Hello friends, oh boy has it been a while since I’ve done a Substack. If the last month is any indication, “whenever I want” is apparently never.
I have, however, done things elsewhere, which I will list now:
For NYMag: “The ReAwaken America Tour is the Start of QAnon 2.0”
For The New Republic: “Moms for Liberty Has Created Nightmares for Schools Across the Country”
Appearance on the Keeping Democracy Alive podcast
Appearance on The Attitude with Arnie Arnesen, a New Hampshire radio show
I’ll also be on Vox’s Today Explained in the next couple days talking about how the woke liberal mob is indoctrinating our children with Critical Race Theory and thereby making racism real (or, you know, the opposite of that), so stay tuned.
Mostly what I’ve been doing, however, is travelling and recharging: Colorado, Oregon, and Arizona. I’ve seen family. I’ve seen friends. I’ve relaxed poolside, drunk WAY too much, and slacked on reading the news. It was great. Now I’m done.
New York City is filthy and wretched and hot and humid and loud and eternal and sunny and wonderful. It feels good to be home, or at least to be in a place that might be home someday. Home takes time. Roots take time. But I like this place, and this place seems to like me too. Frenetic, electric, brusque. The way these buildings look and feel like a living oraganism to me, a forest of steel and concrete. Things happen here and no one has time for bullshit.
Time to unpack, and organize, and write more.
Talk to you soon,
-Laura
I/we miss your substacks, because when you write for substack, its unadulterated. You have a cadence, a kind of Galdwellian 'fist' that you work into dispatches that very feels like your unique voice. I guess these probably take more time then we think, since no one can ever just dictate something as if walking up to a poetry slam journalist mic, whip off a dispatch, and have the right groovy mix of authentic but not overwrought... anyway, I appreciate end product. Don't wait so long next time... :)
From the outside looking in, it seemed to me that there was some fairly brutal and short-sighted stuff going on in the Portland protest scene and you weren't the only one who was metaphorically tarred and feathered basically for the crime of being a journalist. I understand where it comes from (I was young once too), but their hostility to the very concept of optics meant that attention and sympathies moved elsewhere pretty quickly. I still hear it as FACT, from people who live less than an hour away, that downtown Portland was torched. Bro, you could go look... all buildings are still there. They did manage to really mess up the paint on some dumpsters.
Anyway, I'm glad you were able to enjoy a visit.
I'm very much a country boy (in the non-"Guns babies and Jesus" sense) and I don't think any city will ever be "home" for me, but most of them have their charms if you spend some time to find them. I've only been to New York once and I certainly didn't have time to take it in, but maybe some day.