Stealing Like an Artist: May's Roundup

What I loved this month.

May 31, 2025

Hi friends—I’m going to try something out over the summer and see how it goes. In our final email of the month, I’m going to Steal Like an Artist, and borrow a mix of

Austin Kleon

’s weekly newsletter roundup format and

Amy Teegan

’s Some Things I Wanted to Show You—so I can let you know about all the cool things I’ve been thinking about this month and share the ones you might be interested in.

I want this to be an email that you don’t consume all of right now, especially since the whole thing is too long to fit in your inbox. You can star it, or bookmark it, or save it right here on Substack and come back to it throughout the month to dive into all the cool things.

Mind map notes. The center says may roundup and contains the text written throughout this article.

This month’s interesting stuff:

It’s been a pretty good month. The beginning of the month started out with some rough headache weeks, but now that we’ve moved into late-spring, I’ve really started to feel much better. Let’s dive into it.

Feminist writing

My favorite thing on the internet this month has been

Brooke Teegarden

’s newsletters. She runs satirical newsletters: Make America Learn History Again and Let’s Not Date where she educates the men who try to slide into her DMs.

I wrote a bit myself this month about my take on scrapbooking in 2025, and I got in a pretty good definition of what feminist scrapbooking is for me.

We are having a pop girlie renaissance, and I really appreciate this piece from

Celeste Davis

on why she’s less concerned about the influence of Sabrina Carpenter, then she is of Gracie Adams. It brings up a lot of the formational thoughts I had as a teen during the Brittney/Christina era.

Also loved this piece, A Unified Theory of Glen Powell, by

Anne Helen Petersen

. Specifically the following paragraph:

Tom Cruise doesn’t like women. Neither does Miles Teller. Channing Tatum likes women. So does Ryan Gosling. Brad Pitt used to like women but doesn’t anymore. Leonardo Di Caprio only likes them occasionally. Bradley Cooper doesn’t, George Clooney does. Matt Damon doesn’t, Ben Affleck only does in that one scene in the J.Lo documentary. Marlon Brando didn’t, Montgomery Clift did. Paul Newman didn’t onscreen but did IRL. Cary Grant did, John Wayne definitely, definitely didn’t. Will Smith pretends like he doesn’t but I’m not convinced. Mark Wahlberg absolutely does not, but Daniel Day-Lewis does. So does Paul Mescal.

This month’s Daily Pages

Lots of gel prints this month. I’m expanding into some more intermediate techniques. Some successful, some learning experiences.

You’re going to start seeing me call this style of documenting your story—creative journaling a lot more. Daily Pages is the way that I personally do this hobby, but there’s no reason why it has to be tied to a daily creative habit. Telling the stories of your life in a journal is just delightful, and I’m glad I found a way to speak about it more broadly.

If you’re into creative journaling or want a summer project to jump into—come join us for my Find Your Voice Summer Camp. FYV is a class I’ve taught multiple times over the past decade and a half, and I’m excited to bring a version of this class here to Substack and teach it through the lens of creative journaling.

Workshop Alert! I do a Daily Pages/creative journaling workshop on the first Saturday of each month. June’s topic is organization—more details on the masterclass homepage.

Garden

We had a big seed fail this year. I didn’t transplant them fast enough, then I had horrible headache weeks at the same time Jeff was crazy busy at work. That’s alright because we picked up some great stuff at the MSU plant sale and our favorite local nurseries.

I was cleaning up the garden in the front, and planting the sugar snap peas—I moved a planter and saw this little cutie! Later, her brothers and sisters showed up and they were just so cute!

Food this month

Late spring/early summer produce is amazing here. The a few of the things I look forward to are Ramps1, Asparagus, and all the green alliums—chives, scallions, and green garlic are getting pulled and eaten almost daily.

On the sweeter side of things, I’ve been experimenting with lemon bars over the past few months, and last week I made some blood-orange + rhubarb bars (modified this recipe) and they were outstanding. I also made

Sharon Wu

’s Italian Cream Soda with Thursday’s lasagna dinner.

Julio Torres

Do you know Julio Torres? He’s one of the most creative human beings I’ve ever come across, and if you’re not familiar, here’s a quick primer: Wells for Boys, Fantasmas, Los Espookys, and his incredible stand-up My Favorite Shapes.

