internet explorers club | john waters is better at holiday cards than all of us

Since I am in Los Angeles and living the tweet to the right, I thought we could spend some time with some long reads and lovely things so we can ease back into the real world (or take New Year's Day to read them!)

A few semi-long reads that have stuck with me include Scaachi Koul's The Year In Being Less of a Liar, where she talks about finally admitting that she has a boyfriend to her parents, and Eric Meyer's heartbreaking Inadvertant Algorithmic Cruelty, where he talks about what happens when computers auto-generate what they thing are the highlights of our lives, but in reality are the most heart-wrenching.

Secondly, please watch this hauntingly beautiful little interstellar story called SOLUS. I recognize the phrase "hauntingly beautiful" gets thrown around a lot, but please bear with me here. Make sure to have your speakers on.

I keep coming back to Deb Chachra's piece on Maker Culture (scroll down to "Homo Fabber") because of lines like this:

The cultural primacy of making, especially in tech culture—that it is intrinsically superior to not-making, to repair, analysis, and especially caregiving—is informed by the gendered history of who made things, and in particular, who made things that were shared with the world, not merely for hearth and home.

[above] The National Museum of Natural History's "Hall of Extinct Monsters," c. 1930s

Oh, and now that Serial is over, of course Jay is doing interviews. Part One + Part Two. Please discuss.

Finally, a happy holiday season to you all. Let this be a reminder that John Waters sends greater holiday cards than any of us will ever manage:

--Emily