Don't Hurt Yourself

MAY DAY! Beyonce posts photos and people jump to conclusions; plus, a little something I wrote, and some things I'm enjoying.

Hello readers,

How are you doing this week? What's new in your world? What do you have on tap for the weekend?

You know, we live in a world that is what it is. But is also full of little strange joys, like that moment this past week when I took a work break, only to discover that Beyonce posted a series of photos in which she's wearing a purple dress similar to the yellow one she wore in the 2016 "Hold Up" video.

The amateur in me sat for a moment and thought "Wow, she looks amazing in purple" but then I made the mistake of reading the comments, which seemed to suggest the whole world order was about to shift.

Mother is coming.

She is wearing diamonds and pearls too, which can only mean that when she comes, it will be a Prince-inspired new album.

Get your money ready, people. She is coming for our bank accounts. This is happening, and happening soon.

I'm not going to sleep until that new music drops.

OMG! She took the Cowboy Carter merch off her website!!

This is not a drill!!!

And so on and so forth...

Now I would like a new Beyonce album as much as the next person, but I'm very much of the "let cooler heads prevail school." Or at least I was, until Mother then posted a video of Destiny's Child with the singer Stevie Nicks. I love the idea of some Prince-inspired rock, but I'll confess that I started thinking the first single of whatever this new album is going to be would be a cover of Nicks' "Edge of Seventeen." Hear me out. I've never been much of a math person (or a science person, if we're being real), but here's the Beyhive equation I've worked out:

• Three members of Destiny's Child = Act 3 in this post-Lemonade trilogy.
• Plus, the guitar riff from "Edge of Seventeen" was sampled in Destiny's Child's "Bootylicious."
• This purple dress might be a head fake. Prince, who wore purple, had doves and sang "When Doves Cry." But what if this is actually a nod to the very first line of "Edge of Seventeen" – "Just like a white-winged dove..."
• What does it all mean? Does it involve the Illuminati? Have I lost my mind?

I'm being silly, of course. But being silly for a moment beats fretting about headlines, can we agree? Do you make time for silliness, or at least find yourself gravitating toward it in order to lighten the load? Hit reply and let me know your relationship to goofiness, if you're so inclined.

Big hugs to all of you. Here's hoping you have a wonderful, restful weekend ahead.

Until next week,

Paige

Writing prompt: Invent a conspiracy theory. Be hardcore about it. But be convincing too.

Sometimes people make things difficult and complicated, but if you are consistent, focus on what makes you successful, take notes along the way, and work on the things you need to improve, good things happen.

-- Dawn Staley

Endnotes

Never Knocked Out

When fitness instructor and influencer Kendall Toole reflects on 2016 (as so many of us did in our social media feeds at the start of this year), she realizes that it was the moment when she began planting the seeds that would blossom into her current life. She had left a job at Snapchat to teach boxing—a sport that had once helped her get through an unimaginably difficult time and regain her power. And though it may not have seemed like much to her at the time, a year later she was helping a handful of regular folks punch out their frustrations every Wednesday night at a Rumble Boxing studio she had opened in Los Angeles.

“Nobody wanted to go to Sunset Boulevard on a Wednesday night and work out,” she recalls. “But the people who came on Wednesday night were there to get something out of their systems. So, I kind of threw out the rule book with that class. I don’t know if what I was doing was motivational speaking, but people would stay after until 10 p.m. and we’d talk about life and what’s going on with them, and what’s going on with me, and how we’re getting through it. That was a big moment when I remember telling myself, ‘I wish I could do this at a bigger scale.’”

After all, Toole, now 33, knew what it was to be knocked down in life. That story, shared with people who took her classes at Rumble and then Peloton, has since become the foundation for her new holistic wellness and fitness app, NKO Club, which launched late last year. NKO stands for “never knocked out”—a phrase that has guided Toole’s decade-long journey from fresh-faced University of Southern California (USC) graduate, to beloved Peloton instructor, to founder and chief executive officer of a growing fitness empire that’s grounded in her experience and beliefs.

I spoke with Toole recently for the cover feature in this month's Jupiter Magazine, the rest of which you can find here. Toole is whip-smart and very funny, which made for a great interview. I sincerely appreciated her willingness to talk about mental health, a subject that many people still aren't comfortable discussing due to the stigma. I also appreciated this little anecdote that didn't make it into the final piece: After noticing the Duran Duran Funko Pops on the shelves in my office, she told me that she taught the band's bass player, John Taylor, how to box. I had to keep my inner teenager from saying "Oh my GAWD, like, was he totally amazing, and like did you touch him, and..." Yeah. I'm a pro.

Bust a Cap on that Art

You can toss your plastic caps and lids in the recycling bin, or you can give them to Atlanta's Heather Elson who'll have much grander plans for those otherwise forgotten odds and ends. As founder and chief executive officer of the year-old nonprofit No More Liddering, Elson has transformed 75,000 lids into 44 vibrant masterpieces that hang in metro-area schools and venues like Mercedes Benz Stadium. Garden & Gun recently featured Elson and her "garbage art and plastic fever dream" which turns other people's waste into things of beauty. Tubs and tubs of plastic sit in her basement awaiting their glow-up. "This is a minuscule fraction of what is in the world," she says. "We have got to care more about where our trash goes."

A Few Things I'm Enjoying

The super-cool Isamu Noguchi exhibit that's at the High Museum of Art until August 2. Images of 1930s Paris. This Alvin Chang website that illustrates the large and small things that have made people happy. A fresh haircut. My kid, who turned 21 this week.

If you get a minute...

...this week the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to demolish the part of the Voting Rights Act that prevents racial discrimination in voting. This will lead to redrawn congressional maps in advance of the November midterm elections, a move that will certainly suppress Black voices. So, if you get a minute, consider calling your state rep and explaining democracy to them, and/or donating what you can to an organization like the ACLU, which fights to protect rights like these. Thank you.