LeBron to Sixers, Thoughts on Middle Age, Writing Advice, and The Odyssey

This week, we’re looking at LeBron James to the Philadelphia 76ers, the idea of being middle aged, Anne’s review of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, and writing advice from John McPhee. 

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Stories Bill Read or Watched the Week of July 20, 2026

“LeBron picks 76ers as ‘Last Decision,’ to sign 2-year, $8M deal” by Dave McMenamin on ESPN

• Click here for article. 
• James is 41, born December 30th, 1984. 2003 was his first year in the league. This will be his 24th year in the league. 
• “James, 41, is signing a two-year, $8 million contract with a player option, Klutch Sports Group CEO Rich Paul told ESPN’s Shams Charania. James made nearly $53 million with the Los Angeles Lakers last season.” -from the article 
• This choice lifts LeBron a couple of notches for me. 
• Why not LA for the veteran minimum? 
• Were you thinking about maybe where before the deal? I was thinking maybe Cleveland because Mobley would be helpful on defense. Thought Golden State was fun. Would probably play the “3” in those scenarios which wasn’t good. 
• The value of reflection. Season is over vs. right now? I have recharged for Watauga basketball now that we’re ending July. 
• “Meanwhile, a trio of Sixers players — Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and the newly acquired Jaylen Brown, another surprising addition for Philadelphia this offseason — worked on James directly, sources told ESPN. That effort was led by Maxey, a fellow Klutch client who has referred to James as a “big brother” in the past.”
• Does this make Philly the favorite in the East? Knicks, Sixers, Celtics, Pistons, Raptors
• I bet the Pacers +600 to make the Eastern Conference Finals. 

“When Middle Age Actually Starts” by Julie Beck from The Atlantic. 

• Click here to connect to The Atlantic story. 
• When does middle age start and end? I think I’d go 48-55, even though I’m expecting to get to 100. 
• When does old age start? 
• From the article: The average life expectancy in the United States is 79. So if you cut that in half, 39.5 is the precise statistical midpoint of the average American life. But that doesn’t reveal much—middle age isn’t just a point in time but a phase of life. How long does that phase last? When does it start? When does it end? How can you tell when you’re in it? These, it turns out, are very fraught questions.
• I frequently say I’m old and I’m not kidding. 
• From the article: I am 35. Is a 35-year-old middle-aged? If you ask my friends, they’d be quick to say I’m “still young,” but the word still carries a note of reassurance that I find troubling. Is a 66-year-old retiree middle-aged? Maybe, maybe not—but they sure don’t want to be called “old.” Is a 29-year-old middle aged? Surely not, yet The Wall Street Journal ran a story a couple of years ago about 20-somethings who claimed they felt middle-aged.
• Crisis definitely popped into my thoughts. From the article: “The No. 1 word attached to midlife is crisis,” Chip Conley—the founder of the Modern Elder Academy, an organization that offers workshops for making the most of midlife, and the author of Learning to Love Midlife—told me. (This association persists despite evidence showing the midlife crisis is mostly a myth.)
• From the article: Being middle-aged, to her, means truly being in the middle—having people both younger and older than you looking to you for help and guidance. That might mean you’re in the sandwich generation: caring for children and starting to support aging parents. Or it might mean you’re a leader in your workplace, mentoring younger colleagues and relied on by older ones.

