The Gilded Margin

By Shyanne Gines

Conference week is officially over, and I am equal parts exhausted, inspired, and already thinking about what I want to learn next.

This week involved a lot of driving back and forth to Dallas, early mornings, freezing conference rooms, way too many notes, good conversations, new connections, and the occasional “I need to sit in my car for five minutes before I go inside” moment.

So for this week’s Favorites Friday, I’m sharing six things I’ve been loving lately—with a definite conference-week edition twist.

Book

One of my favorite things about conferences is leaving with a longer reading list than I arrived with.

A couple of books were recommended by speakers this week that immediately caught my attention:

• Fundamentals of Interviewing and Interrogation by Darrel Lambert
• Courtroom 302: A Year Behind the Scenes in an American Criminal Courthouse by Steve Bogira

I’m particularly interested in books that take me beyond simply knowing what we’re supposed to do and help me understand the people, communication, psychology, and systems behind the work.

I haven’t finished either one yet, so these are officially on my “conference recommendations that I need to actually read” pile.

And yes, my pile is getting ridiculous.

Movie & TV

Currently Watching: Surviving My Father

This one has been creepy, crazy, heartbreaking, and—perhaps most importantly to me—surprisingly accurate in some of the ways it portrays the environment and dynamics involved.

Part of the reason I think I understood some of what I was watching a little differently than other people might is because I spent part of my life in the LDS community.

I want to make an important distinction here: I was not part of the fundamentalist or polygamist organizations portrayed in the documentary. I was fortunate to never be anywhere near those groups.

But I did have some personal familiarity with LDS culture, terminology, history, and certain beliefs. That gave me context for parts of the story that might otherwise be completely unfamiliar to someone watching it.

Watching it through that lens—and through my professional background working around victims and the criminal justice system—made some of the dynamics particularly fascinating to me.

It’s one of those documentaries where you finish watching and just sit there for a minute thinking, Wow.

Definitely not light entertainment.

Which is probably why my next selection is…

Rewatching: Schitt’s Creek

After a week of serious topics and conference sessions, I needed something familiar and funny.

So I’m rewatching Schitt’s Creek.

And this particular rewatch feels a little different after losing Catherine O’Hara, the incredible actress behind Moira Rose, earlier this year. She died at 71 on January 30, 2026, following a brief illness. 

Moira Rose was ridiculous, dramatic, wildly over-the-top, and somehow completely lovable.

Catherine O’Hara had a gift for making an absolutely outrageous character feel human. Her timing, expressions, delivery, wardrobe, wigs—everything about Moira was just her.

So while I’m laughing my way through another rewatch, I’m also appreciating Catherine O’Hara’s work a little more.

Thank you for Moira Rose, Catherine. You gave us a character we’ll be laughing with for a very long time.

Rest in peace.

And the one I’m dragging my friends to see…

** Super Troopers 3. **

It officially hits theaters August 7, 2026, and I have already decided that my friends are going.

Whether they know it yet or not.

I have been waiting for this one, and I’m not above aggressively recruiting people to come with me. The original cast is back, the Broken Lizard crew is back, and apparently the chaos is back too. 

Some movies are cinema.

Some movies are important.

And some movies are Super Troopers 3 and you just need to go laugh with your friends.

So if anyone needs me, I’ll be organizing the unofficial Gilded Margin Super Troopers 3 field trip.

Music

My music this week was… all over the place.

The drives between Roanoke and Dallas gave me plenty of time to listen to whatever mood I happened to be in, and apparently my answer was everything.

My conference-week playlist bounced between country, rap, pop, alternative, old favorites, and songs that apparently needed to be heard at exactly that moment.

There was Ella Langley, Jessie Murph, Logic, Eminem, Joyner Lucas, Dolly Parton, Tyler Childers, Mayday Parade, Grieves, Panic! At The Disco, Russ, and even the Spice Girls.

Because apparently my musical taste refuses to stay in one lane.

