[{"id":259206,"date":"2026-09-17T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/longreads.com\/?p=259206"},"modified":"2026-09-17T15:29:40","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T19:29:40","slug":"questionnaire-roberto-jose-andrade-franco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/09\/17\/questionnaire-roberto-jose-andrade-franco\/","title":{"rendered":"The Longreads Questionnaire, Featuring Roberto Jos\u00e9 Andrade Franco"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Four years ago, I read Roberto Jos\u00e9 Andrade Franco’s ESPN<\/em> story about Tess Mata<\/a>, one of the students killed in the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, and I’ve never forgotten an image in it: a determined Tess outside in the Texas heat, aiming her softball pitches at a target on a tree in her family’s yard. That’s what Franco does so well. He creates moments that linger\u2014about sports, Texas, loss, and identity and in-betweenness\u2014and makes me care about the people he puts on the page.<\/p>\n

Franco grew up on the El Paso-Ju\u00e1rez border. In a 2020 National Magazine Award-nominated essay that he wrote one year after the El Paso massacre<\/a>, he reflects on the lifelong pull to this paradox of a place: “It’s where things make the most sense. Where it’s easy to love, even if it’s difficult to live.” I love that he writes from this borderland even when he’s somewhere else. During Mexico’s first World Cup match earlier this summer, he was in Woodburn, Oregon<\/a>, a small town where Latinos make up more than 60 percent of the population and own nearly every business downtown. Residents had been shaken by last fall’s ICE raids, but they showed up to watch and celebrate. There, thousands of miles from El Paso, Franco found something familiar: a hardworking, resilient community with deep Latino roots and a fierce sense of pride. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I also credit Franco with piquing my interest in wrestling stories, including his piece on WWW star Eddie Guerrero<\/a>, which also explores family and legacy. Whether he’s writing about sports heroes or ordinary people, or tracing the history of Texas or his own, Franco never fails to move me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below, he explains why enrolling in community college at 28 was the most meaningful journey he’s taken, tells us his favorite meal (and the ideal season to eat it), and recognizes a fellow sports writer who inspires him. When asked to name three publications he enjoys reading, he gives a shout-out to Texas Highways<\/a><\/em>, a magazine we love<\/a>\u2014and it just so happens that he’s the guest editor of its October 2026 issue<\/a>, focused on El Paso<\/a>. After spending time with Franco here, read his feature on the city’s historic Smelter Cemetery<\/a>, and then explore the rest of the magazine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Cheri Lucas Rowlands<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Where did you grow up?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Several places, but mostly on the El Paso-Ju\u00e1rez border. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was born in Chicago, but we lived in Ju\u00e1rez, Mexico, until I was about 6. Then we moved across the border to El Paso, Texas, before my father joined the Army. That\u2019s when we lived in Chicago for a short time, then Colorado and Germany before we briefly returned to Ju\u00e1rez. I was about 13 when we moved to El Paso again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What places feel like home?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Anywhere I hear the Spanish of the US-Mexico border. These areas are often ignored and underserved so it\u2019s a working-class Spanish. Because of its location, some words are a mix of English and Spanish that other parts of Mexico don\u2019t use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other than family members, who or what has shaped you the most?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The decade between graduating high school and enrolling at El Paso Community College. I spent most of it working in construction and bouncing around between El Paso and Phoenix, along with a few bad months in Tucson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is your favorite time of day?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The early morning when everyone is asleep and the sun\u2019s yet to rise. And it\u2019s so quiet that, almost always at the exact same time, I can hear my neighbor\u2019s footsteps as they walk out of their home, open and close their car door, start it, and then drive away, presumably on their way to work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are you really<\/em> good at?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Building things. I find it almost therapeutic to do some sort of work with my hands as I sweat and listen to music. I also enjoy the feeling of seeing something finished within a few hours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s the best gift you\u2019ve ever received?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t remember who I got the idea from, but years ago I heard or read a suggestion to interview your children during different phases of their lives. Just take out the voice recorder and ask them basic questions. When they\u2019re younger, you can ask about their favorite animal, color, movie, etc. As they get older, the questions can be more about their friends, hobbies, and aspirations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been doing this every few months with my now 9-year-old daughter. Occasionally, I\u2019ll listen to the first recordings from when she was 3, and I can hear how much she\u2019s changed\u2014from her voice and interests to the clarity of her words and thoughts. It\u2019s like a short visit with a different version of who your child once was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That suggestion to interview your children has been the best gift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Describe your favorite meal.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

My mom\u2019s pozole. It\u2019s a Mexican pork and hominy stew accompanied with radishes, cabbage, and bolillo bread. She\u2019ll sometimes make it in late October, on the Saturday closest to my birthday. The weather will be colder by then and a college football game will be on in the background\u2014both of those make it even better. Then a good cigar afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sound or silence? (And if sound, what sound?)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s become silence. I used to write with music in the background. It almost didn\u2019t matter what kind, and sometimes it\u2019d be the same song on repeat for hours. That was also when I\u2019d do most of my writing during the day and into the early evening. But now, I\u2019ve fallen into a routine where I do most of my writing early. Sometimes I\u2019ll wake up naturally as early as three in the morning. With that change, I now write in silence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But maybe it\u2019ll change back to music one day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where do you do your best thinking?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It just happens so there\u2019s no specific place. And so long as I\u2019m not on deadline, whenever I feel like I can\u2019t think anymore I just try to do something else for that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve gotten ideas while driving, listening to podcasts and music, or in the middle of watching a movie. I\u2019ve even woken up during the middle of night with a thought that helps unlock something that I had been stuck on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What journey\u2014physical, creative, intellectual, or otherwise\u2014has meant the most to you?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Earning an associate degree. