Write from the root of your own experiences. Write essays linked to your culture or moment in time, but that will not age out of relevance in a few months. Be someone who asks the questions no one else is asking. Be a critic. Be a reporter.

My impulse is to say I don’t mind whether my ideas are original, but that’s not exactly true. I don’t want my writing to feel redundant or derivative of popular ideas that have been circulating forever, but to me that’s less about having wholly original thoughts and more about being in conversation with the world around me. Taken too literally,... See more

Remember when Trump won and everyone was suddenly talking about podcasts (Trump won because he went on them, apparently) rather than policy? As we focus on how marketing is done, substantive questions of the world itself get sidelined.

Implicit in this focus on marketing is a focus on everyone but oneself. What will politically-moderate strangers... See more