'NYC Is a Capitalist Nightmare and I'm Miserable Here!' No one is ever happy, no matter where they live or how rich or successful they are, until they can trade in the shiny fiction of their fantasies for the mundane but exquisite frictions of reality.

It's friction, not rewards and dopamine hits and indulgences, that will save you.

www.ask-polly.com/p/nyc-is-a-c...

Slushy You can hear the boats go by.

Remember , your best work was never that effortful. It wasn’t a puzzle and it wasn’t a journal entry, either. It was traveling blind.

open.substack.com/pub/askmolly...

Hm no they're not.

'My Open Marriage Is Killing Me!' Two words: Get out.

Emotional abuse is very hard to recognize when you’re in it. From the outside, it’s so obvious. This is why you have to talk to your friends and not keep the darkness in your relationship a secret.

www.ask-polly.com/p/my-open-ma...

Woman on the right was using her walker to advance into the tear gas

Let us all have the courage displayed by the residents of Minneapolis.

Famous photo of man defying a line of tanks near Tianamen Square in 1989

Abolish ICE. Impeach Trump.

if I were a Democratic strategist, columnist, or politician, I would simply not be outflanked by Bill Kristol and this guy

How many January 6 insurrectionists were armed? Is the position now that Capitol police could have shot them all? Just trying to keep up

10 years of this shit

I’ve heard from multiple friends today about daycares being raided and parents being ripped out of cars (in one case with a child left behind in the backseat). Grim times here.

There are too many overpaid undertaxed motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!

Around half of San Francisco is without power right now and something like 1/3rd of intersections I drove through had waymos stopped in the middle of them making a dangerous situation even worse.

Do not let Waymo into your city.

Oaks No one can love you enough.

How can you be loved enough by beasts who, when you aren’t performing innocence or emptiness, see you as a pest?

askmolly.substack.com/p/oaks

‘Am I Too Romantic About True Love?’ Don't change your entire belief system just because you're afraid of seeming naïve.

Stand up for your huge, romantic heart at all costs, even when it causes you pain, because becoming numb is so much worse.

www.ask-polly.com/p/am-i-too-r...

‘This Maladaptive Daydreamer Is Ready to Wake Up!’ Escapist fantasies hurt you by inadvertently perpetuating the myth that reality is darker and more terrifying than it actually is.

If you're a daydreamer or an escapist, this column is for you.

www.ask-polly.com/p/this-malad...

Jimmy Kimmel once called me to thank me after I wrote a good review of his show. It was unnerving and maybe savvy but mostly just came off as friendly and kind.

I think he’s fucking great and I’m boycotting ABC, Disney, and all of their ugly children and cousins. Grow a spine, motherfuckers.

'I'm Trying So Hard But Everything's Still Going Wrong!' Keep following your passion wherever it leads.

Sharing for anyone who needs this reminder to embrace your passions.

“Joy is believing that it all adds up, that it all matters, that your dumb, small, deluded thing is the reason you’re alive.” — @heatherhav.bsky.social

Is Today’s Self-Help Teaching Everyone to Be a Jerk?

Refusing to compulsively please others will make you more generous and helpful, not less.

Firm boundaries and self-knowledge help you grow into someone who can change the world for the better.

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/s...

No, Self-Help Won't Make You a Jerk! Never listen to anyone who thinks that self-improvement is inherently selfish. Cultivating firm boundaries and celebrating your desires will make you more loving and generous, not less.

No, self-help will not make you a jerk.

Observe the jerks. If they were happy, would they insist that people who aren’t like them be more like them?

If they had firm boundaries, would they call people who need help and support weak and pathetic?

www.ask-polly.com/p/no-self-he...

Screenshot of a profile of surrealist artist Jane Graverol, who easily had the talent of her male peers but used female forms in her work

I've heard about the same few male surrealist painters 10,000 times. But until @heatherhav.bsky.social's Substack today, I'd never seen a painting by Jane Graverol, and now I am OBSESSED

www.artnet.com/artists/jane...

Regular features:

Don't Shape Your Art Into a Parody of Your Most Popular Work
Fuck Perfection
Lower The Bar
Raise The Bar Again
Say Anything
Art Can Be Fun Again
Experiment
Collaborate, You Rigid Fucks
Shame Is The Enemy of Art
Exercise More, Think Less

becalmyounglovers Bowerbirds · Album · 2021 · 12 songs

I also love the Bowerbirds' little-known 2021 album. One perfect catchy lovely divine melody after another with the faintest whiff of Grateful Dead vibes, which normally I would not love but here it's magic.

open.spotify.com/album/6FF5NS...

I might start a newsletter that's just for artists I personally want to produce more work. Would just be coaching them (and me) to get off our fucking asses.

Isaac Wood and Harriet Wheeler are honorary members of this club, sorry sorry not sorry.

Tuskha Artist · 100 monthly listeners.

Love the Bowerbirds so much and love Phil Moore's solo album from 2016. It's such a coherent work, perfect for a long run or long drive.

open.spotify.com/artist/3bf8M...

There is no further comment I can make to emphasise the monstrosities happening here

Retire Your Inner Lawyer Relationships don't thrive in a courtroom.

The more curious you become about other people's emotional experiences, the more love enters your life.

www.ask-polly.com/p/retire-you...

I Want To Burn This Place Down by Maris Kreizman on a car dashboard

Buy @maris.bsky.social’s book at your local indie store to be as cool as meeeeeee

Read to your toddler every night but set firm boundaries. Start strict and relax as they get older. Many progressive parents start out very lenient and flexible and then panic and feel resentful once their kids are running the show.

My best parenting advice: Keep your babies and toddlers safe but don't kill yourself trying to talk to them around the clock. Save some energy for when they turn 11 and they need a lot of your time, affection, presence, patience, and enthusiasm.

Sadly, at the exact moment when babies need the most attention — age 13 — their parents expect to be able to cruise for the first time. Thirteen-year-old babies are the most baby-like babies of all! They need presence. They need companionship. They need patience. They need quiet acceptance.