The Weekly Wrap: August 30, 2026

The news alerts were not kind this week.

When the notices about the passings of Dolly Parton, Tim Curry, and Yayoi Kusama landed in my inbox, I was genuinely sad.

I was not alone in my feelings.

People have shared widely about how each of these artists impacted their lives and communities. And those stories have been of uplift, recognition, and joy. In our grief, we shared the widespread influence of these amazing people. It's heartening to see nothing put positivity shared in those stories.

I think our grief is more profound because Parton, Curie, and Kusama were all creators. Not in the "content creators" trend of today, but in the true meaning of the word. They took their medium, whatever it was, and made something. They made us feel. They made us think. They made art where there was none before.

They were human. They made human things. And they shared their gifts with the world.

They will each be missed.

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• Hit the unsubscribe button. [The Life Edit]
• The politics of a cinched waist. [NOTUS]

• Following in the steps of Lewis and Clark. [Short Wave]
• How the rocks moved. [Atlas Obscura]
• This episode gave me a list of more adulting things to do.  [The Savvy Patient]
• Dolly left us a gift. [Atlas Obscura]

• We finished The Last Ship. The final season was not the best, but I mean that more for production and plotting. The story was good, the writing punched above its weight, but the CGI was a dumpster fire. Missiles would explode and engulf things in flames, and then there would be no damage to the item hit. Also, the final scene is hokey fan service. I was okay with that. [Netflix]
• Nashville leaves Netflix in a few weeks. Luckily, the husband didn't complain when I asked if I could binge the last two seasons as fast as possible. This show is purely a telenovella at this point. Once you use that framing it feels less over the top. The music continues to be the best part. [Netflix]

• When I need a quick, weeknight dinner, it's hard to go wrong with shrimp and white beans with spinach and feta. The hardest (and most time consuming) part of this dish is peeling the shrimp. I would use a little less broth next time. It took a bit for that the cook down. [skinnytaste]
• When I bought a bag of farro, I didn't think it would last forever. It seems to never end! To help use up more of the bag, I made chickpea, beet, and cucumber salad as my lunch meal prep. Aside from worrying about getting beet juice everywhere, this one is easy and tasty. But my cutting board does end up looking like a crime scene. [Eating Well]

• Whenever I see one of those lifehacks online, I presume they are too good to be true. Because, often, they are. So I was amazed when the hack of microwaving corn on the cob was as easy as the internet claimed. I will never cook corn another way. This was so easy and you don't end up with silks stuck to everything. You do need to cut off the bottom row of corn though. I didn't do that with the first ear and it was a bit hard to shake off the husk. [inthekitchenwithmatt]