5.7.26 Yesteryear, Public Docs, The Anti Met, ETC!!!!!!

No, you did not miss last week's newsletter, and hopefully this one isn't sitting in your spam! Apologies for the missed week - I was under the weather (and this is a one woman show after all).

Thank you all for reading the first edition of Running Late & giving me such thoughtful feedback. Now let's get into it!

At Dinner This Week We're Talking About: Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

My friends in publishing have been buzzing about Yesteryear since it went out on submission. I finished the novel, released April 7th, at the end of last week. Safe to say that the last 100 pages turned me into the kind of person who reads on the subway in a very serious non-performative way.

As complicated as it is accessible, Yesteryear is a distinct reflection on religion, motherhood, postpartum, anger, and contrived mirrors of perception. Debut author Caro Claire Burke invites readers into the mind of Natalie Heller Mills, a fundamentalist Christian woman turned tradwife influencer. Yesteryear will suck you into a world that resembles fragments of Ballerina Farm, Ruby Franke (which Burke addressed herself), and Puritan New England. I will leave any plot summary at that. Just go read it. And then talk about the book's themes and literary things like unreliable narrators with your friends at dinner. Then, I challenge you to ponder if you see bits of yourself in any of the characters - perhaps Natalie's cruel, critical inner monologue or Reena's moral floundering. I challenge you to think about your relationship to faith, and if there's any truth to Natalie's critique of the secular modern world. Did you ever find yourself nodding? I challenge you to ask the young & old mothers in your life their experiences after giving birth. Dig in, and definitely do it over a glass of chilled red.

Author Note: Burke herself is currently on book tour and pregnant. This is her debut novel, and if you needed any inspiration in your life take a look at the list of book submission rejections she endured before Yesteryear here.

Yesteryear is available in nearly any bookstore or on any major audiobook platforms.

A Week of Exposed & Unsealed Documents

1. A highly entertaining string of texts has been revealed in the Musk v. Altman trial in the last 24 hours between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman & former CTO Mira Murati during the period Altman was fired as CEO (later rehired) and Murati was interim-CEO in 2023.
2. Justin Baldoni & Blake Lively court documents unsealed in settlement on Monday, most interestingly revealing Lively's brand deal income ($360k just for using Charlotte Tilbury at the 2022 Met Gala)
3. Jeffery Epstein's alleged suicide note was released by Judge Kenneth Karas yesterday, potentially debunking popular conspiracy theories that it was not in fact a suicide.

Mount Sinai's new women's health facility opening this month promises a revolutionary integrated-care model for women, along with new podcast HERology hosted by researchers & physicians (Shoutout @Nikita for the tip!) Fashionista @giverachelashot based in Lagos, Nigeria - Outlander reported that she was inspired by Diya @DiyaJoukani, India's cool girl who stunned my feed earlier this year ​The voice actor trying to save Spirit Airlines by making it a community-owned franchise Harry Styles' butt in new "Dance No More" music video This quote from Tom Lake: "We could listen to podcasts until the hour of our death and not make a dent in the stories that are available to us." - Ann Patchett

PLAYLIST OF THE WEEK 5.7.26 • RunningL8 Horses and Divorces (feat. M... PREVIEW   ​ Click here to send me feedback, story request, tips, etc.!

Rage Bait I Fell for this Week: Met Gala

The 1st Monday of May is equally exciting and predictable: The Met Gala occurs and half of my Instagram feed becomes unsolicited fashion analysis while the other half yields a torrent of complaints about wealth inequality. This year, there was a backlash to the backlash. Some ideologues who would normally look down on an event like the Met Gala tried to quell criticism, reminding followers that the event is, in fact, a charity event.

Does the charitable cause negate the opulence? Here are some quick facts to takeaway:

• Tickets to the Met gala reportedly cost $100,000 for invited individuals this year. Tables for 10 go for $350,000 and are often bought by fashion houses/designers.
• All proceeds support the museum's Costume Institute, which stores over 33,000 objects across 7 centuries of fashion dating back to the 15th c.
• The Institute costs about $5M a year to run. The NYT reports it has been putting money into an endowment since 2016 in hopes of alleviating its financial reliance on the party
• This year, criticism centered on Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos. Both were honorary chairs to the Gala because of their sponsorship. It's kind of like the financial predicament in the Devil Wears Prada 2. If only there was a real life Sasha Barnes to swoop in and sponsor fashion's biggest night. @Melinda Gates?
• "Ball Without Billionaires" took place before the Met Gala on Monday around the theme "Labor is Art." Amazon workers, union members, and activists walked the runway & attended. Here's stylist @Mohuya's view from the front row.

Most of all I was left wondering how Sarah Paulson managed to learn nothing from AOC's "Tax the Rich" dress at the 2021 Met Gala.

​Tell me - if you were invited, would you go?

SOLICIT

Before you wrap this week's newsletter, I'm working on a story about GLP-1's. If you are on one, know someone on one, or have any thoughts to share or tips, please reach out or write me here. I want to hear everything across demographics. THX.

If you enjoy Running Late™, subscribe here.