Some of the songs making appearances:

• Choosin’ Texas — Ella Langley
• weren’t for the wind — Ella Langley
• Touch Me Like a Gangster — Jessie Murph
• Best Behavior — Jessie Murph & Lil Baby
• Ain’t But a Thing — Jessie Murph
• I Like How I Look — Jessie Murph
• The Man That Came Back — Jessie Murph
• Homicide — Logic & Eminem
• ADHD — Joyner Lucas
• Isis — Joyner Lucas & Logic
• Oklahoma Smokeshow — Zach Bryan
• Coat of Many Colors — Dolly Parton
• B*in’ List — Tyler Childers
• Jersey — Mayday Parade
• Wannabe — Spice Girls
• Baby I Need Your Loving — The Four Tops
• i hate u, i love u — gnash & Olivia O’Brien

And yes, I also listened to The 10X Rule audiobook on the drive.

Because apparently I needed motivational business advice mixed in with Eminem and Dolly Parton.

Honestly, this playlist probably says more about my brain than I should admit.

Some songs were for the drive.
Some were for the mood.
Some were because I hadn’t heard them in forever.

And some were absolutely just because I wanted to yell the lyrics in my car after spending all day sitting quietly in conference sessions.

Conference week soundtrack: chaotic, eclectic, occasionally inappropriate, and somehow exactly right.

Purchase

None of these are affiliates. These are just things I actually bought or received this week and genuinely love.

From the conference, I picked up a zip-up sweater, bandana, challenge coin, and patch.

Buying conference merchandise is one of my favorite ways to support the organizations putting these events together. Conferences take a tremendous amount of work to organize, and the money spent on merchandise helps support the organization and future training opportunities.

Plus, I actually needed that sweater.

Those conference rooms were FREEZING.

It was soft on the inside, comfortable, and basically became my conference survival blanket.

The bandana and coin were easy choices because I love both.

Coins are probably one of my weaknesses.

And I’ve recently started a patch wall at work, so naturally I needed another patch.

Slowly but surely, that wall is filling up.

But my favorite thing waiting for me when I got home wasn’t something I bought at all.

I came home to two new charms on my James Avery charm bracelet.

I am completely grateful to the person who gave them to me and absolutely in love with them.

I wore the bracelet the last two days of conference and caught myself looking down at it several times.

Sometimes a gift doesn’t have to be expensive or extravagant to mean a lot.

Sometimes it’s just something small that makes you smile every time you look at it.

And these definitely did.

Local Spotlight

I have absolutely nothing exciting to report from Dallas this week.

I packed my lunches.

Every day.

Which was probably the responsible thing to do, but it doesn’t make for a very exciting local spotlight.

I didn’t get to explore a new restaurant or coffee shop, and honestly, by the end of some of those days I was just ready to get home.

But I’ll still give a shout-out to one of my Dallas favorites:

Ocean Prime.

It’s expensive.

I’m not going to pretend otherwise.

I didn’t eat there this week, but if someone had offered me a seat and a slice of their seven-layer carrot cake, I would not have complained.

That cake lives rent-free in my head.

So until I discover somewhere new, Ocean Prime remains one of my Dallas favorites.

Drink

This week I actually did a pretty good job staying hydrated.

Lots of water.

Conference days can make it surprisingly easy to forget to drink anything when you’re bouncing from session to session, so having water with me was a priority.

One of my favorite drinks this week was a sugar-free Electrolit Strawberry Banana.

I love these.

Strawberry Banana is probably my favorite, followed closely by Berry Frost.

They’re one of those drinks I genuinely enjoy grabbing, especially when I’m running around and need something more than another cup of coffee.

Speaking of coffee…

I made mine at home this week with Black Rifle Coffee grounds and oatmeal cookie oat milk creamer.

Chef’s kiss.

My one soda splurge was a Zero Sugar Dr Pepper Coconut Cream, and it absolutely hit the spot.

I also enjoyed a Purple Haze beer one evening after getting home.

Not because I needed one.

Just because I enjoy one every once in a while.

If I’m ordering an actual cocktail, my favorite will probably always be the vanilla pear martini.

Otherwise, a simple coconut rum and Sugar Free Dr Peoper will do.

But honestly?

Most days, I’m perfectly happy with a giant cup of ice water.

---

Conference Week in One Sentence

I’m leaving this week with new books to read, new things to think about, new people in my professional circle, conference merch I absolutely didn’t need but wanted anyway, a playlist that makes absolutely no sense, and a renewed appreciation for why I love continuing to learn.

It was a long week.

It was an exhausting week.

It was a really good week.

And now…

I’m going to go drag my friends to see Super Troopers 3.

Because apparently I’m not done with conference week yet.

Just moving on to the fun part.