the year i called lee grant my friend by Carrie Courogen

On the occasion of Lee Grant’s birthday — probably her hundred and first, though the count is unclear — Carrie Courogen delivers this essay about the stretch of time, right around COVID shutdowns, that she unexpectedly found herself in the Oscar winner’s circle of friends. The author of a terrific biography of Elaine May, Courogen has a real reverence for iconoclastic creators of a certain filmmaking era. That comes through resoundingly in this piece. Courogen is also candid, funny, and emotionally open in her writing, which feels like the proper approach when ruminating on Grant. This article is a true joy. It’s published in Courogen’s own newsletter, bed crumbs.

November 4, 2026 by Heather Cox Richardson

Heather Cox Richardson’s daily email dispatch is an invaluable document of our times, and there’s no clearer, more succinct summation of the seismic 2026 midterm elections that the one she pressed send on. I’ve no doubt that her newsletter will continue to be the best resource for quickly understanding all the pertinent developments as the ramifications of this election play out. If you don’t already subscribe, do it now.

‘I Have Seen the Enemy, and It Is Us’: Inside Team Trump’s Historic Collapse by Shane Goldmacher, Jonathan Swan, and Maggie Haberman

Back when Newsweek was still a legitimate publication, they used to rush out a special issue after each U.S. presidential election. It was filled with all manner of juicy inside dirt from the campaigns, and I devoured those magazines from cover to cover. This piece of reporting from The New York Times scratches that itch. The article suffers from some of the preserve-the-access glad-handling that sullies a lot of the Times political journalism; I have an inkling that the anonymous source providing background about Chuck Schumer’s amazing candidate recruiting skills is Chuck Schumer, especially since the article glides right over how often he was dead wrong about how to manage this campaign cycle. Still, the article is also rich with telling details about the here and now of the U.S. electoral landscape. I got the above image from a Bluesky post.

Here's Georgia's eight Constitutional Officers before and after the Blue Tsunami.

— kenofseattle (@kenofseattle.bsky.social) 2026-11-06T04:37:19.134Z