Where It's At...
Adventures in "Journalism" has moved.
A Visit from a Ghost of Halloween Past
(^^^ In the mountains of central Mexico, some believe Monarch butterflies represent the spirits of the dead. Watercolor painting by John Webster, 1818-1912,...
Behind the Scenes at The Alta Cocker Gazette
I'm currently teaching a profile-writing class. It's mid-semester, and we've reached the point where the students have interviewed their subjects and a few...
Uh-Oh. I've Gone Full Howard Beale.
I thought I was done with Kidneygate. More than a week later, though, after even more damning facts have come to light, I find myself going full Howard...
On the Literary and Media World's Clique-ish Social Pecking Order
(Photo by James Jordan, via Flickr) Last Monday, over at Oldster Magazine, I took my own questionnaire. In response to a question about what's surprising...
Careful What You Wish For
For five weeks I've been pressuring myself to do something I'm fairly certain I don't want to do, but which has been hard to let go of because it's something...
"What's a Newsletter?"
I don't share this newsletter, Adventures in *Journalism*, on Facebook. I don't expect family members, childhood schoolmates, and all the other normies I've...
On Following Your Curiosity—and The New Side-Project Mine Has Led Me To
This looks like a 9/11 post, but it's not. Of course, coming upon this photo days before the anniversary reminded me of all the tragedy and horror and loss,...
Scattered Pictures
I spent a fair amount of time this weekend searching through my house and garage for a few particular photos. So far I’ve failed to find them, and it’s...
How to Rest
^^^ (The Invalid, by Louis Lang, at the Brooklyn Museum) If the past few years in our increasingly hellish world have taught me anything, it's that Whoever...
When the World Changes Faster Than You Can Write About It
After much digging around, an editor at The New Yorker gave me the name and email of another editor there to whom I could submit my “Department of Returns”...
How to Stop Helping Men Who Don't Deserve Your Assistance
After my last installment I received fan mail from a male colleague who has, on more than one occasion, written to let me know that what I wrote resonated...
My Contribution to the Growing Category of "Misfit Lit"
^^^ In my book I tell a story about whispering my feelings into my blue Panasonic tape recorder…accidentally recording over the bat mitzvah chanting practice...
How to Survive Deadline Pressure
^^^ Me as Guinevere, talking with King Arthur, in the sixth grade production of Camelot. Just a quickie this week to say hello from the home stretch before I...
When Merely Blurring a Dude Might Not Be Enough
(^^^ "Outdoorsy Sari" atop a Catskills peak in the fall of '98 with What's-His-Name) In the final weeks until my book deadline, the Universe has been messing...
Gig Life 4Eva (at least for this dinosaur)
In the past couple of days I posted on Twitter about two new gigs I’m about to embark on. One is an adjunct appointment in the MFA program at Wilkes...
Let Them All Talk
Dear Subscribers, I’m entering the final month before my book is due, and while I’m freaked out in ways, I’m also having new kinds of fun. I’m making...
The "Mixed Bag" That Is My Twitter Bat Mitzvah
(^^^ I received this message from Twitter the other day.) Last week, Twitter notified me it had been 13 years since I'd joined—so basically, it's my Twitter...
Publishing a Book in the Worst of Times
(^^^ Tulips from my sister.) Let me begin with gratitude. Thank you to everyone who subscribes to this newsletter and takes the time to read it (and...
The Brief Return to City Living that Spoiled Me
(^^^Me in the stairwell of Jami Attenberg’s former building in Williamsburg on the night I mention below.) Yesterday I published an essay in the Guardian...
I Don't Need Anyone's Goddamned Permission (But I Still Desperately Want and Seek It)
(^^^Me in Oceanside High, as opposed to Internet High, although in both places I have been equally dorky and insecure.) Often I ask myself, “At what point...
Greetings From the Desk of "Sally Buttons*" (*Not My Real Name)
Hello, subscribers, from my new newsletter plaform, Buttondown.email (My final Substack post pretty much explains the switch.) I chose Buttondown for an...
What is the Color of Shame? 🩸
Earlier this month I made a joke on social media wishing “a happy Endometriosis Awareness Month to those who celebrate.” I’d landed on a silly approach after...
You Took My Joy
A lot of thoughtful pieces have been written lately about the unfortunate direction in which Substack has been taking its business model. I pore over every...
Snail Mail, Anyone?
