant? It’s got everyone talking and it’s already sold out.
But check out the detailing with the gold logo:
Then, in my deep dive to see if the review above was real or a marketing ploy, I discovered this wild subreddit:
The lore runs deep. We may never know the truth.
Freelancing updates: A lot of my work comes in last minute, so I often start the month with an empty calendar and then suddenly I’m in over my head because I’ve said yes to everything in a panicked state. I pitched a ton and workshopped some new ideas with the gals, and a few new articles went live this week:
A review of the Hoka Bondi 9 running shoe for Well + Good
I report on recent studies for Health and this one was about elderberry juice and weight management.
This explainer about VO2max republished on GQ, but I wrote it a few months ago.
K love you, bye!
I fear the Hoka review is the height of comedic genius for me
Idk how I feel about the loafer