I’m going home in the fall to see his newest show Color Theories, and I can’t wait. There’s something magical about NYC in autumn and seeing my favorite creative human put on a show all about color; what could be better?

The Met

Speaking of NYC, May is Met month. We started out with this year’s Met Gala2, the theme was amazing, and so was the red carpet show. Now, at the end of the month, we’re celebrating the new Rockefeller Wing (my secret favorite part of the museum). I can’t wait to go back and visit this fall. I’m thinking of holding a pop up workshop while I’m in the city. A few hours at the museum and some creative journaling? Shoot me a reply if this is something you’d like to hear more details about.

Football

Yes, it’s the offseason, and it’s not even the month with the draft, so why am I talking about football? Because the off-season is when the most nonsensical drama comes out, and since I love the NFL the way some people love the Real Housewives series, I’m here for the drama.

In sad news, Jim Irsay, the long-time, troubled owner of the Indianapolis Colts passed away last week. I’m not usually a fan of the ultra-rich, but there was this one episode of Hard Knocks in Season with the Colts—their bye week episode—where they really did a deep dive on his life, his insanely abusive father, and the weird and lovely things he does with his money. It humanized him a bunch, and I’ve had a soft spot ever since.

In good news, they’re bringing Flag Football to the 2028 Olympics! It’s going to be great, and I can’t wait to see the women’s game.

Additionally, the woman getting the most NFL press is someone who has absolutely nothing to do with the NFL. Bill Belichick’s Girl(BOSS)friend—Jordon. There has been a plethora of media created about their relationship, including this terrible NYT ethicist piece and this great newsletter from

Hunter Harris

. I’ve been super invested in this narrative since I noticed this washi tape in the back of an episode of the Manningcast Monday Night Football show; the specter of Jordon has loomed large since.

Dragons

Dragons are everywhere in my life right now. First, I’m in a Fourth Wing audiobook loop. I literally just start it over when I’m finished—alternating between the traditional and the dramatic audio versions. I’m just not really into starting anything new right now, and this works for me really well.

Second, I’ve been listening to the Lord of the Rings audiobooks to fall asleep. It’s been a great deep dive back into the series (it takes me a solid week or two to get through each chapter) and Jeff I and started watching the extended version of the films during longer stretches in the kitchen. Loving comparing the versions.

Finally, Jeff and I have been playing a lot of Baldur’s Gate 3 (a D&D video game). We finished up the game for the first time last week, and decided to dive right back in the next day. New characters, a few new stories, and lots of fun adventuring together.

Television

One of the big reasons I wanted to put together this roundup is that I missed writing about the TV I’m watching. And while I don’t have the bandwidth to write about TV in a more long-form way, this is a great way to engage with all of you on the shows I love chatting about.

Here’s what I’ve been watching this month:

The Studio is absolutely my surprise hit of the year. It’s piss-yourself hilarious, the physical comedy is top notch, the cinematography is incredible, and I’m a huge sucker for people making art about subjects that they’re absolutely enamored with.

I finished up Season 4 of Hacks on Thursday evening (as soon as it came out); and I love how they really took the criticism of “they always wind up in the same toxic place” and flipped it on its head this year. I’m so glad that we’re getting more time with these characters; but honestly, I’d watch these folks in whatever they’re in.

We also wrapped up The Righteous Gemstones earlier this month. If you haven’t seen this one yet, watch the first scene of the first episode. You’ll know if it’s for you, based on that alone. I’m not alone in hoping, praying even, for a Uncle Baby Billy spin-off.

Our relaxing evening show is Summer Camp Island—Pyjamas is my fav character. Suzy is second. Puddle third. In the kitchen, we’re currently watching For All Mankind3, and Nixon’s Women is one of my favorite episodes of all time.

There are a bunch of great things coming up as well—here are a few trailers for things I’m looking forward to: Season 4 of The Bear, Smoke (I’m a huge sucker for Taron Eggerton in a uniform), Chief of War (who doesn’t love Mamoa). I’m also waiting patiently for Acapulco and really hoping we’ll get a first look at For All Mankind Season 5 soon.

Finally, If you’re a Parks and Rec person, check out this interview with Amy Pohler and Mike Schur—they release a trailer of a fake show that they made called Philly Justice, while they were on the set of P&R.