Is that a one-time cash donation button for the subscription-shy and those with extra change rolling around? It is!
“I Regret Being a Slut” is the provocative title of an essay published this week by writer and podcaster Bridget Phetasy, who writes, of her earlier sexual adventurism:
“At the time, I would have told you I was ‘liberated’ even while I tried to drink away the sick feeling of rejection when my most recent hook-up didn’t call me back. At the time, I would have said one-night stands made me feel “emboldened.” But in reality, I was using sex like a drug; trying unsuccessfully to fill a hole inside me with men. (Pun intended.)”
Nancy and Sarah agree that random hook-ups can be the junk food of sex, if not exactly what drove each of them to try to do her own filling up. They do agree on how that worked out: kinda meh. They also agree that the recent spate of doomsday articles about the sexual revolution ain’t exactly bringing back the joy.
Speaking of the joy of sex, two of America’s biggest movie stars could not apparently keep their hands off each other; had two doors on their bedroom to keep out little children’s prying eyes, and at one point built a fuck hut. But all was not romance or as it seemed, according to Sarah, who’s seen all six episodes of “The Last Movie Stars,” the docu-series that chronicles the decades-long careers and marriage of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. Nancy wonders if Ethan Hawke, who directed the series, is mining the complicated marriage of others’ in order to figure out his own former union with actress Uma Thurman. Spoiler alert from Sarah: May-be.
Hat tips to authors Stephen King and Richard Ford, curiosity about whether safe-guarding anxiety works out in the long run, and fresh-and-toasty offerings from the Hot Box!
Episode Notes:
Popular 1970s breakfast cereals, including the geriatric-sounding Post Fortified Oat Flakes Nancy loved as a 7-year-old
“Land of the Lost” intro
”Davey and Goliath” show opening, which, frankly, is pretty rad
Articles published this week by Smoke ‘Em:
“Does Kansas Prove the Roe Voter is Here?” by Nancy Rommelmann (Common Sense)
“Sex, Scandal, and Sisterhood: Fifty Years of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders,” by Sarah Hepola (Texas Monthly)
“Behind the Scenes at the Philbrook Museum,” by Nancy Rommelmann (Paloma Media)
On Writing: A Memoir on Craft, by Stephen King
“Good Raymond,” by Richard Ford (New Yorker)
The Sportswriter, by Richard Ford
A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara
“The Case Against the Trauma Plot,” by Parul Sehgal (New Yorker)
“Jonah Hill To Launch Docu ‘Stutz’ At Fall Festivals; Due To Anxiety Attacks, He Will Take A Break From Promoting His Films,” by Mike Fleming Jr. (Deadline)
“Simone Biles is TIME’s Athlete of the Year” (Olympics.com)
“Parts Per Trillion,” by Ed Ruscha (original); rendition on Nancy’s left forearm
“I Regret Being a Slut,” by Bridget Phetasy
Bridget on Curd Your Enthusiasm!
Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget, by Sarah Hepola
“Tinder Hearted: How did a dating app become my longest running relationship?” by Allison P. Davis (The Cut)
The Case Against the Sexual Revolution, by Louise Perry
“Against the Case Against the Sexual Revolution,” by Emma Collins (Wes Yang Substack)
“The Last Movie Stars” (HBO)
Hud official trailer
Heat and Light, by Jennifer Haigh
Outro song: “Downtown Train” by Tom Waits
30. Filling the Hole: Sex, Love and What Lies Beneath