“Draft NO. 4” by John McPhee

• Originally published in The New Yorker, this is a piece about writing and the writing life. It includes the advice to write “Dear Mother” at the top of a piece and just use her as an audience to get the story or information out just as you’d tell her. 
• There’s a book: Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process. I downloaded the sample. Click here for book. (We are an Amazon Affiliate) 
• He’s 95! That’s not middle aged! 
• A paragraph from Wikipedia that I enjoyed: Reflecting his personal interests, McPhee’s subjects are highly eclectic. He has written pieces on lifting-body development (The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed), the psyche and experience of a nuclear physicist (The Curve of Binding Energy), a New Jersey wilderness area (The Pine Barrens), the United States Merchant Marine (Looking for a Ship), farmers’ markets (Giving Good Weight), the movement of coal across America (“Coal Train” in Uncommon Carriers), the shifting flow of the Mississippi River (“Atchafalaya” in The Control of Nature), geology (in several books), as well as a short book entirely about oranges. One of his most widely read books, Coming into the Country, is about the three faces of Alaska: the urban, the rural, and the Alaskan wilderness.
• Advice from the McPhee piece: “Just stay at it; perseverance will change things.” “You’re so unhappy you sound authentic to me.” “You can’t make a fix unless you know what is broken.”
• There’s a great story about an editor named Eleanor Gould who when she was 22 marked up a copy of an issue of The New Yorker and mailed it in. It doesn’t seem to be a true story but it had a funny ending of, “Hire the b—-!” 
• One more thing on Gould from the piece: She doesn’t mind when friends call her the Pencil Lady. A blog she began on The New Yorker’s website, mostly about copyediting, evolved into the best-selling book Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen (Norton, 2015). Click here for the book. (we are an Amazon Affiliate) 

The Hawk, season 1 on Netflix starring Will Ferrell, Fortune Feimster, Molly Shannon and Luke Wilson. 

• Izzy and I watched all 10 episodes. I don’t know that we’ve ever watched a whole season of a show together. 
• Izzy’s observations about the humor of Anchorman relative to the humor of The Hawk. 
• Gets 28% on the Tomatometer and 65% on the popcorn score. 
• I wrote my first Rotten Tomatoes Review! 

Stories Anne Read or Watched the Week of July 20, 2026

“LeBron’s Final Decision Is a Massive Plot Twist for the NBA” by Michael Pina in The Ringer

• LeBron’s Final Decision
• Surprised? The other possibilities did not excite me (GS, Miami, Cavs) I think this is fun. I think Denver would have been cool and the Pacers, but don’t think he ever really considered those 2, especially not Pacers
• Embiid is big question, along with depth. Also how will will big 4 get along? Embiid, LeBron, Maxey, Brown? 
• Writer says East is better than past seasons.My personal thoughts are that the Knicks will not repeat but they will have a good season. Pacers will have a pretty good season, I think Detroit will drop, Heat will not be any good, Cavs will drop and the Raptors will drop. I guess I am not as high on all of these teams as the writer is. Raptors hinge on Kawhi and if he goes there and IF he stays healthy. I think 76ers have a great chance. 76ers/Knicks/Pacers. Celtics will be good but I think same as this season, they won’t do it in the playoffs.
• Writer doesn’t think it will have a big impact, I am going to disagree. I guess it is if all things go, then it will. If Embiid never plays, Brown clashes with team, then it won’t.

“Bring Me the Beauties: A Model Cult” directed by Chris Smith

• Bring Me the Beauties
• Model from the 80s Hoyt Richards centers the episodes that delve into a cult he was a part of. Believed some of members were Aliens
• Frederick von Mierer’s Eternal Values cult, recommended precious gems they would buy, inflated cost, supported by members, communal living, berated. 
• Chris Smith also did Tiger King
• Where is Hoyt Richards now? EW article by Britt Hayes

“The Odyssey” directed by Christopher Nolan 

• On the plane home, I rewatched Interstellar for the first time since it was released. I understood more this time. A good movie with a great score (my fav) but still not high up there for me in my fav movies. Nolan movies in general I find interesting and all are a must watch, but have not really loved one. We will see soon if I love the Odyssey. (Obviously wrote this pre-watch)
• I give it an A-, but not one of my fav movies ever or anything. The last 40 minutes or so were really good. Loved the score, visually a nice look. All the actors were good, none were best actor material IMO, but I can see Hathaway getting a nod, probably Damon too, but no “wow” performances. I would say one thing is sometimes I think the casting is too many stars? I do not understand casting director Benny Safdie as Agamemnon, my only thought is that the armor was doing the work and maybe that’s the point. Anti-war, treat your neighbors well.

“The Silence of the Girls” by Pat Barker

• I read this book based on a search for historical fiction in TikTok. It is a women’s point of view of the Trojan War. A great perspective. A King’s wife gets taken as Achille’s woman after her town is sacked by the greeks, gets taken to sack Troy.

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