Last year, I said I would post to this ask occasionally if I ever found letters that were of my liking.
While technically an email, this letter is one of my favorites ever and I can't believe I've forgotten to post about it here. Such an internet classic. Here's an excerpt of the Bible:
For those of you that have your heads stuck under rocks, which apparently is the majority of this chapter, we have been FUCKING UP in terms of night time events and general social interactions with Sigma Nu. I've been getting texts on texts about people LITERALLY being so fucking AWKWARD and so fucking BORING. If you're reading this right now and saying to yourself "But oh em gee [first name redacted], I've been having so much fun with my sisters this week!", then punch yourself in the face right now so that I don't have to fucking find you on campus to do it myself.
You can read the whole email linked above. TW for slurs used. But other than that, this belongs in a museum of the internet.
Jan 9, 2025
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My beloved friend and creative partner of many years and the best writer I know… her first post Trauma Queens is a look at emotional exhibitionism and oversharing online. I highly recommend reading it and following her to see what she comes out with next!!
Apr 27, 2024
đź“š
I don’t personally know Alissa Bennett, but I think she is a brilliant and funny person who has clearly lived a vibrant life. A friend of mine once said about himself, “I’m not a journalist; I just live this shit.” I think this mantra (with the tweak, “I’m just really interested in this shit”) applies to Bennett’s writing and various projects — from her burner IG @regret_counter and podcast, to the next-level zines she publishes. Those zines though, wow! The writing is so intimate, confident, and, well, perfectly imperfect (sorry, sorry…).I like that every other paragraph has a typo, that she will frequently and flagrantly use cap-locks, and that she essentially unpacks the indiscretions of fringe tabloid figures in order to exhume her own demons and make sense of her past and present. It’s got a very “warts and all” vibe, and I respect that she’s willing to air her own dirty laundry in service of establishing a spiritual connection to the subjects of her texts. That’s not to say she goes easy on them, but it all feels empathetic instead of exploitative or solipsistic. Rarely do I audibly laugh while reading, but Bennett’s work consistently makes me LOL. Generally, I prefer when people write the way they talk. Her essays feel like the coolest girl at the bar is whispering (and occasionally shouting) a very good story directly in your ear, but she also doesn’t really care whether you like the story or not. She already knows it’s good.Start with “Bad Behavior,” which is a series of essays/love letters to various semi-public figures who engaged in specific, scandalous acts. Then hit “Pretend You’re Actually Alive.” Most of the zines are sold out, but I’m sure she’d send you a PDF if you ask nicely. There’s also a new one on the way.
Sep 8, 2022
🪓
Bring back hatchet jobs! But for like Substacks and blogs. Oyler's is fun, mainly skewering Tolentino herself (funny!) but I want to see people fighting in formal prose about pieces with subtitles like "summer blues, ex’s, home depot, loss, and cantaloupe,” and “falling in love with the stains in my microwave” — things like that. Toooo much uncritical reposting on Instagram stories and not enough "OKAY lazy metaphor ALERT." We need to be better writers.
But also we should be cringy. We just need to be careful.
Jan 27, 2024
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