Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
Can Twitter be saved? I’m not talking about last week’s social media stock price plunge. It’s the ritualization of Gamergate-style uproar and dishonest brigading that has me disillusioned with the platform. I know soul-searching about Twitter is a bit of a journalistic trope at this point, since we all seem to be simultaneously enraptured with…
On a Monday morning in November, students at Harvard Business School convened in their classroom to find Gwyneth Paltrow. She was sitting at one of their desks, fitting in not at all, using her phone, as they took their seats along with guests they brought to class that day — wives, mothers, boyfriends. Each seat…
‘What? You just said you have never shopped for a fucking mattress?!’ —Jonathan Van Ness, Queer Eye, Season 1 Such an effort If he only knew of my plan In just seven days I can make you a man —Dr. Frank-N-Furter, The Rocky Horror Picture Show Some things are just too pure for this weird…
You wake up in a puddle of water. It’s 5:00 a.m. Not water. Pee. You realize it’s pee. Your three-year-old has been having trouble sleeping lately and expertly wedged herself between the two of you. You lazily decided to forego the pull-up last night. You both pretend not to see the wet patch. One of you will…
A few months ago, while dining at Veggie Grill (one of the new breed of Chipotle-class fast-casual restaurants), a phrase popped unbidden into my head: premium mediocre. The food, I opined to my wife, was premium mediocre. She instantly got what I meant, though she didn’t quite agree that Veggie Grill qualified. In the weeks that…
Thanks to a childhood spent watching romantic comedies with forceful male leads, I thought love was persistent and never gave up—until my ex stalked me after our breakup. Illustration by Calum Heath Every year, women in the UK are murdered by stalkers and domestic abusers—despite previously reporting them to the police. Unfollow Me is a…
Get Ask Polly delivered weekly. Dear Polly, I’m writing to you from Paris, precisely from my kitchen table, full of empty coffee mugs I haven’t cleaned for like a week, unpacked useless goodies that I received for my job (I’m a lifestyle journalist, or what’s left of her), opened notebooks with unfinished logos for a…
The Handmaid’s Tale, a show about the systemic rape, abuse and disenfranchisement of women living in a fascist theocracy formerly known as the United States, has lent its name to a line of wine. People Magazine reported on Tuesday that the online wine marketplace Lot18, which has released wines in collaboration with shows such as…
Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson attends the SXSW premiere of behind-the-scenes doc The Director and The Jedi. Photo: Jesse Grant (Getty) If you’ve spent literally any time on the internet interacting with fans of pretty much any genre franchise, like Ghostbusters, Star Trek, or Star Wars, then you know that what begins…
She hoped their platonic bond would always outshine romantic attraction. Then her friend got a crush on someone else. Mirah was dropping me off, and neither one of us wanted to say goodbye. In a July storm we sat in her car listening to the rain. I played with the red matte lipstick she keeps…