Alex Burns

“Hot girl food” is about a sense of romanticizing simplicity; like the act of cracking open a can of smoked fish, “hot girl food” is seemingly effortless. But of course, even the things that are portrayed to us as “effortless” require effort; this is the myth of “no makeup” makeup, or the “effortless dinner party” that can be flung together with... See more

Do a lot of work — do a huge volume of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week, or every month, you know you’re going to finish one story. Because it’s only by actually going through a volume of work that you are actually going to catch up and close that gap. And the work you’re making will be as good as your ambitions.

Yes, this is 2024, where life increasingly feels like a huge in-joke that started on the internet. Once upon a time we had subcultures: punks and goths, hippies and emos. Now we have Gen Z’s perceptive trendspotters pinpointing a style or a mood that is sweeping the zeitgeist, coining a label for it — often with the suffix “-core” — and sharing it... See more

Sip your coffee in peace

We usually pair coffee with speed-of-light emailing. But it goes better with: porches, stoops, sidewalks, parks, friends, dog walks, phone calls, books, newspapers.

She wasn’t just subverting expectations of which gender or backgrounds are necessary for an elite football analyst; she was reshaping the role such an analyst could have in the culture beyond sports. Mina showed up everywhere. She was featured in GQ , The Washington Post , and Slate ’s advice column, Dear Prudence. She broke down Nicolas Cage’s... See more