Lorde's unhinged interview, Joe Biden's cancer diagnosis

+ would you actually wanna be pen pals?

May 19, 2025

If you appreciate the work I do and want me to keep being your pen pal, please consider becoming a paid subscriber (plus you get allll the bonus goodies 𓆩♡𓆪 )

My angels!!! I’ve just returned after a blissful week at home where I saw my besties, drank lots of wine, and hung out with my very old cat Tinkerbell. It was the best!!!!

I also wanna give a shoutout to Clay, who my Dad met when he was selling his parents’ farm. Normy (Dad) and Clay got chatting and it turns out Clay had just started making candles. Dad knew I wanted candles for my birthday, last year so helped him think up a business name - ‘Clay’s Candles’ - and put in an order for me. I loved the candles so much that when I was home, Clay was kind enough to make me a new batch (and write me a little note to go with it.) You guys know I’m the most sentimental person on the planet, so you can imagine how much I loved bringing these home.

Hope you all had a cute weekend! Missed you!!!!!

Oh also:

Joe Biden has cancer

Sometimes when I post about serious news stories, I think about how strange it must be to be finding these things out from a page called ‘Shit You Shoud Care About.’ That’s certainly how I felt yesterday, posting about Joe Biden’s diagnosis with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones.

The cancer is considered high-grade but hormone-sensitive, which means it’s serious but manageable. Biden and his family are currently reviewing treatment options.

Support has poured in from across the political spectrum. Trump wished him a “fast and successful recovery,” Kamala Harris called him a “fighter,” and Barack Obama reminded us that “nobody has done more to find breakthrough treatments for cancer” than Biden himself (In 2016, Biden led the US government’s Cancer Moonshot initiative - a cause made deeply personal after the loss of his son Beau to brain cancer in 2015.

An attack on a fertility clinic

On Saturday morning in Palm Springs, a car exploded outside a fertility clinic. The FBI has now confirmed it was an intentional act of terrorism - and that the person behind it was a 25-year-old named Guy Edward Bartkus, who died in the blast he orchestrated.

He drove a silver Ford Fusion filled with explosives to a carpark near the American Reproductive Centers, which offers IVF, egg donation, surrogacy and support for queer families. He tried to livestream the attack too. Thankfully, no one inside the clinic was hurt, and all the eggs and embryos are safe. But the office was damaged, four people were injured, and a wall of the clinic was blown off.

The FBI says Bartkus had “nihilistic ideations,” and they’re now reviewing a manifesto they believe was written by him. This isn’t just a local tragedy. It’s a reminder of how violently ideologies can fester, and how vulnerable reproductive health services - especially ones supporting IVF and queer parenthood - can become.

Can we plz talk about Lorde’s Rolling Stone interview

Ok before we discuss, please read it.

And now here are my thoughts:

I love her
Why does every celeb profile start the same: “On an unusually freezing April day in New York, the wind rustles through the cracks of a window AC unit in an apartment high above the streets of the West Village….”
Gagged that she’s leaning into being back online and on her phone because it makes me feel better about my own habits
I’m so proud of anyone who speaks loudly about their body image battles:
- “She was unhealthy — starving herself and obsessing over her size — but not so visibly that it would ring alarm bells for anyone around her. She was consumed with counting calories and monitoring her protein intake, a preoccupation that began during the pandemic. Lorde watched her body get smaller. By the time the North American leg of her Solar Power tour began in April 2022, she still hadn’t admitted to herself that she had an eating disorder.”
GIRL WHY ARE YOU PRAISING THE PAM AND TOMMY SEX TAPE?
Love this quote so much:
- “There’s going to be a lot of people who don’t think I’m a good girl anymore, a good woman. It’s over,” she promises, eyes bright and full of fire. “It will be over for a lot of people, and then for some people, I will have arrived. I’ll be where they always hoped I’d be.”
Didn’t know about her intense stage fright!
Did know about her relationship with a dude 17 years her senior
Love this:
- “It’s a banger,” she says. “I love making bangers. Someone’s got to make them. I’m really proud when they come out of me.”
I fear she has a bit of foot in mouth syndrome but I can empathise because I think I would too if I was in the public eye
I’m a Lorde apologist and just cannot wait for the new album

As always tho, gimme your thoughts!!

Order our book Make It Make Sense here!
Join our Book Club here!
Become a Close Friend on Instagram here!
Support the independent media you love by becoming a paid supporter here!

PS, if you wanna chat to me about anything I’ve written today, your latest crush, or if you just want a pen pal, reply to this email and we can be friends 𓆩♡𓆪

✿ shit you should care about ✿

Discussion about this post