Hi, hello. It\u2019s a long weekend, so this week\u2019s newsletter is mostly a list of recommendations for things to read, watch and listen to. But the world feels especially wild right now, so I definitely have a little bit more commentary than I would in our typical link round-up \ud83e\udd37\ud83c\udffd\u200d\u2640\ufe0f <\/p>\n
Starting with: Jane Doe. I have been thinking about this young woman\u2019s experience of sexual assault at a Cornell frat house basically non-stop since news broke about her civil suit, and you know what I\u2019m finding weirdly jarring? How familiar the discourse feels. Almost every take I\u2019ve read or watched over the past couple of weeks feels like it could have been written in 2016. Because, of course, it was. Or at least, a version of it was. I remember reading so many op-eds, reported features, essays, blog posts and Twitter threads about feminism, misogyny and sexual violence in the early to mid-2010s and feeling inspired that women were conveying their rage, pain, fear and hope for a fairer, safer future so eloquently\u2014and encouraged that outlets were devoting so much space to these issues. I don\u2019t know if I would have articulated it this way at the time, but looking back, it felt like I was watching these women conjure the future they wanted to see, first on the page and soon, hopefully, in real life. So, it\u2019s deeply tragic to read pieces written right now that feel so similar, and to know that actually, we have fewer rights than we did a decade ago, and institutions are perhaps even less inclined to keep us safe. Not that this will stop me from sharing the stories that especially resonated with me, of course. Clearly, we need them more than ever. So: Gaby Del Valle\u2019s piece<\/a> in The Verge about how little platforms like Substack and X are doing to prevent people from doxxing Doe is well worth a read, both for how clearly it articulates the real motivation for this type of harassment and the way it touches on the importance of solidarity. In Vogue, Emma Specter makes the case<\/a> for abolishing Greek life on American campuses. Erin Blondeau did a fantastic job of connecting the dots<\/a> between this case and other incidents of sexual assault, and explaining how they all involve a societal dehumanization of women. And, Noor Ibrahim\u2019s article<\/a> in Marie Claire about what five young women who were sexually assaulted did the next day is both devastating, and helps illustrate how there is no \u2018right\u2019 response. Oh! And, it\u2019s fascinating how racialization works<\/a>, huh?<\/p>\n Somewhat relatedly: The NYT just published an investigation<\/a> into a series of coordinated smear campaigns targeting women in Hollywood. Blake Lively is the most high-profile example, but, the report says, other, lesser-known women are suing a trio of comms professionals\u2014lawyer Bryan Freedman, publicist Melissa Nathan and digital strategist Jed Wallace\u2014alleging they used \u201canonymous websites, fabricated social media posts or promotion of unflattering articles and posts on the internet\u201d to unfairly damage their reputations.<\/p>\n And not technically relatedly, but it does feel adjacent: Cosmo\u2019s take<\/a> on the NHL\u2019s doomed<\/a> \u2018Hot For Hockey\u2019 campaign perfectly breaks down the many problems with this marketing tactic, and how many of them are rooted in misogyny. (Also: it\u2019s actually weird and terribly misguided for any professional league to pander to BookTok because we already know how that goes<\/a>.)<\/p>\n A surge of student protests in the U.S.<\/a>, France<\/a>, Belgium<\/a>, India<\/a> and Chile<\/a>. (Someone on X said October is full of revolutionary hope<\/a>, and I personally love that.)<\/p>\n Writer Daniel Kolitz\u2019s longread on microdramas<\/a>, The topic is a depressing\/fascinating, but mostly I\u2019m linking because it\u2019s such a good read. (Perhaps important context to this one: a new study<\/a> that says short-form video affects our ability to perceive time. So\u2026 yikes.)<\/p>\n Lake Street Dive\u2019s cover<\/a> of \u201cI Want You Back.\u201d<\/p>\n Canadian writer, poet and translator Anne Carson just won the Nobel Prize for literature, which means I am obligated to remind us all that she recently wrote this essay\/concert review<\/a> about Rosal\u00eda for the London Review of Books. (Also: if you\u2019ve spent any time on tumblr, you\u2019re familiar with her work<\/a>, perhaps without even knowing it.)\u00a0<\/p>\n Baby poets<\/a> \ud83d\ude2d\u00a0<\/p>\n Every single tweet in this thread<\/a>. And also in this one<\/a>, for that matter.<\/p>\n Max Read on why everything feels like gambling<\/a> these days, by which he means culture in 2026 is basically a \u201cpostpandemic gamified speculative-trading apocalypse.\u201d (Oof.)<\/p>\n My new favourite Grub Street profile<\/a>.<\/p>\n The white men who are creating AI musicians<\/a> via digital Blackface.<\/p>\n A belated recommendation for a Quanta mag piece from June about a scientific mystery involving planarian worms<\/a>. In the \u201860s, a behavioral psychologist named James McConnell seemingly demonstrated these creatures could store memories in their RNA, before fading into obscurity when other scientists couldn\u2019t consistently replicate his results. Six decades later, planarian worms objectively do not learn, but McConnell\u2019s research is undergoing a bit of a revival.<\/p>\n The Guardian\u2019s dive into the copyright issues around brain rot content<\/a>.<\/p>\n The most factual tweet that ever was<\/a>.<\/p>\n Comedian Joe Hegyes\u2019 silly, campy TikTok series<\/a> set during the Salem Witch Trials.<\/p>\n This GQ feature about r\/BoyDinnerDiaries<\/a>, and by extension, men\u2019s mental health.<\/p>\n Jezebel\u2019s annual scary story contest<\/a>, which is my favourite Halloween tradition.<\/p>\n These diary entries<\/a> from a teenager during the Great Depression, and this follow up<\/a>.<\/p>\n (P.S., if you enjoy these recommendations, a reminder that paid subscribers get access to curated list of the most interesting things on the internet at the end of every newsletter. Upgrade here<\/a>!)<\/p>\n