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was a nontraditional student who first enrolled at El Paso Community College at 28 years old. It had been about a decade since I was in school. I was full of self-doubt and worry that I was too old or not a good enough student to be there. With that, I also worried that I might be wasting my time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I quickly realized I was a much better student in college than I\u2019d ever been in high school. I was motivated, disciplined, and having worked in construction for the decade before then, I had a different perspective of what college could be. Whenever I felt like complaining, I\u2019d remind myself (as I\u2019ll still occasionally do) that reading and writing is a lot easier than doing manual labor outdoors, especially during the summers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I ultimately transferred and graduated from a four-year university, and later even finished a PhD program. But that associate degree was the most meaningful because it\u2019s where I started to find outlets for my intellectual curiosities and people who encouraged me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where do you like to read?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t have any specific place. At home it\u2019s usually in my office, bed, or on the couch. Away from there, I\u2019ll read while waiting. I\u2019m an anxious flyer, so I\u2019ve also recently found myself saving longer reads for when I\u2019m at the airport or on a plane. It lets me focus on something else while also helping pass the time.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s the last rabbit hole you disappeared into?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The World Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Name three publications you enjoy reading these days.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Texas Highways<\/a><\/em> to read about the parts of Texas that aren\u2019t chaotic or depressive. De Los<\/a><\/em> to keep up with some of what\u2019s happening with Latinos outside of where I live. The Good Fight<\/a><\/em> to stay current with boxing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s one longread that you can\u2019t stop thinking about?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Michael Paterniti\u2019s \u201cThe House that Thurman Munson Built<\/a>.\u201d It\u2019s got everything that interests me as a reader and writer: tragedy, memory, and examining what athletes mean to us at different ages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was the last book you read?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye<\/em>. It\u2019s an excellent book. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What piece of nonfiction are you most proud of writing?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t know if \u201cproud\u201d is the right word for it since it\u2019s such a heartbreaking story. But \u201c\u2018She made us happy\u2019: The all-star dreams of Uvalde\u2019s biggest Jos\u00e9 Al<\/a>t<\/a>uve fan<\/a>\u201d is the first thing that comes to mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s your most reliable way to get creatively unstuck?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Go for a walk or drive. Either of those help me get away from what I\u2019m doing without completely separating me from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who\u2019s a writer you turn to when you need some inspiration?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Wright Thompson, who I\u2019m fortunate to call a colleague. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll sometimes listen to a chapter or two from The Cost of These Dreams<\/a><\/em> on audiobook before I start writing a story. Wright is among the best sports writers ever, but the story of his that I\u2019ll most often return to is the one he wrote for The Atlantic<\/em>, \u201cHis Name Was Emmett Till<\/a>.\u201d The small part where one of the main characters says he doesn\u2019t think of the past but has a dog named Dixie is perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What words do you overuse?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPractically,\u201d \u201cessentially,\u201d \u201cactual(ly),\u201d \u201cthat,\u201d \u201ceven.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in first drafts, I start too many sentences with \u201cso,\u201d \u201cbecause,\u201d and \u201csince.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s your favorite guilty pleasure?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Watching mindless, and at times dumb, dating shows with my wife. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What superpower would you like to have? <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The ability to not get distracted by my phone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What animal or nonhuman being do you most identify with?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Stray dogs who largely mind their own business and hang out in the same general area without terrorizing it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have a free solitary hour in your day, what do you typically do?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If it\u2019s early in the day, I\u2019ll take a nap. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What five items would you place in a time capsule?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

My phone full of photos and videos, a drawing from my daughter, my box full of sports cards, my voice recorder, and a Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl XXX champions hat because I increasingly fear that\u2019ll be the last one they\u2019ll win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does your writing space look like?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve turned a room in our house into my office. It has a wall-to-wall bookcase. On the opposite side of it is my desk. It has plenty of space, a filing cabinet attached to it, and a shelf for my speaker and printer. Yes, a printer. It\u2019s nothing fancy, but practical. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the wall above the desk is a dry-erase board where I\u2019ll write reminders and a few words that are story ideas. Once those ideas become a story, I have a corkboard, on the wall to the left of where I sit, for the three-by-five cards I use to outline and organize sections. Above the corkboard are reminders of what I need to focus on when I write. Below it is a calendar for deadlines and travel dates. To the right of where I sit is a small couch. The walls have framed boxing fight posters, work of local artists, photos of my wife and daughter, and random things that mean something to me, like mini football helmets from the University of Texas-El Paso. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Roberto Jos\u00e9 Andrade Franco is a feature writer with<\/em><\/em> ESPN and a<\/em><\/em> Writer-at-Large with<\/em> Texas Highways<\/a>. His work has been anthologized four times in<\/em><\/em> The Year\u2019s Best Sports Writing and nominated for the National Magazine Award. He\u2019s also a four-time finalist for the Dan Jenkins Medal for Excellence in Sportswriting. <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\tMore Longreads<\/em> Questionnaires<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"The\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

The Longreads Questionnaire, Featuring Roberto Jos\u00e9 Andrade Franco<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t

The ESPN<\/em> writer tells us what feels like home, the best gift he\u2019s ever received, and the Esquire<\/em> read he can\u2019t stop thinking about. <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"The\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

The Longreads Questionnaire, Featuring Jon Ronson<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t

The author of The Castle<\/em> likes his music in a time capsule and silence in his home\u2014but definitely not in his stories.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"The\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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The Longreads Questionnaire, Featuring Jaya Saxena<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t

