Fearless, Not Frightened

🎃 THE HALLOWEEN EDIT

Good morning,

Last week we had a tech meltdown worthy of the Wicked Witch—disappearing emails, colorful language, and not enough caffeine in the world. But like any scrappy founder (cape optional), I dug in, called some smart women for support, and carried on.

Maybe that’s why I love Halloween. It rewards resilience and reinvention. I spent years sewing my kids’ costumes, even when they begged for store-bought ones. Now I get to watch my daughter stitch one for her newborn. Full circle. Heart full.

This week, we’re throwing open the treat bag: Rocky Horror rebellion, monsters in love, satire with bite, and essays sharp enough to make you sigh. Not too sweet, wonderfully weird—just the way we like it.

CULTURE

Time Warp Again: How Rocky Horror Liberated a Generation

BY VIVIAN MANNING-SCHAFFEL

What’s more bewitching than candy corn and witch hats? Unleashing your desire through fishnets and midnight music. For 50 years, Rocky Horror has transformed outsiders and dreamers into a riotous tribe, teaching us to be it, not just dream it. But as we do the Time Warp half a century later, it begs the question: Have we kept its fearless spirit, or just the costumes? Lose yourself in the nostalgia, and look back on what it taught us.

LIVING OUT LOUD

Mashing on Monsters: Claiming Fantasy (and Pleasure) at Any Age

BY MARIAH DOUGLAS

Why limit your wild side to October 31? Life’s getting deliciously weird, as the monster-romance craze rewrites the rules of grown-up female fantasy. Forget hiding your spicy Kindle reads—monster smut is where rebels, romantics, and the newly bold thrill without shame. From dragon lovers to orc crushes, it’s about owning desire and finding community in the unexpected. Freedom tastes best when you dare to love what (or who) rocks your world—365 days a year.

HUMOR

Trick or Treat: Graveyard Edition

BY ABBY HEUGEL

The phone cord you could wrap yourself in now lies tangled in eternity—alongside pudding pops, paper maps, and Friday nights at Blockbuster. Part nostalgia, part elegy, this one resurrects the ghosts of our analog past. Grab your flashlight and follow us into the cultural afterlife—where Herbal Essence still lathers and TV Guide still reigns. Read it now—if you dare to remember.

TAKE NOTE

🪦 It Turns Out the Bride of Frankenstein Was Never Lost. She was just hiding in plain sight. Nearly 40 years after Elsa Lanchester’s death, a Hollywood tour guide uncovered her long-misplaced remains in a North Hollywood rose garden, buried quietly under her married name. Lanchester, who played both the Bride and Mary Shelley in the 1935 classic, finally gets the recognition she deserves—with a new memorial unveiled on what would have been her 123rd birthday.

👩🏼‍🚀 A Star Who Raised Us All. June Lockhart was the original iconic mom. She passed away on October 23 at the age of 100 and leaves behind a reminder that women contain multitudes—mother, rebel, and, always, original. As the calm, capable mother in Lassie and Lost in Space, she shaped what strength and warmth looked like on screen. Offscreen, she was everything those characters weren’t: witty, adventurous, rock ’n’ roll to the end.

🔥 Hot Flashes, Meet Your Match. The FDA has approved Lynkuet, a daily pill with elinzanetant that targets the brain’s thermostat to tame hot flashes, night sweats, and sleep chaos. In clinical trials, more than 70 percent of women saw major relief within weeks, giving those avoiding HRT (including breast cancer survivors) a powerful new option. Lynkuet arrives in November—finally, a chill pill worth celebrating.

BRAIN AND BODY

**What the F*: Six F-Words That Prove We’re Not ‘Bitter Old Women’**

BY DR. GAYLE MACBRIDE, PhD, LP

This Halloween, the real witches aren’t casting spells—we’re setting boundaries. A new definition of the F-word, one rooted in agency and reclaimed power. This isn’t a midlife crisis; it’s a midlife correction. Call us “bitter” if you must, but women over 50 are fluent in the F-words that actually matter. It’s liberation, dressed in black and fresh out of Fs to give.

MONEY AND TECH

Cybersecurity for Women Who’d Rather Be Doing Anything Else

BY SUSAN DABBAR

Forget haunted houses—true terror sneaks into your inbox. From AI-generated grandkids begging for bail money to phishing links dressed up as Amazon deliveries, hackers are the monsters of modern life. But a few smart habits can outwit them. Consider this your digital exorcism—because the scariest thing this Halloween isn't what goes bump in the night, it's what goes click.

OUR PICK

🧙‍♀️ From One Witch to Another: If you like your truth served with humor, heart, and a touch of hex, you’ll love Evil Witches—a newsletter by Claire Zulkey for mothers who are done pretending it’s all fine. Claire's irreverent and refreshingly real about the chaos of parenting, aging parents, and staying human in between. Here’s one of my favorite reads: Who's your empty nest icon? We may be different kinds of witches, but we’re all casting the same spell: honesty.

READER SPOTLIGHT

✒️ Here's what one reader had to say this week:

“My mom died earlier this year. She had been in a nursing home for eight months suffering with multiple strokes and eventual organ failure. That was the longest eight months of my life! The day we laid her to rest the cemetery employee was lowering her urn into the ground and as he lowered it his t-shirt rode up and exposed a 4-inch plumber's crack. It took all that we had not to burst out laughing at that moment. It turned a very somber moment into one that we will all remember with laughter. I know mom was laughing in heaven that day!” —Bev on My Coping Superpower: Finding Humor in the Darkness

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