grazing the internet, October edition

my favorite links from around the internet last month — both new stuff and stories I happened upon by accident

I read the news a lot in October. A lot a lot. And there was a whole lot of good journalism being committed online. Below is a sampling of some of my favorite links, and I’ve decided to start organizing this email by genre — sorting out traditional journalism, newsletters, fiction and audio. Here’s a fun thing I’ve started doing when I slip into generalized despair everyday around 2 p.m.: I take a second and read a bit of fiction, whether that’s a novel or something shorter I’ve found online. Included in today’s email is my favorite piece of short fiction I stumbled upon last month. Enjoy!

clockwise from top left: a Georgetown sidewalk, my wagon of pumpkins, Harriet reading the New Yorker, the final pumpkin display

The Decision I Made 30 Years Ago That I Still Regret — by Ann Patchett in the New York Times … read this if you:

• love Ann Patchett

• wish you were a Luddite

Out-of-context excerpt: I love my neighbors, and sometimes I wonder what friendship I’ve missed with them by communicating so extravagantly with so many people who are far away.

Can the Media Survive? — by Charlotte Klein in New York Magazine … read this if you:

• are interested in the future of media

• want to get really riled up about all these bigwig execs speaking on background whenever they reply to the interesting questions

Out-of-context excerpts: “I think you’d have to be crazy to begin a career in journalism right now.” — A media executive who knew better than to say it on the record // “I’m kind of concerned at how people’s obsession with thinness and recreational Ozempic is going to affect my career because I think that there’s a drastic dip or drop-off of interest in consuming food. A lot of people pretend to like food, but to actually consume it — to buy a book, to then cook the recipe — is another level of commitment. And if you’re not eating or if you’re not actually interested in food, then you’re not going to participate in the things that I have to offer. And that makes me nervous.” — Alison Roman, writer and chef

In Miss Eudora’s Garden — by Margaret Eby in the Paris Review … read this if you:

• are interested in literature, plants or the American South

• read “Delta Wedding” in eighth grade and thought it was the only good assigned reading that year (no? just me?)

• want to see some cool old pictures of Eudora Welty and her house