The former Eater<\/em> correspondent has a new home\u2014and a full plate. Here, she talks about growing up in NYC, favorite meals, and memorable reads.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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True-Crime Producer Posed as an Heiress \u2014 Then Allegedly Stole $30 Million"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The FBI isn’t the only interested party searching for Mary Carole McDonnell, the 74-year-old producer behind TV series like <em>I Married a Murderer<\/em>. There are the former employees who allege millions in unpaid wages, and the two sons who claim their mother forged their signatures on bank documents. There’s an entrepreneur in the United Arab Emirates who accuses her of “mind games,” and the former bank vice-president turned true-crime podcaster who’d like to make a documentary about McDonnell. Cheyenne Roundtree goes deep on the woman who, nearly a decade ago, walked into a California bank with a pecan pie and left with a $15 million loan before vanishing.<\/p>\n<span hidden class=\"__iawmlf-post-loop-links\" data-iawmlf-links=\"[{"id":49055,"href":"https:\\\/\\\/www.rollingstone.com\\\/culture\\\/culture-features\\\/true-crime-fake-heiress-fbi-most-wanted-1235589737\\\/?src=longreads","archived_href":"http:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20260916170834\\\/https:\\\/\\\/www.rollingstone.com\\\/culture\\\/culture-features\\\/true-crime-fake-heiress-fbi-most-wanted-1235589737\\\/?src=longreads","redirect_href":"","checks":[{"date":"2026-09-16 17:24:25","http_code":200},{"date":"2026-09-19 20:46:06","http_code":200},{"date":"2026-09-22 20:58:55","http_code":200},{"date":"2026-09-26 01:01:59","http_code":200}],"broken":false,"last_checked":{"date":"2026-09-26 01:01:59","http_code":200},"process":"done"}]\"><\/span>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The story has all the makings of a viral documentary replete with breathless details, similar to the ones McDonnell\u2019s company produced. Her backstory is littered with half-truths and deceptions, including a lie that her mentally disabled younger sister was murdered after being kidnapped. Questions remain on how she was able to pull off such a brazen heist. And it has sparked an ongoing<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>hunt among the FBI, banking institutions, a true-crime podcaster, and television producers to see who can unravel McDonnell\u2019s tangled history, track her down in a foreign land, recoup the financial losses she caused, and perhaps bring the unbelievable tale to screens.\u00a0<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-fe48e5de wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div style=\"--wp--block-button--width: 50;\" class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width wp-block-button__width-50\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-primary-background-color has-background has-custom-font-size wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/culture\/culture-features\/true-crime-fake-heiress-fbi-most-wanted-1235589737\/?src=longreads\" style=\"padding-top:15px;padding-right:15px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:15px;font-size:20px\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read the story<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-light-gray-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\t<div\n\t\tclass=\"wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles is-style-borders wpnbha is-grid columns-3 colgap-3 ts-2 is-style-borders\"\n\t\tstyle=\"\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t<div data-posts data-current-post-id=\"259635\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-section-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span>Schemes, scams, and flimflam<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"248215\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-deception tag-fake tag-fraud tag-joan-lowell tag-memoir tag-michael-waters tag-scam tag-scammers tag-the-cradle-of-the-deep tag-the-new-yorker tag-writers category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/01\/05\/joan-lowell-literary-fraud\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Joan Lowell and the Birth of the Modern Literary Fraud<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tMichael Waters | The New Yorker | January 3, 2026 | 3,177 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>“A century ago, an aspiring actress published a remarkable autobiography. She made up most of it.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"252725\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-accidents tag-car-accident tag-conspiracy tag-crime tag-lawyers tag-louisiana tag-new-orleans tag-patrick-radden-keefe tag-scam tag-scheme tag-the-new-yorker tag-traffic tag-true-crime category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/04\/13\/new-orleans-slammers-accident-scam\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">The Car-Crash Conspiracy<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tPatrick Radden Keefe | The New Yorker | April 13, 2026 | 11,714 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>“High-speed accidents, crooked lawyers, and poor people desperate for cash\u2014it was the kind of scheme that could have been cooked up only in the Big Easy.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"257698\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-airmail tag-facebook tag-longreads tag-mark-seal tag-online tag-romance-scam tag-scam category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/08\/03\/internet-romance-scams-fraud\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Who Ya Gonna Call? Scam Busters!<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tMark Seal | Airmail | April 12, 2025 | 2,604 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>“How a team of sleuths reportedly tracked down the Brad Pitt impersonators who cyber-scammed a middle-aged Frenchwoman out of her life\u2019s savings.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>“Mary Carole McDonnell made low-budget crime shows, but her own story was built on deceptions fit for one of her series. Now, she\u2019s on the FBI\u2019s Most Wanted list and the target of a global manhunt.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"Cheyenne Roundtree | Rolling Stone | August 11, 2026 | 5,264 words","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"republication-tracker-tool-hide-widget":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[15973],"tags":[29302,219,220,348,29303,3643,24288,391,4832,351,3613],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[15505],"class_list":["post-259635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editors-pick","tag-cheyenne-roundtree","tag-crime","tag-fraud","tag-journalism","tag-mary-carole-mcdonnell","tag-podcast","tag-podcasting","tag-rolling-stone","tag-scam","tag-true-crime","tag-tv","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A True-Crime Producer Posed as an Heiress \u2014 Then Allegedly Stole $30 Million - Longreads<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/09\/16\/mary-carole-mcdonnell-dirty-money-moves-podcast\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A True-Crime Producer Posed as an Heiress \u2014 Then Allegedly Stole $30 Million - Longreads\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\""Mary Carole McDonnell made low-budget crime shows, but her own story was built on deceptions fit for one of her series. 