I was shopping in my local Trader Joe’s on Friday when I heard this weeks earworm song. On the whole, the Trader Joe’s near me actually has great taste in music, and it’s kind’a cool to hear songs that I’ve totally forgotten about.
Not that Aaliyah’s “Are You That Somebody?“is a bad song. No, it’s catchy as hell, and just a classic example of what an earworm is. At least for me, because I keep hearing that baseline and that baby cooing.
You have been warned!
Tottenham beat Chelsea on Saturday.
Let me say that again.
Tottenham beat Chelsea on Saturday. At Chelsea! And Tottenham looked good pretty good out there, as in they were the better of the two teams. It did help that Palmer got a Red Card, but Spurs were going to win the match no matter what. It was the kind of game that made you get some hope back.
Which is like the worst thing that I can say right now. I know that. I know.
But for 90 minutes, it was just fun to watch the team play like a good team. Smart set pieces, good passing, working together like, you know, a team. It was like I had been waiting a whole year for Tottenham to show up. And come to think of it, I have been waiting a whole year for this. And I loved every second of it! Spurs played like a team that expected to win, not hoping that they’d win.
Yes, yes, yes… I know I shouldn’t get ahead of myself. It was only one match after all. (But it was a win at Chelsea, which is where Spurs NEVER win.) There is still a bit of work that needs to be done, and everyone needs to stay healthy. (Looking at you Madison.) Saturday’s lineup was good, but something in my gut tells me that they still haven’t worked out the kinks and will continue to try different formations and combinations of players.
Look, if Tottenham ends the season somewhere in the top 10, I think they should consider the year a resounding success. And I should leave it at that.
But I won’t because they won one huge match, so clearly Tottenham is going to win the Premier League and then return to the Champions League next season!
(Till I stop coming back to you…)
There are many things that make it feel like Autumn to me. I skip all the easy ones, like leaves and pumpkins. For me, one of the best things that make me feel all warm and Autumn-like, is chicken stock simmering on the stove. It usually starts a couple days before, when I roast a whole chicken for a Sunday dinner. I’ll take all the leftover bones, throw it in an old weathered stockpot – carrots, celery, onion, garlic, fresh thyme, bay leaves, salt and pepper – and just let it simmer away for a couple of hours. The smell fills the apartment, throwing shade at the cold outside, and making the idea of a warm blanket on the couch sound like a friendly “How do you do!” as dreams of soups and stews dance in my head as I drink a cup of coffee. The simple act of stock making is a life affirming exercise of epic proportional steps.
Beware you in the world of simple breakfasts. I have come down from on high to explain to you the joy and wonder that is the simple and honest Texas Breakfast Taco. A creation of Tex-Mex joy and wonder, as how can something so simple be so gratifying and satisfying. The flour tortilla, the scrambled egg, bacon. If one were to get wild and throw a starch in it, like maybe some tater-tots or fries, or one weekend I tried some leftover mashed potatoes. They have to be wrapped in foil, which allows the warm taco to steam the tortilla, keeping it soft and a little spongy. They can keep for a little while that way, but the pleasure really comes in the unwrapping and dipping in a salsa. An experience that can be savored, or rushed, depending on what the demands of your day might be.
Hey! They won a match on Monday! They might win another this Sunday! Things are changing! I can feel it! #COYS
(The short story “Appeasement, Ohio” by George Saunders appeared in the October 26th, 2026 issue of The New Yorker.)
Photograph by James L. Amos / Getty
How hard should a writer make a reader work? That was the question I kept asking myself as I read George Saunders’ “Appeasement, Ohio” which is a quirky little story. I’m not saying that getting though it was like reading Joyce’s Ulysses, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being asked to work at reading this story.
How to describe the it? Lots of moving parts; family, cousins, kids, falling outs, reconnection, loyalty, obligations, conspiracies, tough love, and history. There is no secret, or big reveal in this story, but getting into the details of how this piece unfolds feels like I would be killing some of the fun of reading it in the first place. I will say this, the story did feel like it was inorganically structured to have three storylines that were supposed to weave together – or possibly not – but either way it stuck out as being manufactured rather than authentically blending into the narrative.
What I wrestled with in “Appeasement, Ohio” was the style that the story was written in. Ultimately, Saunders’ writing style did complement the narrative. With the characters fragmented lives, a wildly unbelievable conspiracy theory, a surreal riot, and the loss of vision, nothing seemed on solid ground here. So, when the writing is chunky, choppy, even repetitive at times, it creates a feeling of disjointed incongruent tangents not fully lining up. This caused me, more than once, to have to go back and reread a section, to verify that I read what I read. For what this story was trying to express, it all successfully came together.
But it was a bit of work to get there.
