Bad Habits Return + Industry Blacklisting + NYT's Afterthoughts + The Divest Era + Philz + A Call For Community Archiving + Defund NPR?

This last month has been precisely the reason why I start my New Year goal setting in October.

It’s been impossible to focus. Not just because of overwhelming tragedy and rage-inducing media bias, but because of urgency and the very limited time we have to make our decisions. If the current news media was a college course on life, the last twenty days would’ve been our final.

If you’ve watched and not formed your action plan, then you are simply viewing for entertainment. You should be informing yourself to the point of exhaustion. You should be becoming your own source, your own newspaper, your own network. All the ones you’ve had have simply just failed you. You have to build new habits. You have to end relationships. No one else will do it for you.

“Community organizing” is an active phrase.

There is privilege in waiting until the organizing is done for you, and its results — the what to do, how to think, and who to vote for — are available, packaged up, and provided to you with frictionless delivery. With little interruption to your comfort. Being able to fully tune out, however, isn’t a sign of privilege, it’s a sign of ignorance.

Anyway, the good news is that I started smoking cigarettes again. It was one of the few joys I had before deciding to successfully quit 6 or 7 years ago. Of course there have been moments of lapse (weekend parties or loitering at cafe’s in Paris), but I haven’t let the regular habit return. I most likely won’t fully let it, but hovering under the kitchen hood, with a glass of wine in hand, on a random Tuesday at home is officially approved by me.

I wish today’s newsletter was one where I could giggle about Keith Lee’s Atlanta takeover, or the 2023 masses finally discovering Enrique Iglesias can’t sing, or deep diving on the lore/drama/fervor of this week’s LeCreusetCon. But, white supremacy truly sucks the joy out of my days. I did have a tiny bit of joy this week, I got to see Interpol at Pappy and Harriets on Monday, but other than that, I’m just….

Stay safe. Appreciate youuu. Now, on to today’s drop…