September 16, 2021

> 162: We back.

Nelson Wu

Hi. We're back. I hope you had a good summer with some hot vaxx and a minimum amount of mayhem, unless you were aiming for mayhem.

For [foghorn] reasons, I've switched mailing systems from Mailchimp to Buttondown. This email might look a bit different, but the gooey core is the same. Unless things go badly wrong I'll go back to sending it Thursday mornings from now on.

All that said—here's some art, ideas, and internet for you:

1. Lying flat is justice, or: What if I don't want a career?

2. I realize it may no longer be cool to like Sally Rooney, but god damn, I loved the new Sally Rooney. Among other things, she managed to convey character and whole dynamics of relationships by describing people's interactions with their phones. She told an interviewer, "I wanted to allow the novel’s characters to go about their lives without any apparent authorial judgement or commentary."

3. Somewhat relatedly: A thread of Irish people describing how their countrymen have absolutely roasted them for their fashion choices. Someone wears a beret and gets called Mario and it goes on from there.

4. The accidental music of subways and a visual history of Rickrolling.

5. Answers to "What's the weirdest question someone's ever asked you?" From a teacher: "About every other year a student asks me what part of the school I sleep in at night, because clearly I live here." From a forensic scientist: "People ask me how to commit murder all the time, but if you really hate someone, stealing their identity causes much more suffering and is a lot harder to get caught at." Hmm.

6. New emojis are coming, including what are sure to be instant necessities like "melting smiley face" and "face with diagonal mouth."

7. Poetry hive, assemble.

8. We're getting a new Jennifer Egan book that is a sequel to her (imo) masterpiece, A Visit From the Goon Squad, plus lots of other stuff to look forward to.

9. A relatable problem: "Help! I couldn't stop writing fake Dear Prudence letters that got published."

10. I was just beginning
    to wonder about my own life
    and now I have to return to it
    regardless of the weather
    or how close I am to love.
    Doesn’t it bother you sometimes
    what living is, what the day has turned into?
    So many screens and meetings
    and things to be late for.
    Everyone truly deserves
    a flute of champagne
    for having made it this far!
    Though it’s such a disaster
    to drink on a Monday.
    To imagine who you would be
    if you hadn’t crossed the street
    or married, if you hadn’t
    agreed to the job or the money
    or how time just keeps going—
    whoever agreed to that
    has clearly not seen
    the beginning of summer
    or been to a party
    or let themselves float
    in the middle of a book
    where for however briefly
    it’s possible to stay longer than
    you should. Unfortunately
    for me and you, we have
    the rest of it to get to.
    We must pretend
    there’s a blue painting
    at the end of this poem.
    And every time we look at it
    we forget about ourselves.
    And every time it looks at us
    it forgives us for pain.

    —"Monday," Alex Dimitrov

Bye,

Laura