It's Never Too Late for a Hot Girl Summer
Sha'Carri Richardson is having a hot girl summer, you are welcome to indulge in one as well, even if trendy types are saying it's supposed to be Brat Summer.
The two readers who eagerly await the Tumbleweed each month will notice the July edition has rolled into your inbox a bit late, and it’s not because it got caught on a car’s undercarriage—which once happened as I drove down Federal Boulevard on a windy day in Denver in my ‘96 Corolla—did you know a tumbleweed makes a kind of SCREE sound as it scrapes asphalt? I aimed to write a fresh Tumbleweed before I left on vacation, but instead I was stricken with a vile pestilence that obliged me to repose for two weeks like a bedridden woman in a gothic novel. Where did I catch this plague? I suspect it was at the Megan Thee Stallion Hot Girl Summer concert in Denver in June. But reader, attending was worth it.
The New York Times and USA Today has declared the summer of 2024 to be “Brat Summer,” and noted that Megan Thee Stallion’s Hot Girl Summer occurred five years ago. However, it appears the ethos of Brat Summer (“indulging in pleasure and not concerning yourself with societal expectations,” according to USA Today) sounds suspiciously like the definition of Hot Girl Summer that Megan Thee Stallion once tweeted: “Being a Hot Girl is about being unapologetically YOU, having fun, being confident, living YOUR truth, being the life of the party etc.” Since I am slow, in terms of running, writing, and trend adoption, I feel it’s finally appropriate for me to participate in Hot Girl Summer now, five years too late.
The only real difference I can detect between the philosophy of the Brat Summer and the Hot Girl Summer comes from the definition the Brat Summer’s inspiration, Charli XCX, provided, saying that a brat “is a little messy.” Megan Thee Stallion’s hotties are not messy. Megan is a professional. Her show started on time, immediately after a clock ticked down the final minutes on the big screen, with fantastic opener GloRilla.
When Megan needed a break from the endless deep squats she performed while looking flawless and rapping impeccably, she didn’t disappear backstage forever (unlike a certain Nicki), she engaged with the crowd. She signed autographs, she waved a fan’s pride flag, she invited the best-dressed and boldest audience members up to dance on stage, and she even let a teenager come up and rap with her.
The audience was one of the highlights of the show—everyone dressed the way that made them feel like a Hottie, as Megan’s devotees are known. And here’s the difference between twenty years ago and now: it didn’t matter what size their bodies were or whether the way they wanted to express themselves conformed to mainstream beauty standards. In 2001, Destiny’s Child released the song “Nasty Girl” on their Survivor album, in which they berate a young woman for wearing “[daisy] dukes” and say, “Nasty, put some clothes on,” calling her “classless,” “trashy,” and “sleazy.” Two decades later, this just wouldn’t fly. Does Nasty Girl enjoy wearing minimal clothing? Does it make her feel powerful, attractive, and brave? Then she’s having a Hot Girl Summer. Get out of her way.
These Gen Z kids aren’t hiding their true selves the way so many prior generations did. I find them inspiring, and their liberation efforts don’t stop with encouraging people of all sizes to wear clothes they feel fabulous in. Are you a member of a generation that felt compelled to wear uncomfortable shoes with your dresses and skirts? According to my daughter and other youthful fashion experts, you look more up-to-date if you wear that skirt with some sneakers and socks. That’s right, instead of punishing your feet or hiding yourself, Gen Z and all the Hotties say: you could just not do that. You could wear what makes you feel beautiful, happy, and comfortable. How delighted I felt on vacation last week as I walked around in a skirt with crew socks and Converse. Like a certified Hottie, friends, with no blisters to speak of.
I know things are looking bleak on a variety of fronts this summer. If you ever feel overwhelmed or in despair, just do what I do. Look to the young people. Go to a concert and observe the youths in their natural habitat. Behold the amazing Megan Thee Stallion, Sha’Carri Richardson, and Sydney McGlaughlin-Levrone doing what they do this summer and excelling at it. I dare you to stay bleak while witnessing these greats. The kids have the answers. Let’s give them free rein.