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Phones"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The most recent winner of the National Magazine Award for feature writing describes his turn to payday lending apps when AI gobbled up his livelihood (aka penning promotional web content for business clients). Sharp and darkly funny, the essay chronicles yet another nail in the coffin of the American dream: <\/p>\n<span hidden class=\"__iawmlf-post-loop-links\" data-iawmlf-links=\"[{"id":49054,"href":"https:\\\/\\\/thebaffler.com\\\/salvos\\\/paid-phones-kolitz?src=longreads","archived_href":"","redirect_href":"","checks":[],"broken":false,"last_checked":null,"process":"done"}]\"><\/span>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Albert founder Yinon Ravid has said that he chose his app\u2019s name for its suggestion of the kind of \u201csmart, unassuming friend\u201d you might come to for financial advice, but today, when I hear the name Albert, I am far more likely to picture an overwhelming force bent on my total destruction, a figure you might spot while being burned alive in a dream\u2014black-robed, pale, teeth bared. When I first joined the app, about eighteen months ago, Albert offered me $25.00. To acquire this loan, I was required to pay an additional fee: A $6.99 instant deposit charge plus the cost of a $19.99-per-month subscription to Albert\u2019s Standard plan, due in one week\u2019s time alongside the full loan repayment. (If I really wanted to make the most of my $25.00, I also had the option of Albert\u2019s $39.99-per-month Genius plan, which, among a very small handful of other talents, can \u201cfind restaurants based on your location, or in a specific area.\u201d) On its own, this might\u2019ve been manageable, but, true to the CRL\u2019s findings, Albert\u2019s offerings alone couldn\u2019t keep me afloat, and so I soon signed up for the rest of the payday apps, each one toting its share of instant deposit and subscription fees. (Gallingly, Dave\u2014the only publicly traded company of the bunch, valued at $4.72 billion as of this writing\u2014has the nerve to ask for a\u00a0<em>tip<\/em>\u00a0after each transaction, a move that I suspect even the flintiest strip mall grift artists would dismiss as gauche.)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-fe48e5de wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div style=\"--wp--block-button--width: 50;\" class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width wp-block-button__width-50\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-primary-background-color has-background has-custom-font-size wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/thebaffler.com\/salvos\/paid-phones-kolitz?src=longreads\" style=\"padding-top:15px;padding-right:15px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:15px;font-size:20px\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read the story<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-light-gray-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\t<div\n\t\tclass=\"wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles is-style-borders wpnbha is-grid columns-3 colgap-3 ts-2 is-style-borders\"\n\t\tstyle=\"\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t<div data-posts data-current-post-id=\"259621\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-section-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span>More stories about finance<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"259621\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-ai tag-chatgpt tag-daniel-kolitz tag-debt tag-finance tag-fintech tag-payday-loans tag-the-baffler category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/09\/16\/paid-phones\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Paid Phones<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tDaniel Kolitz | The Baffler | September 1, 2026 | 4,589 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>“Owing the payday loan apps.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"251312\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-consumer-financial-protection-bureau tag-consumer-protections tag-e-tammy-kim-2 tag-economics tag-elon-musk tag-finance tag-fintech tag-longreads tag-russell-vought tag-the-new-yorker tag-trump category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/03\/12\/the-zombie-regulator\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">The Zombie Regulator<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tE. Tammy Kim | The New Yorker | March 9, 2026 | 6,412 words\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>“As the cost of living continues to spiral upward, the Trump Administration is gutting the government agency built to protect Americans from financial ruin.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"247360\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-atmos tag-banks tag-capitalism tag-christine-ro tag-conversation tag-ecology tag-economics tag-economy tag-ecosystems tag-finance tag-interview tag-john-fullerton tag-resilience category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2025\/12\/08\/regenerative-economy-capitalism-ecology\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">What If the Economy Was Modeled After Ecology?<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tChristine Ro and John Fullerton | Atmos | December 4, 2025 | 2,609 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>“By treating economies as living systems, we can build financial frameworks that regenerate rather than exploit.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>“Owing the payday loan apps.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1294,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"Daniel Kolitz | The Baffler | September 1, 2026 | 4,589 words","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"republication-tracker-tool-hide-widget":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[15973],"tags":[18507,23879,25414,2766,4592,28362,29298,793],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[16813],"class_list":["post-259621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editors-pick","tag-ai","tag-chatgpt","tag-daniel-kolitz","tag-debt","tag-finance","tag-fintech","tag-payday-loans","tag-the-baffler","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Paid Phones - Longreads<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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Violent Feud That Shocked the Horse World"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ian Parker does not hold back in painting the egos of the characters in this horse\u2011world scandal, clearly growing tired at times of the pomposity of Michael Barisone, a U.S. dressage trainer and former Olympian who shot his student, Lauren Kanarek, after an escalating feud. Claiming that Kanarek\u2019s online taunts and complaints drove him insane, Barisone was eventually found not guilty, though later banned from his sport by the U.S. Center for SafeSport. Tread carefully as you enter this arena; narcissism lurks everywhere.<\/p>\n<span hidden class=\"__iawmlf-post-loop-links\" data-iawmlf-links=\"[{"id":49053,"href":"https:\\\/\\\/www.newyorker.com\\\/magazine\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/21\\\/the-violent-feud-that-shocked-the-horse-world\\\/?src=longreads","archived_href":"http:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20260916110043\\\/https:\\\/\\\/www.newyorker.com\\\/magazine\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/21\\\/the-violent-feud-that-shocked-the-horse-world?src=longreads","redirect_href":"https:\\\/\\\/www.newyorker.com\\\/magazine\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/21\\\/the-violent-feud-that-shocked-the-horse-world?src=longreads","checks":[{"date":"2026-09-16 11:34:14","http_code":206},{"date":"2026-09-19 11:45:35","http_code":206},{"date":"2026-09-22 12:11:40","http_code":206},{"date":"2026-09-25 17:22:59","http_code":206},{"date":"2026-09-28 18:03:19","http_code":206}],"broken":false,"last_checked":{"date":"2026-09-28 18:03:19","http_code":206},"process":"done"}]\"><\/span>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first time I called him, he said, of the case, \u201cYou\u2019re going to find it is a John Grisham novel combined with \u2018Fatal Attraction\u2019 combined with \u2018Yellowstone.\u2019\u00a0\u201d Barisone\u2019s story has its evident hero, and its villain is Kanarek, his victim. In this presentation of events\u2014a \u201cscum of the earth\u201d client, in his words, and a terrific guy who snapped, as anyone would have\u2014Barisone has enjoyed near-universal support from the dressage community, and beyond. In much of the online discussion about the case, including in the forums of\u00a0<em>The Chronicle of the Horse<\/em>, a long-established magazine, commenters have identified two victims, not one, and have almost always found Barisone\u2019s victimhood the more compelling. A woman was shot, but a man was driven to shoot her, because she was annoying, and at times belligerent, in person and on social media. Kanarek has been widely scorned as a dressage interloper and as an embodiment of contemporary ills: a bullshitter, an entitled troll.