We've Moved! [#96]

Writing Hu's Letter again comes with a platform transition.

I’m back from Canada, where we were greeted by the Freedom Convoy and a bunch of anti-vaxxers with inexplicable signs like, “Bill Gates stole my foreskin.” When Gates spoke later in the week and got asked about all these personal attacks he just said, “It’s kinda weird.”

I am walking on clouds over the news that Taco Bell has resurrected the Mexican Pizza(!), which is by far Taco Bell’s most edible menu item. Every time I pulled up to the drive-thru since it went away, I have asked nonplussed fast food restaurant employees about its return. Thank you to the many friends who texted me the news on Monday.

Here we are on Substack. The platform made it so easy to import my Tiny Letter archive and subscriber list that I just moseyed on over. I subscribe to so many Substack newsletters anyway, so, I figured I might as well join the other “creators.” (Have you heard all the talk about the creator economy these days? That just means more precarious gig work, right?)

OK, now on to the usual links:

Reading/Watching/Listening

Clear-eyed Russia expert Fiona Hill’s latest appearance on The Ezra Klein Show. The difficult position created when Republicans constantly make pedophilia charges. The final blow to a collective public health response to coronavirus. CNN+ lasted only about two Scaramuccis. The behind-the-meme story of the viral “Welcome to Poundtown” Zillow house. Mike Tyson repeatedly punched a man on a plane. What is so egregiously wrong when Kim Kardashian tells us to “work harder.” This highly-specific parody of hustle culture made me chuckle. And this TikTok critiques capitalism so elegantly: “Now, my only goal is to constantly prove my worth to other people!”

Werk and Musings

• Learned a lot from Harvard Business School’s Frances Frei about simple things organizations could do for employees to build and keep our trust.

• Spent last week at TED 2022 in Vancouver. Sat down with a bunch of the speakers for post-talk interviews, and I love me some Alexis Nikole Nelson, aka the Black Forager on Instagram, or AlexisNikole on TikTok. In her TED talk, she took freshly foraged seaweed from the Vancouver Harbor and made sweet and salty kelp chips for the audience.

As usual, I want to hear from you with your comments, quips, questions and any links you think I should read and share. I will hopefully increase the frequency of my letters as I recover from months and months of book writing.

Ciao ciao,

E