I'm going to pretend I sent this out last Friday
... and you're going to pretend you're paying attention on a Zoom call instead of reading this newsletter
The great thing about how I collect my three weekdaily reads is that they can be inspired by a recent story, but they generally revolve around something that’s developing over time. All of which to say: Here are last week’s links. The articles are still well worth reading.
3 Mayhem Monday reads
1 — Newt Gingrich Called Them ‘Cannibals.’ Now They Decide Who Gets to Be Speaker of the House. (NYT)
Money quote: “Mr. Gingrich learned the hard way that even radical tactics would not appease the Republicans to his right.”
2 — Newt Gingrich’s Degraded Legacy (Atlantic Monthly)
Money quote: “Boebert’s bellicosity reflects a deep strand of the modern congressional Republican self-image, stamped on the party three decades ago by then-Speaker Newt Gingrich.”
3 — The GOP’s ‘southern strategy’ mastermind just died. Here’s his legacy. (WaPo)
Money quote: “Kevin Phillips advised Republicans to exploit the racial anxieties of White voters, linking them directly to issues such as crime, federal spending and voting rights.”
The news made the news reads for Tuesday
1 — Silicon Valley Ditches News, Shaking an Unstable Industry (NYT)
Money quote: “In a way, this decline of the social web — it’s extraordinarily liberating.”
2 — Getting the News Has Never Been More Complicated (Dame)
Money quote: “Fewer reporters are able to produce the kinds of well-researched, deeply sourced investigations that are necessary to an informed public and healthy democracy.”
3 — College students are supplying some memorable journalism (Associated Press)
Money quote: “There’s been a strong interest in journalism schools over the past several years; many young people saw Trump-era attacks on the profession as a call to action.”
On Wednesdays, we read retail
1 — We’re All Preppy Now (The New Republic)
Money quote: “Can a style apparently so steeped in elitism ever really serve as an equalizer—the ultimate neutral?”
2 — “We Own the Coastal Grandmother Aesthetic”: J.Crew Reflects on 40 Years of the Brand (Variety)
Money quote: “On TikTok when the coastal grandmother trends came back, there’s all these pictures of Diane Keaton floating around, and we’re like that is J.Crew.”
3 — Is ‘Gen X Soft Club’ the Next Aesthetic Trend to Re-Emerge? (Centennial World)
Money quote: “The aesthetic is also influenced by 60s and 70s nostalgia, which was popular with Gen X during that period of time.”
Taylor Swift Triggers the Thursday reads
1 — GOP dudes are big mad at Taylor Swift for reminding them that the ladies don't like them (Salon)
Money quote: “Their real fear is a generation of young women who believe it's better to be at home with friends & cats than married to someone who doesn't respect you.”
2 — Taylor Swift’s Popularity Is A Sign Of Societal Decline (The Federalist)
Money quote: “Someone who cares about the state of popular music has to stand athwart Taylor Swift, yelling “what is this @#?!,” and it might as well be an intellectually dyspeptic Gen X guy.”
3 — Taylor Swift’s Asylum Seekers (National Review)
Money quote: “It will take a counterrevolution to repair Swift’s moral, aesthetic, and political damage.”
3 Friday by the Bay reads
1 — They don't care about the doom loop. They're moving to the Bay Area anyway. (SFGate)
Money quote: “Every city is facing the same problems. I think they’re national problems.”
2 — From doom to boom: AI is slowly re-energizing San Francisco (WaPo)
Money quote: “It feels much more organized by the community and boots on the ground,” Michelle Fang said. “People are coming here just to experience it.”
3 — How Union Square Can Become San Francisco’s New Central Social District (Gensler)
Money quote: “Union Square must become a multifaceted, experience-oriented locale that more completely meets the public’s needs in the post-COVID era.”
Bonus Friday by the Bay read -- did I call this back in December 2022 or what?
Money quote: “Retail, tech, other industry verticals that have aggregations of talent in this region are always reacting to shifts in the ecosystem.”
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Here’s hoping time isn’t a bag of greased weasels and I get this linky-letter back out to you in four days!