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-fe48e5de wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div style=\"--wp--block-button--width: 50;\" class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width wp-block-button__width-50\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-primary-background-color has-background has-custom-font-size wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2026\/09\/21\/the-violent-feud-that-shocked-the-horse-world\/?src=longreads\" style=\"padding-top:15px;padding-right:15px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:15px;font-size:20px\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read the story<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-light-gray-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\t<div\n\t\tclass=\"wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles is-style-borders wpnbha is-grid columns-3 colgap-3 show-image image-aligntop ts-2 is-3 is-landscape is-style-borders\"\n\t\tstyle=\"\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t<div data-posts data-current-post-id=\"259623\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-section-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span>More horsey picks <\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"240219\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-cloning tag-horses tag-longreads tag-matt-reynolds tag-nonfiction tag-polo tag-wired category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2025\/07\/11\/cloning-came-to-polo-then-things-got-truly-uncivilized\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Cloning Came to Polo. Then Things Got Truly Uncivilized<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tMatt Reynolds | Wired | July 10 | 5,668 words \t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>“A polo legend and a businessman joined forces to copy the player\u2019s greatest horse. But with a single clone worth $800,000, some technologies are a breeding ground for betrayal.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"231636\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-horse-training tag-horses tag-the-new-york-times-magazine tag-warwick-schiller category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2024\/11\/20\/he-thought-he-knew-horses-then-he-learned-to-really-listen\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">He Thought He Knew Horses. Then He Learned to Really Listen.<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tSterry Butcher | New York Times Magazine | November 12, 2024 | 3,896 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>“Warwick Schiller made his name as an expert trainer. An enigmatic little horse completely changed his outlook.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"194384\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-horses tag-longreads tag-masculinity tag-rosecrans-baldwin category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2023\/10\/10\/do-you-need-a-visit-to-the-confident-man-ranch\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Do You Need a Visit to the Confident Man Ranch?<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tRosecrans Baldwin | GQ | September 28, 2023 | 4,594 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>“At the foot of the Rockies, the operators of a dude ranch retreat are blending cowboy culture and group therapy.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"191888\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-horse-girls tag-horses tag-iceland tag-longreads tag-outside tag-pam-houston category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2023\/07\/11\/ride-the-good-witches\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Ride the Good Witches<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tPam Houston | Outside | July 11, 2023 | 2,708 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>“She threw herself into bonding with a breed of horse that seems touched by Viking spirit.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"189023\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-ashley-stimpson tag-feral-horse-management tag-feral-horses tag-horses tag-sunday-long-read category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2023\/04\/11\/saving-the-horses-of-our-imagination\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Saving the Horses of Our Imagination<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tAshley Stimpson | Sunday Long Read | April 9, 2023 | 5,236 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>“Creamer wasn\u2019t just coming up against locals\u2019 attachment to their horses, but a pernicious human tendency to confuse profound affection for animals with wisdom about what\u2019s best for them.” <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"172947\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-cultural-identity tag-horses tag-kazakhstan tag-nomadism tag-russia tag-soviet-union tag-sports category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2017\/07\/07\/a-kingdom-for-a-horse-kokpar-and-the-future-of-kazakhstan\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">A Kingdom for a Horse: Kokpar and the Future of Kazakhstan<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tWill Boast | Virgina Quarterly Review | July 3, 2017 | 5,100 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>\u201c[N]owhere in this region is the contrast between the contemporary and the ancient higher than in Kazakhstan. And nowhere is the interplay between the two more starkly embodied than in professional Kazakh kokpar.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>“A prominent dressage trainer shot a belligerent student\u2014and now maintains that he\u2019s the real victim.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":698,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"Ian Parker | The New Yorker | 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Alone"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gabebullard.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Gabe Bullard<\/em><\/a> <em>| Longreads | September 15, 2026 | 3,401 words (12 minutes)<\/em><\/p>\n<span hidden class=\"__iawmlf-post-loop-links\" data-iawmlf-links=\"[{"id":48980,"href":"https:\\\/\\\/www.gabebullard.com","archived_href":"http:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20251126163106\\\/https:\\\/\\\/www.gabebullard.com\\\/","redirect_href":"","checks":[{"date":"2026-09-02 16:45:47","http_code":206},{"date":"2026-09-09 14:56:53","http_code":206},{"date":"2026-09-14 16:11:14","http_code":206},{"date":"2026-09-17 16:11:51","http_code":206},{"date":"2026-09-20 16:17:27","http_code":206},{"date":"2026-09-23 16:18:35","http_code":206},{"date":"2026-09-26 16:25:27","http_code":206}],"broken":false,"last_checked":{"date":"2026-09-26 16:25:27","http_code":206},"process":"done"},{"id":48981,"href":"https:\\\/\\\/www.harpercollins.com\\\/products\\\/against-convenience-gabe-bullard","archived_href":"","redirect_href":"","checks":[],"broken":false,"last_checked":null,"process":"done"},{"id":49049,"href":"https:\\\/\\\/www.amazon.com\\\/dp\\\/1335000690","archived_href":"http:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20260915100117\\\/https:\\\/\\\/www.amazon.com\\\/dp\\\/1335000690","redirect_href":"","checks":[{"date":"2026-09-15 10:12:33","http_code":200},{"date":"2026-09-18 10:27:03","http_code":200},{"date":"2026-09-21 10:28:53","http_code":404},{"date":"2026-09-24 10:43:19","http_code":404},{"date":"2026-09-27 11:16:13","http_code":404}],"broken":true,"last_checked":{"date":"2026-09-27 11:16:13","http_code":404},"process":"done"},{"id":49050,"href":"https:\\\/\\\/bookshop.org\\\/p\\\/books\\\/against-convenience-embracing-friction-in-an-age-of-endless-ease-gabe-bullard\\\/1e5ab524a5574880","archived_href":"","redirect_href":"","checks":[],"broken":false,"last_checked":null,"process":"done"}]\"><\/span>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-style-border has-light-gray-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">This is an excerpt from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harpercollins.com\/products\/against-convenience-gabe-bullard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Against Convenience: Embracing Friction in an Age of Endless Ease<\/em><\/a> by Gabe Bullard. Published on September 15, 2026, by Hanover Square Press, an imprint of HarperCollins. Copyright \u00a9 2026 by Gabe Bullard. All rights reserved. