longreads | workweek reading recs (20 January 2025)

We've got two sets of workweek reading recs this week: one entirely unrelated to the inauguration and full of interesting stories with happy endings and one entirely about the inauguration that will be less fun. (I know this is very U.S.-centric.)

Love and the Golden Gate Bridge (2024?)
Content notes: Homophobia, family rejection (but it has a happy ending)
The Quest to Pick Up the Lost Lifting Stones of Ireland (08/2024)
Object Relations: Midwinter meditations from Vermont (01/2025)
Manatee rescued from North Carolina's Tar River returns to ocean (01/2025)
… ok, this one's not really a "long" read at all but I love a manatee rescue.
Academic: Shippers and Kinnies: Re-conceptualizing Parasocial
Relationships with Fictional Characters in Contemporary Fandom (04/2023)

How Did Republican Women End Up Like This? (06/2024)
How America Invented the Red State (12/2024)
Why Does No One Understand the Real Reason Trump Won? (11/2024)
How an Empty Internet Gave Us Tradwives and Trump (11/2024)
Podcast: First as Farce, Then as Tragedy (11/2024)

If you are feeling hopeless today and you have a little cash to spare, maybe donate to National Network of Abortion Funds, Middle East Children's Alliance, Turtles Fly Too, or your charity of choice - please leave links in the comments.