If Janet Ran It

There has been so much discourse swirling around Adult Braces and Famesick over the last month that I don’t even know where to start with these two memoirs. Lindy West and Lena Dunham are both polarizing millennial feminists who have a tendency to overshare and court controversy, which they both manage do a lot of in their new books. Adult Braces: Driving Myself Sane is Lindy’s story about her emotional and marital crisis and the solo cross-country road trip she took to find herself after experiencing some pretty severe depression after the success of Shrill. And in Famesick: A Memoir, Lena reflects on her struggles with chronic illness, addiction, and the intense public scrutiny she faced after her rise to fame with Girls.

I have enjoyed reading Lindy since her early days working at The Stranger, and I watched Lena on Girls when it first aired and I read her first memoir, so their work has been familiar to me for many years. I have never looked to either of them as a role model. I’m from a different generation and, in fact, I haven’t always been on board with some of their opinions or choices. I may even have rolled my eyes at something they wrote a time or two. But I have always thought they were smart, funny, and immensely talented writers. In these latest memoirs, Lindy and Lena are both incredibly vulnerable with their personal lives, while still keeping their sharp wits about them. I found their stories to be engaging, heartbreaking, and very very funny. It’s not easy to put yourself out there for the world to pick apart.

Lindy, in particular, has received a lot of heat for her marriage and how it’s presented in her book. I won’t get into all that — you can find that all over Substack. But I thought this paragraph was interesting:

“You are predisposed to sympathize with me. This is my book, and you’re reading it. Presumably, you like me. At the very least, you’re stuck in my head, and I control the aperture. In many ways, my side of the story is easier to understand than Aham’s — mine hews to cultural norms about heterosexual love and relationships while his challenges them. Also, he was a big asshole and put me through hell. I could write this book in a way that would make you hate Aham’s guts and pity me for staying with him. Or I could write it in a way that makes him sound tortured yet wise and makes me sound like a codependent freak. It’s all true. All nonfiction is actually fiction.”

There’s been some controversy in my little home town. The Ryan House was one of the original homes in town, and it’s served as a library and museum (among other things) over the last 100 years. City staff tried to renovate it, but there were significant structural problems that outpaced any funds. So they scheduled a demolition in order to make the area a park. And oh boy, did some people get upset. Hey, I get it. I enjoyed checking out books from this place when it was the town library back in the ‘70s. The building holds a lot of meaning for me. But I also visited the Ryan House a few years ago at Christmas, and it was not much to look at on the inside. The floors were slanted, the rooms were small, and apparently the roof was falling in. So after an agonizing decision and two years of litigation (I told you some folks were mad), demolition began last week.

It’s been a rough year for federal government employees. I should know. I used to be one until April 2025 when I decided to take an early retirement after 33 years with the Social Security Administration. It’s hard to explain how bizarre my work life became after January 20, 2025. I started my career under George H.W. Bush, so I saw a lot of administration changes over the years, but nothing came close to the chaos of this year. The performative cruelty exacted on federal government employees and agencies was completely unnecessary, and ultimately there was little to no fraud, waste, and abuse uncovered (check the receipts).

Yes, it’s been a rough year, which is why Micheal Lewis’ book couldn’t have been a more timely and welcome read. In March 2025 Lewis released this collection of essays from his favorite writers who shared stories of the unrecognized and uncelebrated people who work for the federal government. As Lewis notes, government employees are not used to getting recognized. “They were the carrots in the third-grade play.” They are committed to their work and reluctant to take credit. They aren’t interested in accolades — they are interested in serving the American public. Imagine that.

In this collection of essays you’ll meet eight people who work for various federal agencies. Civil servants doing work that you probably never heard of or even realized was happening. The profile of Ronald Walters of the National Cemetery Administration alone is amazing. I would read a whole book about that guy. But he’s just one person.

Federal employees are vital to our everyday lives. They keep our mines safe, protect us from cybercrimes, ensure our military veterans receive proper burials, and maintain our history. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg (there’s a U.S. National Ice Center that tracks icebergs, btw). The federal government is a vast, complex system that is our shared resource for addressing the biggest problems of society. It’s important to have career employees with institutional knowledge who maintain consistency over different administrations.

These riveting and inspiring stories are a reminder of why career civil servants are so crucial to our infrastructure. It’s a wonderful book full of fascinating accounts of meticulous work often performed over years. No kings, just a whole lotta carrots.

Jaws was released 50 years ago today. My parents took me and my older siblings to see it in the theater. I was not quite six years old, and the movie, predictably, scared the shit out of me. But it didn’t really make me afraid of sharks. It made me afraid of dead bodies popping up suddenly while snooping around sunken boats. This might explain my lack of interest in ever scuba diving.

Scott and I went on our first post-retirement road trip last week. We visited Crater Lake, OR, Lake Tahoe, CA, Walnut Creek, CA, Mount Shasta, CA, and The Dalles, OR. We visited our friends at some of those stops, and I would just like to pat myself on the back for maintaining amazing friendships over the years. If I’m good at one thing it’s keeping people around in my life. I may not be very good at boating or pickleball, but boy can I correspond!

So many great highlights. Crater Lake is gorgeous and amazing, but bring your bug spray if you get up to watch the sunrise. We took a “shortcut” to Lake Tahoe from Crater Lake. Google Maps assured us only a few miles of the road might be unpaved. It was seven miles, and the shortcut ended up at the High Desert State Prison in Susanville, CA. It was a gorgeous drive, but an adventure for sure. And we’re still married!

We only stayed a day in Lake Tahoe, but I must return. Beautiful. Our visit to the Bay Area was fun. We’ve been many times, but my friend Mike - who has lived there for 50 years — always shows us something new. This time it was the Rosie the Riveter National Historic Park in Richmond, CA. We had the place to ourselves, and we got to chat up several knowledgeable and very wonderful National Park Service employees. Mount Shasta was beautiful, and the town of Mount Shasta was delightfully woo-woo and hippie dippie. The Dalles was a nice last stop before the short journey home.

Everyone is talking about SJP’s kooky hat from the first episode of Season 3 of And Just Like That…