Longing for Precedented Times [#107]
Revisiting a James Baldwin classic, the Vampire Problem, and what was Twitter for?
Good morning from a cold and rainy Houston.
Twitter is going out in the dumbest way possible and at the expense of many people’s livelihoods — Twitter employees and those whose work was connected to the Twitter ecosystem. It is all so painfully on-brand to go out this way. The world’s richest man-child made the offer seemingly on a whim, at a price based on a weed joke.
I got on Twitter in early 2008, months after it first launched at my then-hometown of Austin’s South by Southwest Film/Music/Interactive Festival. The platform has a special place in Austinites’ hearts because of that, I think. My only friends and correspondents at the time were a handful of of the journo-nerd friends I went to college with, and strangers from Austin. So many friendships from that era — my mid 20’s — when everything was in front of me, were born at Tweetups, where online friends met-up in offline spaces. In its earliest rudimentary version, Twitter was just a way to “broadcast your texts,” so it felt intimate and your Twitter correspondents were your instant friends.
However long it lasts, I’ll lurk on Twitter, but it’s good we have this Substack space to write each other with longer, old-fashioned missives. I’m also hanging out on Instagram and a little bit on TikTok these days, anticipating Twitter’s end.
Reading
The best lede, and best read, on the end of Sam Bankman-Fried. What was Twitter for? A thoughtful longread. The vampire problem: a way to think about big decisions when you’re at a life crossroads. Octavia Butler on how to predict the future. Trumpism is more enduring than Trump. Can we reclaim the American flag from aggro assholes? TSA found a gun inside a raw chicken. A shopping guide to escape from the sameness of Instagram home design. The perfect instant ramen recipe for these dark, winter-is-coming days. Oh, and I read James Baldwin’s short story, Sonny’s Blues, online at friend’s insistence and man, it is the most gutting and poignant piece of writing. I can’t believe I hadn’t read it before.
Werk Werk Werk
We are six months out from the publication date of FLAWLESS, my first (and probably only) book, about the global rise of Korean beauty and the forces that make us feel less than awesome when we look at ourselves in the mirror. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to wring out, and it is highly personal — bookended by my arrival and departure from three+ years in Korea, a time that expanded my perspective, understanding, and compassion. I hope you will support the book. Please sign up to the insider email list where I’ll be updating all the milestones prior to launch, and the ways we can team up to together put this book baby out in the world.
Watch and/or Listen
Kara Swisher dishes on her source-journalist relationship with Elon Musk and why it’s dunzo.
This video helps illuminate what we impose on people with a stutter.
Okay, that’s it for this one. I hope we can stay connected.
Onward,
E