I spent six hours on a plane flying west-to-east across the country and had some thoughts about the places we go, the things that take us there, and (occasionally) the people we’re with.

This is about first texts, shared backseats, and conversational routes.

This is an essay about music and memory—not because I have any specific opinions about music—but because I am acutely aware of the time-travelling nature of sonic textures.

• the time we woke up to find that summer had gone: getting closer to the songs of summer
• with some indie record that’s much cooler: we are who we listen to
• something as good as our song: music supervision, and the soundtrack of our lives

collections: a seasonal reset

It appears that a weekly newsletter has now turned seasonal. An unfortunate, but not irreversible problem. Every so often, I’ll have a stray, aberrant thought that I’ll jot into my drafts and never release into the world. At some point, it may be useful to stop thinking about those as aberrations and give them the space to exist as fully-formed ideas. As they say, publishing something is better than nothing; no use in waiting for me to publish the next one.

• i’ll write you a postcard, send you the news: august slipped away into a moment in time
• the forgotten half of the holland tunnel: jack antonoff & co makes music for pop princesses and the underdogs of the jersey suburbs
• your emotional baggage can be picked up at the next carousel: emotional baggage, flight risk, and other air travel metaphors for thought

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gossip girl was the greatest show of our generation: the prologue

the scene, ten years ago:

a train pulls into grand central; a soft camera shutter; the backseat of a black limousine; central park at the dawn of winter; tight headbands and loose scarves; and here’s a secret: happiness does not seem to be on the menu.

If you know anything about me, you know that I hold a deep reverence for gossip girl.

I’m serious: the collective of post-gossip girl society thinks and behaves in a completely different way because of this show that premiered on the CW in September of 2007. (September 19th, 2007 at 9/8c to be exact.)

I sat down to write my magnum opus on why gossip girl was the greatest show, period. This isn’t that post.*

collections: a weekly reset

It’s May 3rd.

• backtracks to the past: listening to you talk about it
• ready for the red carpet: an awards season obsession with pretty people in pretty outfits

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