The Best Things on the Internet You Missed: March.
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This is March’s roundup of the internet’s best things to read, watch and laugh at. Hopefully, you’ll find things that make you smile, things that make you think, and things that make you gasp, round-eyed, reaching for your water glass.
Enjoy!
Message of the Month
Alan Cummings wants us all to let go.
“I think American people, especially, are slightly ashamed of abandon.”
Starting Smiles
My Typical New York Work Day from The New Yorker.
It’s tough to describe exactly what I do, but I guess I would characterize it as a combination of Wall Street trader, real-estate mogul, Times Square Elmo, commissioner of the Department of Sanitation, and understudy for Aaron Burr in “Hamilton.” My office is in a glass skyscraper that is five thousand feet tall. It has been praised by multiple community groups as an affront to God.
Quick things
Writer Emma Gannon bought and loved a fancy orange jumpsuit. Then she sold it. Then she bought it back. The same exact one. With her old lipstick stain on it! The circular economy, people.
Putting herbs in your salad will make you feel alive, says Emily Nunn at The Department of Salad. (Thanks to Nunn for gifting me a year of her newsletter!)
North Americans have a friendship recession, and 8% of North Americans say they have no close friends. More, from Sarah Fay.
We don’t need self-help, we need support, says pal Kirsten Powers, who recently read one of my favorite books: The Year of Living Danishly. I’ve read several of Helen Russel’s books, and really look forward to the new parenting book, out in a few months in the USA.
17 things Christene Berberich thrifted in February: A $400 coat! My heart! (And big thanks to Berberich for sending me a tiny thrifted piece of pottery when I became a new subscriber.)
It’s not just you. It’s harder than ever to make a living as a creative.
The new season of Survivor, its 46th, has started with a bang. If you haven’t been a reality TV fan, but finally dipped your toes in after you heard everyone raving about the crazy, murder-y fun in the castle in Scotland (aka Traitors season 2, which was so popular that Alan Cummings got a write up in The New Yorker), it might be time to try Survivor!
On Writing
“To hold out hope, in spite of past failures and those certain to come—there may be no more apt description of a writer’s superpower. I guess I feel, at this point, that telling stories is kind of like running up the beach, from the sea, with the water in your hands, and just trying to get to the top of the beach… Just trying to tell somebody what something’s like, even as it’s all slipping away.”
How Courtney Maum gets in her own way when writing fiction
After reading this post, I directly sent this to one of my first readers, who had this exact criticism on a recent draft I gave her. I also bought a bunch of Maum’s books! Then, when I wrote her via Substack’s new direct message function asking where I could buy her chapbook about a writer going to Mexico to write a novel (it seemed to not be on sale anywhere?) she said she’d send me one for free! The internet is full of magical people.
Only Bad Ideas
Gabriel García Márquez Wanted to Destroy His Last Novel. It’s About to Be Published.
Someone recommended this to me and I want it but there is not way in hell I am paying $60
Your City Is the Most Livable in America, Until We Publish This Article About It
Congratulations! Our magazine has just declared your beloved city the most livable in America, and we cannot wait to tell our millions of readers about it. You must be thrilled that your previously under-the-radar, midsize, relatively traffic-free haven is finally getting the recognition it deserves! It’s our unique joy to bring this fine municipality to the attention of so many unhappy New Yorkers with remote jobs and salaries that seem insane to you.
For Book Lovers
I re-read my three favorite novels of all time. Here’s what happened.
Brianna Zimmerman’s take on this NYT article about the London Book Fair
You have to be a certain type of person to enjoy the book fair: the first pre-requisite is loving books, the second is loving people. Perhaps the two don’t always go hand-in-hand, but if you work in publishing my sense is we are all birds of a feather. Doesn’t matter where you come from in the world; you can see on someone’s face when they are in love with a book, and it lights you up, makes you want to see the world through their eyes, that book’s eyes, makes you think that something might entertain you, explain the previously unexplainable, help slow everything down.
Dumpster Fires
In Conclusion
This psychiatric service dog helps her owner with his hallucinations.
Thanks for reading!
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Omg that Boeing headline