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Watching <\/em>The Jetsons <em>as a kid in the \u201980s, I was obsessed with the food machine, and how it dispensed a full meal at the touch of a button. The show was set in 2062, exactly a hundred years on from its original broadcast. We’ve made it to 2026, but life today resembles nothing like that slick space-age future. We have gadgets, but they’ve arrived as phones, apps, and smart home devices\u2014and I’m not sure they’ve made my life better.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>“Accepting modern conveniences too often means accepting lower standards,” writes Gabe Bullard in <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.harpercollins.com\/products\/against-convenience-gabe-bullard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Against Convenience: Embracing Friction in an Age of Endless Ease<\/a><em>. Lower standards for material goods, for labor conditions, for socializing, for art and entertainment. “Experiences become transactions.”<\/em> <em>Bullard isn’t anti-technology. His argument, he writes, “is an argument against how we use and are pushed to use technology.” In his new book, he examines the conveniences that have crept into his life\u2014and likely yours\u2014and offers ideas for living with them more sustainably and equitably.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>In this excerpt from chapter seven, Bullard sets this scene: a physical world, the one we’ve moved through for centuries, slowly reshaped by the virtual one we increasingly live in. Cars drive from one dot on a map to another, ferrying takeout to people at home on sofas. Food deliverers make some extra money. Businesses take orders both online and off. It appears easier, efficient. But Bullard examines<\/em> <em>the costs\u2014to the customer, to the driver, and to the restaurant owner, who still has to make sure the fries are crispy once they reach your door.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u2014<a href=\"mailto:cheri@longreads.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Cheri Lucas Rowlands<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The artist Jake Longstreth paints landscapes of America, often the West and Southwest, with their distinctive vegetation, deserts, and mountains. In the foreground of many of his paintings are features that evoke a time more than a single place\u2014CubeSmart self-storage, Taco Bell, a sun-bleached facade with shadows where the words <span style=\"font-variant:small-caps;\">Toys \u2018R\u2019 Us<\/span> once hung.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In one series, each painting is a different view from the parking lot of a Walmart in Scottsdale, Arizona. Ferns, trees, and desert grasses obscure the sharp edges of the boxy store. Semitrailers and loading docks peek from behind the brush. In a painting from a different series, a Home Depot abuts a Civil War battlefield. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.harpercollins.com\/products\/against-convenience-gabe-bullard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\" noopener\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"675\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/longreads.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Against-Convenience-Cover.jpg?resize=675%2C1024&ssl=1\" alt=\"book cover image of a white plastic take-out bag labeled with the book title "Against Convenience" by Gabe Bullard\" class=\"wp-image-259076\" style=\"aspect-ratio:0.6591796613065536;width:266px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/longreads.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Against-Convenience-Cover-scaled.jpg?resize=675%2C1024&ssl=1 675w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/longreads.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Against-Convenience-Cover-scaled.jpg?resize=198%2C300&ssl=1 198w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/longreads.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Against-Convenience-Cover-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C1166&ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/longreads.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Against-Convenience-Cover-scaled.jpg?resize=1012%2C1536&ssl=1 1012w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/longreads.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Against-Convenience-Cover-scaled.jpg?resize=1349%2C2048&ssl=1 1349w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/longreads.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Against-Convenience-Cover-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C1821&ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/longreads.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Against-Convenience-Cover-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C3035&ssl=1 2000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/longreads.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Against-Convenience-Cover-scaled.jpg?resize=780%2C1184&ssl=1 780w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/longreads.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Against-Convenience-Cover-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C607&ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/longreads.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Against-Convenience-Cover-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C1071&ssl=1 706w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/longreads.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Against-Convenience-Cover-scaled.jpg?w=1687&ssl=1 1687w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/longreads.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Against-Convenience-Cover-675x1024.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 675px) 100vw, 675px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Buy on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/1335000690\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/p\/books\/against-convenience-embracing-friction-in-an-age-of-endless-ease-gabe-bullard\/1e5ab524a5574880\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bookshop<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The work has a loneliness that\u2019s reminiscent of Edward Hopper\u2019s paintings. But unlike Hopper, Longstreth rarely paints people (one exception is a group of soldiers in uniform at the grand opening of a Chili\u2019s). The only signs of humanity are occasional cars and the chains that \u201cmake up, basically, an American commons,\u201d as Longstreth described them in an interview promoting an exhibition of his work in 2024. \u201cMost people don\u2019t really have a super-deliberate relationship with these places,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There\u2019s a certain democracy to the scenes: Anyone, anywhere can eat the same value meal as anyone else. There\u2019s also an intrusion: The chains\u2019 architecture imposes a sameness on once-unique landscapes. The stores and restaurants are dropped into spaces that weren\u2019t made for them. Flat, square plots are pressed into hills, ample parking provided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The encroachment of a drive-thru on a lush California valley is a good representation of many modern conveniences. The services that claim to make something faster, easier, or cheaper are built on top of physical landscapes, legal frameworks, or social orders that were not made to accommodate them. The systems absorb the change, but they do it awkwardly and end up forever altered. Starbucks becomes a place to pick up app orders; appliances become accessories to connect to your