Hello to my fellow sword wielders and sandwich lovers!

Today’s post is but a brief missive to introduce a new feature, in the hopes of enlivening The Sword and the Sandwich, and attracting new readers.

I’m starting an advice column!

It might seem like this newsletter is plenty higgledy-piggledy already—dark screeds on politics, and lighthearted missives on sandwiches—but the truth is, I’ve always been a devotee of advice columns, from Dear Prudence to Hola Papi! to Ask a Fuck-Up to even the barer and primmer confines of Dear Abby. So I’ve decided to launch my own, and I hope you’ll bring me your questions, conundrums, and confidences to answer in florid, earnest prose each and every week.

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As to why I’m calling it Ask A Banner Carrier: first of all, it’s in keeping with the whole general fantasy-nerd vibe I’ve imbued the Sword and the Sandwich with. Second of all, in battle, a banner-carrier is the one that rallies the troops (literally), gives them a point to move forward from, and offers the confidence of a raised standard. I hope to give the same sense of surety to the people who write in!

My qualifications: I’ve left a fundamentalist religion, been married and gotten divorced; I’ve been a working writer for nearly a decade, quit jobs, been hired, done some drugs but not too many, written and sold a book, navigated social-media morasses of great depth and vitriol, dated badly, dated well, changed a lot of diapers, lived in a complex family, grieved the deaths of loved ones, and can—with a reporter’s shamelessness—call on an array of experts to aid in my quests and yours. To start with, this feature will be published on Wednesdays; if sufficient questions arrive, I may add an extra feature for paid subscribers on Sundays.

I am honestly so excited to be embarking on this venture—I have wanted to do this for a very long time! Please send your questions—and tell your friends, neighbors, acquaintances, and random passersby to send their questions—to askabannercarrier@gmail.com!

With love,

Talia