Dolly Parton’s Fight for Working Women by Ellen Cassedy

Some of the best writing of the past week has been in tribute to Dolly Parton, the excellence of the tributes standing as yet more proof of the talent, charisma, and resounding human decency with which she moved through the world. My favorite piece is this one, written by Ellen Cassedy. She is one of the founders of 9to5, the organization that sought to empower women in the workplace through unionization. The group was a major inspiration for the 1980 comedy 9 to 5, featuring Parton’s feature acting debut. Without ascribing a political or feminist stridency to Parton, a dues-paying member of American Federation of Musicians of the US & Canada and Local 257, that simply wasn’t part of her persona, Cassedy aptly illustrates how the iconic singer-songwriter was nonetheless a proper inspiration to those seeking an extra dose of courage to push back against unfairness. The article is published by The New Republic.

The Best, Worst, and Most Middling New Foods of the 2026 Minnesota State Fair by Em Cassel, Jay Boller, Keith Harris, Jessica Armbruster, Sarah Brumble, Joel Swenson, and Bridgette Reinsmoen

As the picture above attests, my personal Minnesota State Fair menu is built around an annual embrace of the Pronto Pup with little need for chasing innovations in deep-fried items ran through with sticks. Even so, I am awed by and appreciative of journalistic efforts to properly sample all of the exotic newcomers in the field of fairground consumables. The staff of Racket does an exemplary job in this wildly entertaining piece. I genuinely feel as if I now have a taste of the copious cornucopia of novel noshes without the unpleasantness of a food hangover.