Hey, I’m not sure whether I’m going to do this, but figured I’d at least ask to find out if anyone would be interested: I’m considering taking this analog,...
Art and Commerce
This money sign magnet—displayed on every refrigerator we’ve had since The Secret originally aired in like 2006—is pretty much my entire retirement plan....
Death and Vaxes
Another childish drawing by yours truly. Until this weekend, I was determined to diligently wait my turn for a Covid vaccine. Now I have more complicated...
Don't Get Too Comfortable
This is the last Instagram photo I posted before lockdown. I had taken the bus to the city to speak to Leslie Jamison’s Columbia MFA students, and I saw this...
Blowing Shit up
This week many cheered the implosion of Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. It felt like a symbolic end to the Trump era—although it came only a...
Requiem For an Artist You've Never Heard Of
This week we lost my sister-in-law, my husband Brian’s eldest sister, Jean Marie Macaluso, who was a prolific, talented outsider artist, and in her own way,...
Hitting that Wall
Just another crappy crayon drawing I made for you. In the past two weeks, like just about everyone, I hit my “pandemic wall.” On several days I rode the...
How To Be Your Own Friend
Every day I see other writers on social media acknowledging how hard it is to be consistently productive at this time. I find it incredibly validating,...
Good Times and Bad Times...
I’ve moved a lot of times in my life, and each time I’ve considered trashing at least some of the bags and boxes of memorabilia I’ve been toting around all...
Step Into My Office...
This is my new office setup at home. Last week Taylor Lorenz had a round-up in the New York Times Styles section about people taking to their beds, during...
Christmas Eve Traditions I Have Known...
I drew you a snowflake this Christmas Eve morning. I didn’t meet my word count goal yesterday and promised myself I’d get cracking early this morning. But my...
Repeat After Me: First Drafts Are Not Supposed to Be Good
Note to self… I don’t know who needs to hear this…ha ha, I totally do know who needs to hear this, and it’s ME: FIRST DRAFTS ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE GOOD....
Will You Still Need Me...Will You Still Feed Me...
Brb…writing and, uh, transforming. (Still can’t draw.) When I finish grading final papers next week for the MFA program I teach in, it will mark the...
Thank You, Next
In my last installment I linked to a Thanksgiving post from last year. As I was re-reading last-year’s post, I got choked up toward the bottom, where I...
Holidays are Hard
Last year at this time I told you about my four worst Thanksgivings. Today I’m going to tell you about my best one — which is saying a lot, because I am not...
My Worst Presidential Election Nights, Ranked
Here I am with my husband, Brian, on Election Day in 2016 — the one that takes the cake, so far. I wore a pantsuit to vote for Hillary, whom I was certain...
For All of Us Who Are Struggling to Write Right Now...
I’m thinking of starting an interview podcast called “How’s the Writing Going?” either as a paid feature of this newsletter, or as part of a second...
"Five Unreasonable Requests" and Other Career Coaching Homework Assignments I Failed At
Watching The Vow, a nine-part documentary on HBO, reminded me of all the people I knew in the 90s and the aughts who got sucked in by self-improvement scams...
Rethinking Reporting on the Place Where You Live
A couple of subscribers reached out to me after I posted my last newsletter installment. They each suggested I write a more in-depth piece about the local...
Dispatch from Brooklandia
Greetings, subscribers, from Kingston, NY, where a dystopian hipster parody is currently playing out. Kington is an amazing little city where right now many...
How to Write Your Book
Start by not writing your book. There are soooooo many reasons not to… Your brain is still fried from your last job, even though you left two months...
RIP Muji (and Any Remaining Illusions I've Clung To of Control Over Anything)
Greetings, subscribers, from the First Day of the Rest of My Life. 🌤Well, another of them, anyway. There was the one in early June, the morning after I left...
Check Yourself
Remember back in February when I wondered whether I was psychic? Well, here’s exhibit #9,437: Yesterday I was thinking about fact-checking and fair reporting...
Frank Sinatra Has Pneumonia
I realize that in my last newsletter installment I overstated my departure from journalism, altogether, in the fall of 1996. Yes, when I left my job that...
Truth and (Gendered) Consequences
A former colleague asked why I even bothered reading _______’s book. First of all, of course I was going to read it! Second of all, it perfectly clarified...
Supporting Journalists and Journalism, Which Are Under Assault
This is not your typical installment of “Adventures in *Journalism*” in which I try to make sense of my circuitous career path. I’ve been working on one of...