The Assorted Whimsy Portion of The Tumbleweed
And now for some dreaded words: allow me to share some vacation photos!
Here’s the Matterhorn as glimpsed through a pretzel.
And here, at the Ricola Herb Garden in Zermatt, Switzerland, you can actually find fresh, young Ricolas growing from the plants.
And here is a goat parade that I accidentally became involved in.
The Book Recommendation Portion of The Tumbleweed
Two fabulous new novels are out this month by Joe Wilkins and Willy Vlautin and I had the good fortune of reviewing them for High Country News in my piece “When the end of the road brings a new beginning.” Both would be perfect for your next book club meeting.
I enthused about Joe Wilkins’ gorgeous The Entire Sky and Willy Vlautin’s distinctive The Horse:
Although The Horse and The Entire Sky grapple with weighty subjects, neither book feels grim. Surviving won’t be easy, but, as Rene says, “What’s easy is seldom what’s right.” Both novels become more buoyant as they unfold, as Wilkins and Vlautin allow the joy of their characters’ lives to shine through even as they examine the depths of despair their protagonists have endured. These fine novels are leavened by natural beauty, the goodness and humor provided by children, animals and friends, and the genuine care and concern of family members and neighbors for men who think they’ve outlived any such ties. The persistent song of ongoing life warbles through to call these men, in tones that are low at first but gradually grow stronger as these novels rise to their satisfying and optimistic, yet never simplistic, conclusions.
Read the whole review here.
The Happenings & Links Portion of The Tumbleweed
Here’s something for my Tumbleweed readers who live outside of the Denver area. If you want to take a fiction class but are too busy to commit to regular attendance, I’ve got just the offering for you. On September 9 -November 1, I’ll be teaching an 8-week online fiction class for Jesuit Media Lab, “Writing Techniques Inspired by Catholic Fiction.” We’ll meet asynchronously on the Wet Ink platform, and I’ll also host a couple of optional Zooms so we can get to know each other. Each student will have a chance to receive in-depth feedback on a short story from me! We’ll be reading and learning from such authors as Kirstin Valdez Quade, Claire Luchette, Lucia Berlin and more. (Plus, the cost is only $250—which is less that I usually charge for a story critique with no class attached.)
I’ll be teaching my Fiction 4 Pack: Basic Craft Essentials class for Lighthouse Writers Workshop from September 23 to October 14. The class will run on Mondays from 6 to 8 p.m., and I’m offering it as a hybrid—you can sign up to Zoom along, or attend in person at Lighthouse in Denver. Come learn about building compelling characters, maintaining tension and suspense, and more!
The new anthology edited by poet, teacher and MFA program director extraordinaire Andrea Rexilius, We Can See Into Another Place: Mile-High Writers on Social Justice, is out now! I am so proud to have an essay in it alongside beautiful work in a variety of genres by my Mile High MFA colleagues. You can find it at find bookselling establishments such as The Bookies and Bookshop.org. My fellow contributors Steven Dunn, Rachel Weaver, R. Alan Brooks, TaraShea Nesbit (whose Substack “Today You Will Write” you should check out!), and Carolin Ebeid will discuss the book at the Tattered Cover Colfax on August 14 at 6 p.m. Details are here!
On September 6, I’m looking forward to participating in the Frame Literary Salon at East Window Gallery in north Boulder (4550 Broadway), alongside writers Elizabeth Robinson and Charly Fasano, from 7 to 9 p.m. It’s free, so come on out!
On September 21, I’ll be chatting about short stories with one of my favorite short story writers, Claire Boyles, at the Berthoud Literary Festival at Berthoud Community Library. We’re talking at 2 p.m., and check out the library website soon for the full festival schedule.
As always, The Tumbleweed welcomes your questions and comments about writing, reading, taco eating, the Denver Nuggets, rabbit wrangling, Deion Sanders, and baby seals.