Trying to decide whether to add a scarf to a studied unstudied outfit ("Nothing is as strenuous as effortlessness"), she channels Ephron's I Feel Bad About My Neck: "The scarf's official purpose, like its older cousin, the turtleneck, is to cover the gobbler, but standing in my closet, I realize that the scarf also adds color and some je ne sais quoi. I know what the 'quoi' is now — it's the last vestige of feminine flair of the pared-down wardrobe of the middle-aged woman."
But Gurwitch, sending bulletins from midlife and a career that's "middled," is more status-conscious than Ephron. Rather than having it all, like Ephron, she's pulled between helping her parents, paying for her son's braces, or buying long-term care insurance. Stuck in what she calls "Hollywood adjacent," her recourse is to make light of the luxuries she sees all around her but can't quite afford.
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