What do you do when McSweeney’s rejects your humor piece? You could, like most people, slink off and write something new, perhaps after a quick look at the site to get a better sense of what they’re looking for, or you could write a new humor piece about getting rejected by McSweeney’s. At The Nervous Breakdown, Rachel Pollan takes the latter route (with a cameo by the movie Swingers).
Area Woman Makes the Best of It
Young/Adult
Recommended Reading: Cahal Milmo on the death of Marsha Mehran.
●
●
What’s So Great?
"Diversity matters. Not only in what we look like, or what religion we practice, or in whom we love, but also in how we live our lives, including the order in which we go about things, the seasons in which we are able to create art." Robin Black wonders "What's So Great About Young Writers?" in a piece for the New York Times. Pair with our own series celebrating writers who got their start after 40.
●
●
Even longer reads
Smithsonian takes a look at Byliner and The Atavist and what the success and innovation of these two companies can tell us about the hopeful state of longform narrative journalism. Fast Company's Co.Design ran an image heavy interview with The Atavist's developer, Jefferson Rabb. I'd add Long Reads to the list too.
●
●
Little Emotions in the Person
Recommended Reading: On Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie and the art of hiding one's feelings -- whether helpful or detrimental.
“Total student”
To survive in the wastelands of Twitter, the promising spambot needs to craft an interesting bio. Which explains why one bot assumed the mantle of “bacon ninja.”
●
●
The New Kid
As of last night, the UK has a brand new literary prize, the Folio, which its founders describe as “a Booker without the bow ties.” The Independent chronicles the short history of the prize, which owes its existence to a controversy among Man Booker judges two years ago.
To Believe Your Own Thought
Recommended Reading: Sophie Atkinson on Frank Ocean as Emersonian hero.