Retirement woes, friends as partners, and more picks of the week

Spring is in the air in New York City this week. (Technically more like fake spring, but hey, we’ll take it.) As Li Zhou recently wrote for us, this is not a good thing on an environmental level, and brings to mind this great piece from freelancer Michael Venutolo-Mantovani on what kids lose without snow days after an almost entirely snowless winter. 

Still, there’s an undeniable thrill of anticipation for the longer, warmer days ahead — for spring cleaning and summer vacations, for annual taxes to finally be in the rearview mirror (if you have questions, we have advice), for the sense of newness and possibility that accompanies this changing season like none other. Sorry to be corny! Can’t help it when the sun is out after months of hiding! I’m personally looking forward to spring produce at the farmers market; I can’t wait to pan roast some asparagus after these long months of root vegetable dominance. 

Whether you’re looking forward to the coming months or not, wherever you are in the world, this week we’ve got a smattering of excellent articles, podcast episodes, and videos to help explain that world back to you with humor, insight, and surprise. Bonus points if you sit outside while you enjoy them. 

— Alanna Okun, senior editor for culture and features

🎧The bleeding edge

Byrd Pinkerton and the rest of the Unexplainable podcast team have a fascinating two-part series on periods and menstrual blood. Despite my decades of experience as an adult human female, I learned a ton, including the fact that menstrual fluid has extensive healing properties??? Bodies are fascinating carnivals of terror and wonder! 

Uber-style pricing is coming for everything

Whizy Kim has a canny look at the rise of so-called dynamic pricing, where an item or service costs more during periods of high demand and less during periods of low demand (she uses the example of Amazon goods and airline tickets). Wendy’s recently faced backlash for announcing it would be piloting the pricing model, but, as Whizy argues, we’ve been in the trenches of dynamic pricing for a long time, often without even realizing it, and it all contributes to the confusing sense that nobody knows what anything should cost anymore. 

4 ways to file your taxes for free

Did you say free? Yes, please. This comprehensive guide from Allie Volpe has everything you need to face the dreaded task head-on and still keep your money in your wallet. 

Can a friend be your most significant other?

I love this conversation between Sigal Samuel, guest hosting our podcast The Gray Area, and the author Rhaina Cohen, who just released a book called The Other Significant Others: Reimagining Life with Friendship at the Center (and a personal friend of Sigal’s). You can listen to the episode or read the edited transcript, and either way you’ll come away with a more nuanced understanding of how friendship currently functions in our society, and what a different future could look like. 

📹 Why it’s hard for Americans to retire

Not to be dramatic, but I sort of think this video from Vox’s Your Money, Explained series should be required viewing (and if you’re as nosy as I am, it’s a real treat, because lots of real people reveal their salaries and contents of their savings accounts). It lays out quickly and cogently just how difficult it can be to get to a place of financial stability in this country, and the forces in play (like a weakened pension system and too much short-term access to what should be long-term savings) that make it so.

Trump is suddenly in need of a lot of cash. That’s everyone’s problem.

“Donald Trump has a lot of baggage, and unfortunately for him, it’s not full of cash.” So begins Abdallah Fayyad’s comprehensive look at the former president’s mounting financial woes, a piece he first published in February and has since updated as Trump’s various legal battles continue to yield penalties. He’s currently on the hook for half a billion dollars, and Abdallah lays out exactly why this is a problem that reverberates far beyond the coffers of the man himself. 

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