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Good morning,
Gazing out my window at 15 inches of glistening snow—with more on the way—I’m reminded that you can’t negotiate with weather.
You can plan. You can prepare. You can be that person who keeps an extra charger in her purse and thinks this qualifies as “control.” But when the forecast decides to go feral, your schedule becomes a suggestion.
Last week, my husband and I road-tripped from New York to D.C. for PROVOKED meetings, and I had to make a call: stay through the end of the trip like I’d planned—or leave early and risk missing opportunities that had been lined up for weeks.
I cut the week short.
Not because I love bailing. Because I’ve learned the hard way that sticking to the plan isn’t always the point.
On the drive home, my husband and I somehow ended up talking about dinosaurs—because apparently weather makes you philosophical and 40-plus years of marriage makes you weird. We started arguing about whether they died immediately when the asteroid hit … or whether it was the long fallout that finished the job: the dust, the darkness, the deep freeze—the million-year version of “this is fine” turning into “oh no, it’s not.”
And that’s the part that stuck with me.
Things don’t just go off course; they do it without permission and without warning.
We can’t always control the storm. But we can still make choices inside it. We can adjust. We can opt in or out. We can pivot without panicking.
That’s the only kind of control that’s ever been real anyway.
Stay warm. Drive like you have sense. Send the text. Call the person you love. Make the sourdough.
The small moves count. They always have.
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SCIENCE
BY WENDEE NICOLE
Carbon offsets sounded abstract—until Taylor Swift, Etsy sellers, and Fortune 500 companies all started using them. Maybe you’ve heard the term. Maybe you’ve ignored it. This smart, skeptical explainer breaks down what carbon offsets actually are, why the system still feels like the Wild West, and whether buying your way out of climate guilt does anything meaningful at all—or just helps us sleep better at night.
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HUMOR
BY ABBY HEUGEL
Snow, ice, and traffic have a way of bringing out the truth. Perhaps driving is a personality test. The way you signal and navigate road chaos can tell a lot about you—and this takedown explains why middle-aged women are quietly holding civilization together. If you've ever experienced the Hunger Games that's a Trader Joe's parking lot, this one's for you.
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TAKE NOTE
Timely and worth your attention.
🧠 A massive new study based on patient data—more than 450,000 people— found that two common Type 2 diabetes meds were linked to a lower risk of dementia, especially the longer people stayed on them. It’s not a “take this and you’ll never forget your keys” claim, but it’s a compelling hint that treating blood sugar and inflammation may also protect the brain. If you have diabetes (or love someone who does), this is worth clocking—and worth asking your doctor about in plain English, not pharma-speak.
🎭 After 40 years and 158 performances at the Metropolitan Opera, mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves has taken her final bow—as Maria in Porgy and Bess, the same opera that gave her one of her earliest professional breaks. At 61, the Washington, D.C.–born singer, once told by a doctor she’d never have a career because of a severe thyroid issue, is now turning her full attention to directing and to the Denyce Graves Foundation, which fights the erasure of Black history in classical music.
📱 After TikTok’s U.S. deal officially closed last week, the app quietly rolled out a revised privacy policy with language that’s … conveniently vague. This wasn’t about what you post—it was about who owns what, and what data gets scooped up in the process. TikTok may collect more info on U.S. users, including precise location if you allow it, and spells out how your activity feeds its ad systems and AI tools. Translation: This is a good week to tighten your privacy settings and stop granting permission just because a pop-up asked nicely.
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BY MELISSA T. SHULTZ
As anxiety spikes and control feels elusive, more women are turning to baking—not for the sugar, but for the structure. For many midlife women, kneading dough offers something rare right now: focus, ritual, and a problem that can actually be solved.
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DEAR READER
BY MERRY MONTELEONE
Main character energy often promises empowerment—but delivers more pressure. Midlife may be the moment to step out of the spotlight, drop the performance, and discover that freedom lives just off center stage.
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READER SPOTLIGHT
Want to be featured next? Comment on your favorite piece—we read them all.
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OUR SHORT LIST
😊 Seasonal gloom isn’t a personality trait. It’s a biological response. Science-backed ways to stay happy when winter feels like it’s personally targeting you.
📚 Not every hobby is for everyone—and that’s the point. Mental health experts match personality types with pursuits that actually stick.
🎬 Storm outside, movie marathon inside. Where to stream every Oscar-nominated film without braving the cold.
🦖 What really killed the dinosaurs? Spoiler: It wasn’t instant. A female geologist explains how the asteroid triggered global freezing and years of fallout.
🍪 If the weather traps you inside, at least make it delicious. These proven chocolate chip cookie recipe tips get texture, flavor, and zero regrets exactly right.
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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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