Hey Toast, what did you all do this week? I took twelve little Daisy Scouts bowling yesterday afternoon and I SURVIVED, so high fives all around. I also learned just how slow a bowling ball can roll without ever…actually…stopping…or traveling backwards? It was loud but great fun, and I’ve really enjoyed being a troop leader this year. I only thought about the Pete & Pete “Rolling Thunder” episode a couple of times while we were at the bowling alley. So you see, I am growing up, too.

It was a big week at The Toast! You remember it, let’s relive it. FIRST, we were all big fans of Carrot Quinn’s gorgeous essay about hiking, and friendship, and life on and off the trail:

Tonight we’ll camp at two a.m. and at six we’ll rise, after a little sleep, to climb up and over the Inyo Mountains. We’ll cross the Owens Valley, stop in Lone Pine for fast food and Mt. Whitney permits, and then we’ll walk up Whitney Portal Road as the sun sinks and sets the clouds on fire. The next morning we’ll hike the 99 switchbacks up Mount Whitney to the summit block where, as we’re standing looking out over everything, the first snowflakes will begin to fall.

What even is a life? I think, as I look out at the sand and the lonesome Joshua trees. I don’t have the answer. The only thing I know for sure, the one thing I can really hold in my hands, is that one day I’ll be gone, as will all of this.

Oh no! I thought you were interesting but I was just hungry!

Are you in a Dostoevsky novel?

Awkward family reunions, we’ve all been there.

Flirting headaches and other things women in fiction have died from

“Isn’t that crazy, a mere woman lifting more than you? She must be cheating. Maybe you should make derogatory remarks in the comments section, or speculate whether or not she is using steroids.”

Noah Cho on teaching diverse literature:

I — along with two other English colleagues — have been able to develop a diverse and ever-evolving curriculum. We teach LGBTQ+ authors; we teach African American, Asian American, Latino/Latina American, and Native American and Indigenous authors; we read novels and stories that deal with ableism and sexism; we look at pieces that allow us to discuss economic inequality. We try to find an “I” perspective for every single student in every one of our classes. A gender-fluid student shouldn’t have to struggle to find literature they identify with. With a growing contingent of multiracial students, I also know that I need to add more books that reflect their experiences.

I talk about race and gender openly with my students, and they respond openly. They are passionate about the stories we read, always looking for connections to their own lives and experiences.

If Kal Penn Were Your Boyfriend (finally, the perfect companion to If John Cho Were Your Boyfriend! Victoria tweeted at me: “Imagine the game nights the five us could have!” and trust me, I have been imagining them ever since)

“If you don’t want to watch two Valkyries in impeccable pantsuits wrest for sexual control for an hour and a half, I have no idea what to say to you. There is no joy left in your soul.”

This might be the Toastiest piece we have ever published. If not, it’s very, very close.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend! We have a pretty clear weekend for once, so I’m going to try my luck at that mysterious new Korean cafe/coffee shop/dry cleaners down the road (sans children, and before their ridiculously early closing time). I certainly hope it lives up to my sky-high expectations. I shall report back.

p.s. you should watch the women’s World Cup game with me tonight