If I have to repost this piece a dozen times to get people to subscribe to Scratch, I will. We are an entirely reader-supported, worker-owned co-op that is aggressively anti-AI, not on Substack, and whose focus is publishing/media.
We’re betting everything on our ethics & our work. talkscratch.com
Just thinking about the incredible roundup of archival stories about Prince that City Pages did 10 years ago. Not available online because the Strib DGAF.
Hoo boy, does this ever hit me where I live (she posts, postily).
If I have to repost this piece a dozen times to get people to subscribe to Scratch, I will. We are an entirely reader-supported, worker-owned co-op that is aggressively anti-AI, not on Substack, and whose focus is publishing/media.
We’re betting everything on our ethics & our work. talkscratch.com
OK… maybe not always-always. We’ll talk. 😅
Are there water stations when you’re running a calendar marathon like this? There should be!
You’re a joy to edit, Maggie. Here for your spilled guts always.
Can't tell you how grateful I am for my @talkscratch.bsky.social fam, and @rahawahaile.bsky.social for walking me through this one. I thought I was reporting a piece about writers and dumbphones and ended up spilling all my internal doubt about failure and identity. OOPS.
“At some point my smartphone became a constant reminder of all I wasn’t.”
—@maggiemertens.bsky.social went ahead and said it. Smartphones, dumphones, delusions of virality…. and an extremely satisfying 2010s ASMR moment, if you click through to the essay!
I need to get on this level.
HI EVA 😬 (postily posting back).
My photo captions grew increasingly unhinged while I was editing. I had to hold myself back from labeling the image of the rotary phone "Cue Sam Cooke staccato-pleading 'I don't care who you was with' at the Live at the Harlem Square Club performance of 'Bring It On Home to Me.'"
This week on Scratch, we have an essay by @maggiemertens.bsky.social about how her itch for a dumbphone is largely burnout from the need to constantly self-promote one's writing or risk professional oblivion.
“By stripping the right to asylum, nations are creating a growing underclass of placeless, rightless people to police in perpetuity, and an ever-greater policing apparatus with which to crack down on them—and, increasingly, everyone else.”
Absolutely essential reading on global borders and asylum.
I agree, and it’s why I said primarily. Of course things that are designed for outdoor purposes can also be useful for travel.
I don’t know, but I’m getting pretty sick of logging on to see a bunch of folks circulating garbage Atlantic takes, NYT op-ed columnists, and outraged quote posts.
Yes, exactly! Happy to help!
I get that this is the point of clickbait headlines like “Yes You Can Travel the World with Only Two Pairs of Underwear,” but damn…
If those activities aren’t your bag, that’s fine, but this is the second morning in a row I’m seeing hundreds of quote posts about something removed from its original context and I’m tired.
Y’all, this is outdoor gear. It’s for backpackers who might not see a laundromat for weeks, campers who want to know which underwear will dry quickly after a long hike, etc. These underwear are sold at REI!They are not primarily meant for your weekend in Vegas. “Travel” is marketing speak.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot regarding cultural criticism, particularly on Bsky, and I think I just need to sit down and write about it.
Crucial reporting from Coyote on a dynamic that’s not unique to SF but is particularly acute in SF. And for the record fuck Chris Larsen and every CBD, it is a moral imperative to make public art that could never get a grant from a committee
SF’s Civic Joy Fund is one of those hidden-picture tests: Do you see a lamp or a woman’s face? Are billionaires using tax loopholes to advance a technofash takeover of public space, or are they philanthropists swooping in to save the arts when no one else will? www.coyotemedia.org/how-could-yo...
Thanks for reading!
When it comes to the IRS? Yes? When it comes to the value of artists’ labor? No, not at all.
Re-upping this Scratch interview for anyone feeling bad about taxes/themselves today, especially freelancers. I hope it finds those who need it most.
Hey if you're in the Bay Area and wondering what there is to do, @coyotemedia.org puts together a weekly calendar that is pretty fucking good. I write it, so I'm biased obviously. But you can get it for FREE on our site and in your inbox: www.coyotemedia.org/tag/calendar/
"Those who run book publishing and legacy journalism outlets are convinced the future of their industries lies elsewhere than in the (largely underpaid) hands of those whose craft built them... As artists, [we know] our futures rest in each other, and no bottom line in the universe can change that."
My big takeaway from reporting this story is that it's not JUST about the Forest Service.
The closure of these stations threatens to upend a delicate system of mutually beneficial collaboration and resource sharing, and the impacts will ripple out far beyond the Forest Service itself.
"Those who run book publishing and legacy journalism outlets are convinced the future of their industries lies elsewhere than in the (largely underpaid) hands of those whose craft built them... As artists, [we know] our futures rest in each other, and no bottom line in the universe can change that."