phone; QR codes sit on restaurant tables; analysis replaces news; art becomes Content; machines replace people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Uncomfortable intrusions and uneven responses are everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Examples abound: Grocery delivery apps bring an old idea to a new reality. Grocers offered delivery over a century ago, but the stores were set up and staffed for this. Modern grocery stores are built for customers to come in and do their own shopping. Delivery apps now let customers pay someone to do the same physical task the user would do if they went to the store themselves. What seems like a simple process can quickly become inconvenient. Grocery stores evolved to let customers pick out their own fruit, check dates on packages, and otherwise get things for themselves based on what looked good (or what the store suggested they buy). Virtual shoppers do this picking for customers, sometimes in a hurry so they can fulfill more orders. Mistakes can happen even under the best circumstances. Better deals go ignored. There\u2019s confusion when an item is out of stock and the customer hasn\u2019t chosen an alternative. It can lead to a customer essentially steering a shopper through the store on their behalf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rentable electric scooters have become a fixture of urban sidewalks in the past decade. The scooters speed up trips that are too far to walk, too short for a car ride, and not covered by public transit. But these are more of a tacked-on convenience than a real solution. City streets aren\u2019t often built to accommodate smaller vehicles, leaving scooter riders to either use car lanes (putting the rider at risk) or sidewalks (putting pedestrians at risk). Poorly parked scooters clutter neighborhoods. And the environmental benefits are questionable, if at times nonexistent: Broken scooters need to be replaced and vans typically pick up scooters for charging. These problems could be solved through a more active response from cities\u2014more adequate public transit, sustainability requirements for the rental companies, limits on where scooters can be ridden and parked. Cities could build better infrastructure, too, to favor bikes, scooters, and pedestrians over cars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The postal system and most homes were built to accommodate the delivery of mail and packages. But the scale of e-commerce deliveries has forced inconvenient adjustments to physical and social spaces. In the years I lived in a large apartment building, package drop-off was a constant frustration. Every afternoon, the lobby filled with Amazon and Chewy boxes. They sometimes sat there for days (rush delivery wasn\u2019t essential after all). What was built as a place for neighbors to mingle became a warehouse for boxes of dog food where people occasionally waited for rideshares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For private homes, the doorbell camera offers convenient, instant notification that a package has arrived and security footage if the package is stolen. It\u2019s an inelegant, antisocial solution. The old-style doorbell was already a notification a package had arrived. The new gadget moved the chime and the peephole to the pocket (and gave users another reason to stay glued to their phones). Package theft is a crime of convenience created by constant online shopping and delivery, and it\u2019s not clear the cameras are stopping it. In my old neighborhood, people often posted grainy images of package thieves to local message boards. Sometimes the person said they were giving the information to the police, as if the police would bother tracking down whoever took a box that had most likely already been replaced. Perhaps the footage will go into a database to be scanned by facial recognition software instead. Doorbell cameras might be meant to catch crimes, but more often, they create Content like the videos of accidents I scroll past online. Everyone is eager to share their personal view of the panopticon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Is the convenience worth the cost of constant surveillance and suspicion of every person who steps on your stoop (not to mention a subscription to the software that runs the camera)? Even if the cameras prevent a package theft, it\u2019s unlikely the increased surveillance is a deterrent for violent crimes, or that it has an effect on overall neighborhood safety. That would take a collective solution. The camera lets the homeowner feel optimized to take on (or hide from) the world\u2019s troubles alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:100\"><blockquote><p>The services that claim to make something faster, easier, or cheaper are built on top of physical landscapes, legal frameworks, or social orders that were not made to accommodate them.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ridesharing\u2019s \u201cdisruption\u201d is perhaps the most prominent example of convenience overloading existing systems, and those systems bending to accommodate it. In this case, the systems were municipal regulations, employment standards, and users\u2019 expectations for how to get around a city. In his book <em>Blood in the Machine<\/em>, tech journalist Brian Merchant notes that the arguments against regulation echo one the mill owners made in the fight against the Luddites in the early 1800s. Existing laws regulated mills and set standards for worker training and for the quality of cloth. As businessmen automated manufacturing, they argued that \u201cthe regulations on the books are out of date, should not apply to new technologies, and are stifling innovation; they\u2019re really not that important, and no one plans on violating them anyway,\u201d Merchant writes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The argument that our existing laws are inadequate in the face of progress is so pervasive in the tech industry, breaking rules is basically a strategy. OpenAI\u2019s CEO has said it\u2019s impossible to create their products without access to copyrighted material, and as I write this, the debate continues over how AI firms should license\u2014or should have licensed\u2014the material they use to train their software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We are still adjusting to new technology\u2014legally, morally, socially. The adjustment will go deeper than making room for a new way of shopping, computing, or getting around. How we react in these (still) early stages\u2014how we comport ourselves and what we demand of the apps and our governments\u2014will have ramifications for generations to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s not looking good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The spread of generative AI is the most worrying sign at the moment, but I hear about new, supposedly convenient, yet ultimately unnecessary, technologies every day. Not long ago, it was facial recognition for buying concessions at sporting events. It\u2019s mind-blowing computing power put to mundane use, and it raises big questions about privacy and security. I wonder if the food tastes any better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To get a sense of the stakes of all-encompassing adaptation to new technology, go outside: massive parking garages in downtown real estate (somehow still necessary even with rideshares); four-lane streets in residential neighborhoods; houses with no stoop and a garage door as the most prominent feature on the facade; interstates along riverfronts; drive-thru-only restaurants; restaurants with double-wide drive-thrus. Cities and landscapes have been remade to accommodate privately owned personal cars. Shared cars or scooters might offer some relief, but the infrastructure has already been changed\u2014these solutions are technology to solve the problems of technology, built not just on top of a system that wasn\u2019t made for them, but on top of a system that wasn\u2019t made for people at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is the world I see in Longstreth\u2019s paintings. The buildings are in places that are hostile to anyone traveling without their own car\u2014shopping