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Good morning,
Holiday whiplash is real. The Thanksgiving leftovers are finally gone, I’m half-unpacked from yet another move, and my Christmas ornaments are scattered across three zip codes. My son hauled holiday boxes from the attic while my daughter took over most of the cooking, and I somehow got two trees up—crooked, mismatched, and beautiful in a “good enough” way.
As I unwrapped each ornament, I thought about all the places I’ve been and the life packed into those boxes. That’s what this community feels like too: women who carry a lot, tell the truth about what it cost, and keep building anyway. This week is about women who won’t disappear quietly—who fight for fairness, call out the BS, and try their damnedest to keep things from falling apart, even in pajama pants.
However you’re moving through this season, you’re seen here.
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BRAIN AND BODY
BY AILEEN WEINTRAUB
For women, hair is often a core part of our identity. It’s what people notice first— the color, the wave, the texture that signals youth, culture, visibility. What happens when the thing that once made us recognizable starts to dull, thin, or fall away entirely? And when the world stops seeing us the way we want to be seen?
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BY MARGIE ZABLE FISHER
Social Security isn’t a handout; it’s money we earned. And the woman who designed it understood fairness. It’s time to finish what she started.
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HUMOR
BY ABBY HEUGEL
December wants us twinkly and bright, but mostly we’re exhausted, sticky, and wondering why the tree lights hate us. Holiday “magic” runs on women’s invisible labor. Cheers to reading the truth.
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TAKE NOTE
Timely and worth your attention.
🎥 Jane Fonda, 87, has called Netflix’s planned $82.7 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. “catastrophic”, warning it would hand one company outsized control over what gets made and seen. Now a rival hostile bid led by David Ellison and Paramount adds another layer of power jockeying over the stories we consume. When a lifelong activist says Hollywood’s future is on the line, we listen.
💸 MacKenzie Scott (ex–Mrs. Bezos), 55, just gave away another $7.1 billion this year, pushing her post-2019 total past $26 billion—and she’s doing it with zero FAFF. No grant forms. She trusts the people already doing the work. This is what generosity without permission looks like. Now that’s a real flex.
🎬 The 2026 Golden Globe nominations just dropped, and television is where the female power stories are. The White Lotus leads with six nods. Pluribus snagged a lead-actress nomination for Rhea Seehorn, 53; Jean Smart, 74, is back in the race for Hacks; and Helen Mirren, 80, receives the Cecil B. DeMille Award.
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Three women's stories. Three truths we rarely say out loud.
BY ESTELLE ERASMUS
BY BLAIR GLASNER
BY GAYLE PETRILLO
The truth isn't always pretty. But it's powerful.
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READER SPOTLIGHT
"I literally scoff and snort when told my BMI number. I already know I need to lose more weight .... It’s an idiotic measurement that has absolutely no place in our medical care. I’m headed for a knee replacement and the first surgeon I saw fixated on my BMI. I don’t think I’ll be using him. — S.A. on As a Dietitian, I Call BS on BMI Want to be featured next? Comment on your favorite piece—we read them all.
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CULTURE
BY SUSAN DABBAR
Calling ourselves out with love: We smashed ceilings, burned bras, and still text our kids like a SWAT unit on standby. Can we do better?
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INTRODUCING
The PROVOKED 50: Women Over 50 Worth Following
Nominate up to five women, age 50+ who are creating online—the loudmouths, the style rebels, the truth-bomb writers, the community builders—the ones making midlife impossible to ignore.
💬 Five questions. One minute.
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📝 Missed a Thursday drop? All of our past newsletters are waiting for you right here.
⌨️ Our newsletter and articles are written by Susan and the talented writers of PROVOKED. Get to know the women behind them here.
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