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Happy Timmy Tomato Tuesday. Timmy Tomato is the name of my new kitten, and Timmy Tomato Tuesday is a new tradition I have invented where I cook something with tomatoes for dinner (tonight, it’s chicken parm with a homemade red sauce) and Timmy gets to “choose” what movie my fiancee and I watch. WHAT WILL HE CHOOSE. 🍅

Queer as in F*ck You

Lit Hub published an excerpt from the new book NO CRYING IN BASEBALL: The Inside Story of A League of Their Own: Big Stars, Dugout Drama, and a Home Run for Hollywood by Erin Carlson. The excerpt provides a deep dive on the casting of the original A League of Their Own movie! When A League of Their Own Started Casting, Actresses Took Over LA’s Batting Cages. Turns out every white actress in Hollywood wanted a shot to be in A League of Their Own, as the movie promised placing women at the center of narrative instead of boxing them into supporting roles or cliche stocktypes. And they all had to prove they could play or at least learn to play baseball, so they took to LA’s batting cages to train. Among those who auditioned: Courteney Cox, Cindy Crawford, Sarah Jessica Parker, Tatum O’Neal, Kelly Preston, Brooke Shields, Elizabeth Perkins, Demi Moore, Daryl Hannah, Mariel Hemingway, Laura Dern, and Jennifer Grey. The 90s excellence!!!!!!! And according to the piece, iconic lesbian Rosie O’Donnell thought the following when she flew in for the audition: If I don’t get this part, I’ll quit show business. If there’s one thing I can do better than Meryl Streep, it’s play baseball. 

The Writers Strike Is Nearly Over—So What Does That Mean For the Actors Strike?

United States Scores a C on Global LGBTQ+ Human Rights Scorecard.

Two pieces of news from my home state of Virginia:

• Virginia Beach Students Push Back Against Glenn Youngkin’s Anti-Trans Policies.
• Virginia Library Temporarily Avoids Closing Over LGBTQ+ Books Controversy.

Lesbian Bar Watch! Lesbian Bars Are Disappearing Nationwide, But There Are Signs of Life in Mass.

How Anti–Sex Work Legislation Is About to Get Worse.

Saw This, Thought of You

imo, Hannah Giorgis is one of the best culture writers in the game. Read her latest: The Horror Stories of Black Hair.

HANDS DOWN THE WILDEST THING I’VE READ ALL WEEK: What I Found in a Database Meta Uses to Train Generative AI.

Let’s dive into some literature!

• “To Be A Writer, You Must Write:” How Joan Didion Became Joan Didion.
• We Asked Book Lovers To Reflect on Hispanic Heritage Month. Here’s What They Recommended.
• It’s New Book Tuesday, so sink into Lit Hub‘s feature, Check Out the 27 New Books Out Today! My personal recommendations from this list would be the new releases from C. Pam Zhang, Eliza Clark, McKenzie Wark, and Isle McElroy.

Political Snacks

The Supreme Court Just Rejected Alabama’s Attempt to Deny Representation to Black Voters. Again.

America’s New Climate Corps Will Need to be a Lot Bigger.

One More Thing

God, this poem got me good:

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