Where I go for proof and patterns

Once I feel like I have a solid angle to work with, I start looking for more support for it. This isn’t just for simple proof, but to give the piece depth and texture. And this also doesn’t simply mean overly academic sources or hard data (though those are definitely useful too). I look for evidence in a broader... See more

Once I have a topic, I have to figure out what I actually want to say about it. I don’t want to just circle around why it’s interesting, but what it means about our world and the people in it. A “deep dive” has to reveal something that the reader may never have considered before.

This is when you need to start zooming out. Take whatever main point... See more

A “deep dive” has to reveal something that the reader may never have considered before.

This is when you need to start zooming out. Take whatever main point that caught your eye and try to figure out a larger pattern or contradiction within it. I usually ask myself—

☐ Is this part of a bigger trend or shift?

☐ Have versions of this conversation been... See more

Real Life — a magazine about living with technology, with an emphasis on living. Though it’s now archived, it is still an incredibly rich source of esssays that connect technology to identity. I think archived sites are amazing places to see what opinions on certain topics used to be and how they’ve since changed.

Lux Magazine — a socialist feminist magazine that explores the intersection of identity and politics, from abortion networks to 911 alternatives. It’s an amazing (and visually beautiful) place to find cultural critiques tied in material conditions.

When you sit down to write, it should be to figure something out. “What underlying issues is this perpetuating?” or “Why are people gravitating towards this in our current social or political time?” Why this object, this trend, this behavior, this interest, right now?

The Drift — a contemporary, youth-driven site for essays, fiction, poetry, interviews, etc. that are serious without being overly academic. I would say their tone is set somewhere between Substack and literary journals, so it can be a useful reference for what ambitious internet writing can look like .

The Baffler — sharp and politically grounded essays that explore left-wing ideas, cultural analysis, short stories, poems, and art. I like to use these as reference on how to effectively balance cultural analysis with systemic critique.

To me, the best writing should explore something uncomfortable, it should subvert an idea that other people are already comfortable believing.