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This week, we’re featuring the wonderful Ashley C. Ford, the bestselling author of Somebody’s Daughter: A Memoir and the writer of many essays for publications including Elle, New York Magazine, and Cup of Jo. First up, she talks about learning what she likes… Love, Joannaxo ***** For a long time, I thought it was a superpower to not have preferences. When you grow up in poverty, there’s nothing in your mind that says, Even though I can’t get these things, I’m still worthy of them.

The moment Ashley Paulson became the third entrant of the 2022 Badwater Ultramarathon to cross the finish line on July 13, appearing to break the three-year-old women’s 135-mile course record by three minutes and fifty seconds, a spate of experienced observers called foul—some from the race site in California, others from the hallowed judgment ground of the World Wide Web (results). Most of the initial skepticism seemed to arise from Paulson’s questionable late-race splits, which world-class ultramarathoner and egomaniac Camille Herron eagerly compared to those of past, ostensibly superior Badwater racers of both sexes.

When U.S. ultramarathon runner Ashley Paulson ran 24:09:34 last year at age 40 to set a women’s course record at the Badwater 135—a 217-kilometer adventure through California’s Death Valley (a title that now describes the entire state) and partway up Mount Whitney—veterans of the race or at least of ultramarathon running were immediately skeptical of Paulson’s performance. In particular, they found some of her late-race splits unlikely at best.

One of the greatest things about Spider-Man is his global appeal. Peter Parker is simply an incredibly relatable character. In a 2015 interview with Larry King, Stan Lee (the co-creator of Spider-Man) spoke about one of the global appeals of the character. You know one of the greatest things about Spider-Man's outfit; his costume? He is completely covered, so any kid could imagine [that they're] Spider-Man because no colour of the skin shows.

This is a place for my self-published writing and advice column. I read the comments. If you Ask, I'll respond if and when I can. We will talk. Back and forth forever. Leave questions in comments, or email AskAmanda@amandapalmer.net (200-word limit, pls). No thanksncG1vNJzZmiZnZa7pa3PmqOmnaJjwLau0q2YnKNemLyuew%3D%3D

Happy Friday, everyone, and welcome to the post I look forward to every week — the one where I answer your questions! When I say “ask me anything” I mean it: I’ve talked about my favorite ’90s movies, the best places to eat in Copenhagen, and my thoughts on tipping. Subscribers can post questions in the comments below or tag me on Notes. This week is a little different because you wonderful Spilled Milk readers answered a question: In last week’s AMA, a Spilled Milk-er named Stephanie asked about where to eat in Prague.

Fire away, please ask me anything and we can have a chat in the thread. Apparently the cool kids call these AMAs (I just can’t keep up!). I’ll kick things off - “So Melissa, what’s your favourite porridge topping?”… “Well, funny you should ask, at the moment I love stewed apples with sticky spiced nuts and seeds” ncG1vNJzZmillaG2tL%2FAoZymq5yaxm%2B%2F1JuqrZmToHuku8xop2iZo6B6rrGMmqWyrJieu6h7wqikpp2eqcA%3D

There is a specific subgenre of indie film in which the plot is “a young girl or woman grows up, in relatively precarious circumstances, along with her charismatic but troubled and possibly problematic single father.”  This, more or less, was the plot of Debra Granik’s Leave No Trace, Matt Ross’ Captain Fantastic, Alex Lehman’s Acidman, and Daniel Desson Cretton’s The Glass Castle. Sure, some of those movies had other siblings or a mother character in the picture at some point, but overall, the films are similar.

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