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Good morning,
I've been competitive all my life. Self-inflicted mostly. Lately, I think about competition differently—the kind that comes with scoreboards and the kind that doesn't.
This week we're serving up the Super Bowl, the Winter Olympics, and why women are literally hiding in their cars from life—which honestly feels like its own endurance sport.
Women over 50 are conditioned to compete on every front, except there are no awards. We're supposed to out-perform aging, out-hustle irrelevance, out-nice everyone. Meanwhile, Lindsey Vonn is 41 and launching herself down an alpine slope at 80 mph with an injured knee.
So how about this … this week, let's watch other people compete. Let's eat grandma's stew. Let's admit that sitting in the driveway scrolling your phone is A-OK.
The rest of the world can chase gold medals. We're taking a time out.
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CULTURE
BY SUSAN DABBAR
From lipstick counters to leveraged buyouts, the quiet destruction of a women’s world.
Private equity didn’t modernize department stores. It stripped them for profit. This takedown traces how finance hollowed out our third place—cosmetic counters, dressing-room truth-telling, mother-daughter rituals—then tried to gloss over the wreckage with words like “efficiency.” This isn’t nostalgia. It’s an exposé. And it’s personal.
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BY LAUREN MANAKER MS, RDN, LD
Forget kale juice. Grandma-core is the nutrition we’ve known all our lives—the kind of stews, soups, and complex carbs that are cozy, protein-forward, blood-sugar-friendly, and don’t require a blender. Because when the days are mostly dark, comfort food is more than dinner. READ MORE
🍽️ Bonus: Susan’s famous Beef Stew Over Farro recipe included.
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LIFE
BY GINA RICH
If you’ve ever sat in your driveway “for one minute” and looked up 27 minutes later, this one’s for you. Here’s a candid, oddly reassuring look at why women are hiding in their cars—and why it’s not as pathetic as it sounds. READ MORE
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TAKE NOTE - OLYMPIC EDIT
EVERYTHING You Need to Know: Milan–Cortina 2026 (in under two minutes)
The 2026 Winter Olympics are in Italy (Milan + Cortina), running Feb. 4–22. Opening Ceremony: Fri., Feb. 6. Closing: Sun., Feb. 22.
Italy is six hours ahead of Eastern, so your best events are going to land in the early mornings + midday. Watch on NBC / USA / CNBC / NBCSN, or stream everything on Peacock (plus the whip-around “Gold Zone,” aka Winter Olympics RedZone).
Must-watch event times (ET):
⛷️Men’s downhill: Sat. Feb. 7, 5:30 a.m.
⛷️Women’s downhill: Sun. Feb. 8, 5:30 a.m.
⛸️Figure skating men’s free: Fri. Feb. 13, 1 p.m.
⛸️Figure skating women’s free: Thu. Feb. 19, 1 p.m.
🏒Team USA Women’s Hockey vs Canada: Tue. Feb. 10, 2:10 p.m.
🏒Women’s Hockey Gold Medal: Thu. Feb. 19, 1:10 p.m.
(Translation: Your social life is safe. Your mornings are not.)
Who to watch:
Lindsey Vonn is back at 41, eight years after her last Olympics, and yes—it’s as insane as it sounds. She crashed and ruptured her ACL last week, pulled out of a World Cup super-G, and says she’s “doing my best” to be ready. Even trying to race makes her the main character.
In figure skating, the U.S. women are stacked: Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn, and Isabeau Levito all have medal potential, and Ilia Malinin (“Quad God”) is the breakout star to know.
In cross-country, Jessie Diggins is calling this her farewell tour—she’s the reason Americans even believe in medals again.
In hockey, remember her name. Laila Edwards is the first Black woman to make the U.S. women’s senior national team—and she’s one of the new faces to watch for Team USA.
At 25, Chloe Kim is chasing something no one’s done before: a third Olympic gold in snowboard halfpipe. The field is deeper, the expectations higher, and she’s still the standard everyone else is measured against.
Elana Meyers Taylor, 41, is headed to her fifth Olympics, and still a top medal threat in bobsled. Kaillie Humphries, 40, is right there with her—two veterans proving speed and power don’t come with an expiration date.
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BOOKS
BY BETH KANTER
Looking for a great read right now? Here are the books our team can’t stop recommending—heroines, loss, pleasure, power, and a few near-perfect escapes. READ MORE
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READER SPOTLIGHT
“SPOT ON! I finally have it writing. My mother just expected me to do it. It came to the point where my siblings, rather than ask what they could do to help, began treating me the same way. By the way … I am the oldest, and a daughter.” — Cherryl on Midnight Potato Salad and Other Tales of Caregiving Want to be featured next? Comment on your favorite piece—we read them all.
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