The Captain Jack Blues

The Alabaster and Eggshell of newsletters is beauty-reporting in the Deep South, sharpening our therapeutic Tools, and writing Melinda-MacKenzie fanfic.

We’re here to reclaim the “women’s magazine.” Every week, two veteran editors read it ALL to bring you everything we believe women’s media should be: juicy yarns, big ideas, deeply personal essays, hot goss, and the odd shopping tip—aka, the full Spread. Plus: original interviews, podcasts, and more. Come hungry!  

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Beloved Spread Bloc Tangoers, 

Which Zoom did you attend this week? Was it…

Compadres for Kamala?

Childless Chicks for Harris?

Or…White Dudes for Harris, maybe? (While we’re on the subject, that name feels unfashionably broad. Josh Groban, Pete Buttigieg, Josh Gad, Joseph Gordon-Levitt—you guys didn’t want to go with “Brunette White Men Who Love The National for Harris”?) 

Wait, let us hazard another guess: Were you at White Women for Harris? 

Over in Spreadlandia, we’re still reeling from the first moment we spotted those words spelled out in stark toothpaste-white font, like some kind of cringe red-state bumper sticker. “WHITE WOMEN: Answer the call.” Yoikes! Look, shock is good; it may be what stirred 200,000+ women to tune in to Sunday night’s meeting. And in the Cut, co-organizer Shannon Watts did an admirable job of explaining the logic behind going at white women as a) the single most powerful voting bloc, with 40 percent of the vote, and b) the bloc that has historically done the most damage, helping bump Trump into the Oval Office. She’s right: It’s nobody’s job but our own to wrangle this unruly, often disappointing demo. But it just feels disorienting after a decade-plus of actively working to internalize the doctrine of intersectionality. Unlike los compadres and Childless Chicks and certainly unlike Black Women, there is no pride in being lumped together as White Women. As broad cultural identities go, ours is never not loaded with our (very real) sins and shortcomings. We’re glad the money was raised, and that the women showed up, but we’re still processing how we feel about the monolith. 

However, the Zoom Boom does open the door for a very specific WHITE WOMAN call to action! We’re talking here to the White Gal in Chief (obviously a steadfast reader of this esteemed publication—hey you). The world-renowned childless cat lady who normalized flying tweens to Europe to catch planet Earth’s longest-running concert tour. Who ensorcelled the White Woman, her daughters, her dollars, and her goddamn everloving sanity. Swifties are said to be banging the drum for Kamala already—fine, great, love it—but this is a direct call to their queen/kween/solemn leader. Taylor. We’ve done so much for you. Now we call upon you to do this for us. It’s go time. Your Kamala Era is here. Round up your armies and make this global obsession count. 

Endorse! Endorse! Endorse! 

Rachel & Maggie 

PS: Feeling powerful? You can endorse the Spread by subscribing and/or hitting that like button.

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