Sublime
An inspiration engine for ideas
“I think writers have always realized their own value; there just weren't a lot of options in the post-2008 recession for how to make good on it,” says Anne Helen Peterson, who writes the newsletter Culture Study. “But all of this feels very cyclical to me. The economy tanks, writers get laid off from their publications, writers go freelance, write... See more
Oliver Franklin-Wallis • Newsletters could be the next (and only) hope to save the media
We may balk at having “personal market caps,” but many of us already do – it is simply denominated in the currency of followers. As social media platforms have increased in importance, the blue-chip entities of this exchange – influencers – have found ways to transmute social capital into financial capital.
Mario Gabriele • Social Tokens: The Economy of You | The Generalist
‘Can’t you do something more socially responsible?’ her mother used to ask, when Lucy spoke of her admiration for Nellie Bly and Veronica Guerin, for Christiane Amanpour and Susan Sontag.
Emilia Hart • The Sirens: The highly anticipated second novel from the bestselling author of WEYWARD
I think of her often. She happens to hit on a particular fixation of mine, which is the problem of “taste” as an ever-present commodity, rather than something idiosyncratic, personal, and most importantly, connected to other aspects of your day-to-day life, like how you move around the world and what you do to pass the time. I think of people whose... See more
Haley Nahman • #176: Accounting for taste
For so many people, this lack of options — this coercion to care — breeds intense resentment of a role that, when chosen of one’s own volition, might feel incredibly satisfying.
Anne Helen Petersen • Forced to Care
If anything, mass culture lately appears more aesthetically homogenous than ever.
Kyle Chayka • Filterworld
In the span of maybe four months, we saw “mob wife,” “ballet core,” “rockstar girlfriend,” and “tradwife.” There was also the “office siren” aesthetic, which attempted to synthesize the sterility of the office with the mythological seductiveness of the siren.
Cazzie David • The "Vibe Trends" Are Out of Control
Like Diana, Princess of Wales, whose royal status, beauty and untimely death made her into a legend, Ms. Bessette Kennedy exists less as a person than an idea. Because she was so notoriously private, because she married into a family that had already colonized part of the public imagination, and because our memories of her are essentially preserved... See more
Vanessa Friedman • Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, Ghost Influencer
I understand the cautions against leaning into depressive episodes. I also understand how many things that people label “indicators of depression” are also 1) forms of deep rest and 2) general resistance to the idea that every day should be filled with lists of things to do , places to be , productivity to exalt. And as Refinery29 writer Sabdhbh O’
... See more