If these ideas are intriguing to you, maybe you wish to subscribe to my newsletter.
Other Writing:
Espresso machine review at Serious Eats
Bambino Plus review at Serious Eats
Hiiiiiiiii
Most writers are often looking for excuses not to write. Knowing that the platform you use to publish your newsletter is run by Nazi sympathizers and profits off of transphobic and anti-vaxx rhetoric is a great one. In fact, even thinking about it too hard is enough to make you feel… twisted. Thus, the important ideas in your head about which things you’ve been paying attention to in media start to languish, and ignoring the whole mess is likely just easier than any sort of meaningful gesture.
I’ve got a lot of respect for Luke from Welcome to Hell World for moving off from Substack the moment it was clear that the principals at the company were scrupleless capitalist freaks who support cultural terrorists. I certainly wasn’t brave enough to do so when I should have. I also have a lot of respect for Marisa Kabas for leading the charge in organizing Substack writers to confront management about their Nazi problem in her own newsletter, The Handbasket.
But there’s another reason why I didn’t take action sooner: this newsletter is a very low-stakes vanity project that I didn’t want to lose money on by writing it. Alternatives, historically speaking, have been paid services or less user-friendly to the point of every missive being a typography headache. Moving services would mean a meaningful investment of time and resources, and frankly, I’ve got a lot of things going on in my life that I’d rather spend that time doing. For example: I just got a new bowling ball drilled. And I bought an iPad so I can get back into reading comics.
This newsletter has been revitalized a few times as a way to jumpstart my writing practice and promote my writing in other outlets. Now that I’m no longer a full-time professional writer again, it’s important that I keep this newsletter rolling along on a regular schedule. But as much as I want to talk about The Boy And The Heron here, I haven’t had the energy to ignore that publishing on Substack makes me feel icky.
The average Internet user doesn’t usually have a ton of agency in engaging with services and avoiding patronizing websites that are owned and operated by right-wing death cult techno-cults. I haven’t posted on Twitter in months, but it’s actively hurt my freelance career by cutting off a main form of contact I might have with other writers, editors, and publications. Being stuck having to check Twitter and feeling like there wasn’t a viable alternative to Substack is just where, well, most people find themselves.
It’s the death of the conscience in service of convenience that makes it all too easy to order something on Amazon. It’s hard to move through the world running every single executive motor function through a morality check, and it’s much easier to not make those big decisions.
At the same time, that’s not a license to freely operate without impunity. “There’s no ethical consumption under capitalism” isn’t a statement giving free rein to fast fashion shopping sprees. Rather, the goal is to make better, more informed decisions when we’re able to, and take action when we can.
So that means this is the last thing you’ll see from me through Substack. I’m moving to a new platform once I can invest a bit more time into it, but now that I’m in a cushy marketing role at an espresso machine manufacturer, I’m also about to have a lot more brain power leftover to keep this newsletter rolling along weekly again.
No need to do anything on your part, the subscriber list will be imported soon.
And in the meantime, fuck Hamish McKenzie and the others and I hope he’s got a namesearch running in the background of all Substack newsletters. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to send one more thing out on this platform, but then again, it’s fun knowing that he had to pay money for my free newsletter to tell him to fuck off.
I hope your personal relationships suffer as people around you slowly realize how much more you prioritize money over the safety of others, Hamish. You’re truly some of the worst scum of the tech world, and wow, that’s saying something.
Read
The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor
I really love the way Brandon Taylor writes about everyday life, and while this didn’t click for me as hard as Filthy Animals did, his prose is succinct, his characters grounded, and his observations are cutting.
Watch
Killers Of The Flower Moon
It’s on Apple TV+ now, and I’m only halfway through it. It’s truly a beautifully made movie that’s 3.5 hours of nonstop evil. Should definitely be watched by all.
Listen
This is a watch and a listen because the song would be hard to get through without the brilliant music video. When my brain feels like a rattling beehive filled with poisonous buzzing ideas, this is one of the songs that soundtrack it.
Consume
I hope the people behind Donkey Chips aren’t inherently evil because I no longer live in one of the major tortilla manufacturing centers in the United States anymore. In Chicago, you can get incredible tortilla chips at every grocery store, but in Madison, it’s a trickier task. Donkey Chips are a very good tortilla chip that is widely available, and I enjoy having the option to make nachos without having to revert to a Lays product.
Artwork by Ashley Elander Strandquist. You can view her illustration work here and check out her printing business here.