The internet is a dumpster fire

Places you can go for company in this hot moment

I wear several hats, including communication scholar and creative writer. This means I am often simultaneously ensnared by research-informed gloom about emerging media technologies, self-doubt, and a complicated impulse to do the soul-affirming work of writerly creation—in spite of my doom-scrolling habit.*

Writers are one of the nicer places on the internet. For instance, I loved this image of writer Clarice Lispector that Kim Kent shared—I'm a huge fan! So relatable! Read Drink Books’ Insta and Substack newsletter for beautiful posts about books and other unknowns.

Did you know, I spent a decade researching the gutting of the U.S.'s news media ecosystem, the rise of collaboration software, digitalization, neoliberalism, and the platform economy, and traced how writers—journalists, content writers, Wikipedia volunteers, and authors—formed communities, spoke about their professional identities, connected with others, negotiated jurisdiction, and made sense of the world in ways that were analogous to the very technologies they used—in spite of it all?

I have several more things to say about this, specifically in our hot moment, and why this matters for writers.

Don't take this irreverence to heart. I love visiting The New Yorker. Credit: Carolita Johnson for the New Yorker

And I’m lucky to be able to say them tomorrow, live, in person, hosted by Hugo House, a place for writers in Seattle, Washington. It's an impressive space right in the center of the city. And I'm offering a workshop on newsletters that will include a very short history of internet media, an annotated typology of newsletter styles, practical intel on software, and how writers can plan next steps in a fragmented, mediated world.

In spite of it all, I tend to think that people are messy, beautiful, complicated creatures, and creating with language—even though it is slippery—is soul-affirming and best done in community.

There are a few spots left. See you there?

When it was open, Phinney's Drink Books by Kim Kent was a favorite place, I especially loved this quote on the wall. Credit: MSJ

Note

[*] I am also reading everything I can get my hands on to make sense of the latest dumpster fires, here's a few writers I'd recommend, Masha Gessen, Danielle Tomson, Judith Butler, Marianne Williamson, and Bayo Akomolafe.