Molly

COLLEGE STUDENTS’ OPTIMISM FOR THE FUTURE IS FALLING — AND FAST , morningconsult

College students’ financial optimism has plunged to its lowest level since Morning Consult began tracking it in 2018. The share of students who believe they will be “better off” financially a year from now fell from 45% at the start of 2025 to 38%, slipping below the... See more

Red states are kinkier than blue states. Arya, the sexual wellness AI platform, sent me their 2025 Bedroom Wrapped, pulling from data on more than 300,000 Americans. Felt like information you’d want to know. Kansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Utah ranked highest in reporting “nothing is taboo,” with slightly more emphasis on pain play and simple... See more

SEX HAD BECOME A CHORE. THEN THEY STARTED READING ROMANTASY. , nytimes

Romantasy has become a literary megatrend, selling “millions upon millions” of books and fueling massive BookTok fandoms built around “book husbands” and “spice rankings.” Beyond reviving the fiction market, the genre (which blends fantasy with “what is often very explicit sex,”... See more

Parasocial named Cambridge’s 2025 Word of the Year (Dexerto)

The Cambridge Dictionary has chosen “parasocial” as its Word of the Year for 2025 due to increased global interest in one-sided connections with public figures, fictional characters, and artificial intelligence. The term saw a surge in searches following viral fan behavior, debates about... See more

What is the Elyse Myers book drama? Reader spaces controversy explained amid online backlash (Primetimer)

Elyse Myers sparked backlash after responding publicly to a negative comment on Threads about her new book That’s a Great Question, I’d Love to Tell You . Her reaction set off debate in reader spaces about whether authors should engage with... See more

She’s 9 years old now and, like my other kids, a constant source of both joy and worry. In the immediate shadow of that experience, I drank in the pleasure of being alive. I had about six months of solid euphoria. After that, it was an inevitable stepwise return to the everyday stuff of living. I went back to work, and life resumed. I accepted,... See more

RegieRoger RegieRoger 16hLiked by Molly Barthseems part of the whole attitude to tear everything down, rather than find things of value to build

But the lesson to be drawn isn’t that we’re doomed to chaos. It’s that you – unconfident, self-conscious, all-too-aware-of-your-flaws – potentially have as much to contribute to your field, or the world, as anyone else.

Remember: the reason you can’t hear other people’s inner monologues of self-doubt isn’t that they don’t have them. It’s that you only have access to your own mind.