I write things
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Be Wary of Anyone Selling You Certainty
About a decade ago I went down the rabbit hole of learning about food. I started with the woo-woo stuff (Kris Carr’s book isn’t bad), did a stint with the conspiracy theorists (Forks Over Knives, Anything about gluten and your brain), and then graduated to the promised land of Michael Pollan. If you haven’t read The Omnivore’s (…)
It’s ok not to know something
Trust in institutions is at an all-time low, with, I think, good reason. However, it appears we’ve overcorrected because now we claim to, “do our own research,” and cite, “this person I follow on TikTok,” Reddit threads, and Instagram memes. Listen. I love the democratization of information, but our absolute trust in non-peer-reviewed assertions that (…)
Write As You Speak
When I first started Writing Professionally (that is to say: being published for free), I worked for a local magazine called INSite Atlanta where I took whatever job they gave me. I wrote the “Hot or Not” column for a while and then graduated to celebrity interviews which was cool because I got to attend (…)
Sick Burn, Thoreau
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. That’s the quote from Walden. The one everyone and their mom cites as their motivation for quitting their job or leaving their spouse or starting a side hustle and becoming a nomad! Take life by the horns! LIVE! Do not become one of them. Living the unexamined life, (…)
Why People Who Go To Therapy Become Better Copywriters
During the previous run of The Copy Workshop, I thought a live fireside chat with a professional copywriter would help invigorate the classroom, so I invited my friend, Carolynn, to speak to students. And while traditional speakers give tips, tricks, frameworks, and takeaways – Carolynn gave us the opening scene of The Godfather. [To find out (…)
A Grammar Crisis
A friend pulled me into a marital dispute which is a precarious place to be and in ordinary circumstances I recommend avoiding this at all costs, but this dispute was a grammar one and so I had no choice. I had to weigh in. The dispute was over whether or not it was kosher to begin a (…)
Going On a Newsletter Sabbatical
Over the last 5 years, few things have brought me more joy than these Thursdays with you. Our debates about what is or isn’t true, the safe container to think in public, the testing of ideas. I love being in the public sphere and you have given me the space to do what I love: (…)
Why You Should Throw Yourself a Pity Party
Have you ever thrown a pity party? Like a REAL one. An ugly-cry, blame the world, curse your parents, rage, scream, resent, and regret till your heart’s delight one?? I highly recommend them. I worry that people who don’t know how to throw a good old-fashioned pity party will remain identified with their pity because (…)
Why “Just Work Harder” Doesn’t Work
Ok quick history lesson because I thought I knew this stuff but I really didn’t learn it till I was an adult. We’re taught that for centuries women were denied access to capital, property, employment, separate economy, government, and our own freaking children. What we’re not really taught was how this was true as recently as the (…)
Putting Creative Dreams On Hold
Right now, many people I love are being forced to put their creative ambitions on hold. Everyone is dealt a different deck of cards and a lot of really awesome humans have been dealt a shit deck of cards. And I don’t think it does us any favors to ignore this. Sometimes circumstances ARE a (…)