centers between batches of suburbs and man-made deserts of pavement. The paintings remind me of the long drives I\u2019ve taken across the US\u2014every exit has the same few fast-food restaurants and gas stations. The public commons is a place people stop at on their way somewhere else. Everyone eats the same value meal because there\u2019s nothing else to eat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The encroachments of high-tech convenience create a second reality\u2014one that\u2019s virtual and smooth. To someone using a grocery app, the store looks like a list of products on a screen, not the physical supermarket where a worker will go to pick out an order. To a person in a rideshare or driving by GPS, the world between two destinations looks like a line on a map. It\u2019s a little like the augmented reality game <em>Pok\u00e9mon Go<\/em>, which dropped monsters and training gyms onto the grids of city streets. Physical reality is a support structure for a world that exists on an individual\u2019s screen. The virtual world imposes its demands on the physical world, often with results that aren\u2019t better for the user or the real world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Delivery food, for a long time and in many places, meant pizza or Chinese. This wasn\u2019t by accident. Restaurateurs (and in the case of pizza, chains) refined the business model for delivery and developed containers that kept dishes in the best condition possible for the trip to a customer\u2019s house. Modern food delivery promises to make any food into something you can eat at home. But not every dish, and not every restaurant, is built for this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Traditionally, restaurant dining was a two-party affair. A customer went to a restaurant to dine in or carry out, or they ordered food over the phone that was delivered by an employee of that restaurant. Modern delivery adds two more parties: a food deliverer who is typically classified as an independent contractor and the app that mediates the relationship between everyone involved. The customer orders in the app. The app dispatches the driver. The customer tips the driver through the app. To the user, all of this is virtual\u2014even the handoff of the food can happen through a smart doorbell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Delivery apps offer something to each party they work with. To customers, the offer is any meal delivered to their door. To restaurants, the offer is new customers, more orders, e-commerce tools, and delivery without the staff (though some apps offer to let restaurants use their own couriers). To deliverers, the offer is the flexibility of the gig economy\u2014be your own boss, work when you want. (I\u2019m going to use the words \u201cdriver\u201d and \u201cdeliverer\u201d interchangeably, though in many cities, delivery is done on bike.) Each of these parties makes trade-offs if they accept the offer. Drivers take on the usual hazards of gig work. Claude Bahati lives in the UK and signed up to drive for Deliveroo because he liked the autonomy. But the money has been inconsistent. He sometimes works eighteen hours a day, five to seven days a week. Early on, he cleared about a thousand British pounds per week. He earned occasional bonuses by logging on when orders were heavier, too. Now he\u2019s not seeing as many boosts and the orders have dropped. \u201cYou\u2019d be lucky if you hit \u00a3700 a week,\u201d he says. In response to questions, Deliveroo said this may be related to a change in which deliverers are paid based on distance traveled. (Bahati and many of his fellow drivers have organized with the GMB labor union in the UK to push for changes to pay and to how the apps treat drivers\u2014and these have led to agreements on minimum pay for time and transportation.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Paying drivers more would mean either reducing profits, upping the fee on the restaurants, or raising prices for customers. \u201cIt is always the drivers who get pinched,\u201d Bahati says. The actual cost of a service is unclear to customers in the virtual world. \u201cAs a customer, you\u2019re thinking, \u2018which one\u2019s the cheapest?\u2019 \u201d Bahati says. \u201cI don\u2019t think you think about a driver and how much they\u2019re being paid. I think you\u2019re thinking, \u2018How quickly can the driver get here?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Restaurants can choose whether to be on the apps, but this wasn\u2019t always the case. When DoorDash, GrubHub, Postmates (since purchased by Uber Eats), and Seamless (it\u2019s odd they\u2019re all compounds of short words) launched, restaurants sometimes found themselves listed on the apps without agreeing to participate. Some restaurants sued. California banned the practice. Most apps changed their policies in response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:100\"><blockquote><p>Modern food delivery promises to make any food into something you can eat at home. But not every dish, and not every restaurant, is built for this.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Given the thin margins of running a restaurant, opting out isn\u2019t an easy decision, especially as customers come to expect delivery. Liz and Jesse Huot own two hamburger restaurants and a bakery in Louisville, Kentucky. They were hesitant to offer delivery at first. \u201cYou don\u2019t have control over your food once it leaves,\u201d Jesse says. \u201cKind of like handing your kid off to a babysitter you\u2019ve never met,\u201d Liz adds. Besides the loss of control, trade-offs for restaurants include fees from the apps and a potential decline in dine-in customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Huots signed up to have their food delivered by DoorDash in 2023. They realized customers seemed okay with a dip in quality in exchange for the ease of delivery. \u201cIt\u2019s normal for you to know that your fries suck when you get them delivered,\u201d Liz says. Customers also didn\u2019t mind paying a 30% extra charge for the food\u2014a price the Huots settled on to cover the 15% app commission, the additional packaging, and to offset the drop in tips for servers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Delivery orders are strong, and the Huots say they feel pressure to make the menu more accommodating. \u201cOur two sides are fries that get soggy and Brussels sprouts that, ten minutes after they\u2019re made, they get a little funky,\u201d Jesse says. \u201cSo I\u2019ve considered changing the sides. But people in-house love them, and if I change that, I think it would hurt us.\u201d The solution to soggy fries is a starchy coating that some restaurants have adopted. It keeps them crispier, but it can cause indigestion. To add these, the Huots would need a larger kitchen with room for another frier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With orders coming in online, the Huots are essentially running additional restaurants out of the same space they had before (they took their bakery off the app due to the challenge of managing inventory between physical and virtual lines). They favor their in-house customers, who provide the bulk of business and who the Huots have a direct relationship with. Online, their restaurants are among the businesses that pop up if someone searches for burgers. In person, the restaurants are a destination and an experience. That experience is why the Huots started their business in the first place. \u201cI\u2019m not passionate about food that lasts a long time in a car,\u201d Jesse says. \u201cThat\u2019s not what I got in this for. And if that\u2019s what it became, I would question if I still want to do this.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sometimes the Huots turn off online orders to tend to a packed house, which leads to emails from customers asking why they can\u2019t order. This isn\u2019t the only entitled behavior the pair has encountered since the rise of delivery apps and the isolation of the pandemic. Liz has noticed an impatience and a demanding attitude from in-person patrons that wasn\u2019t as prevalent a few years ago. Customers get angry when something is out of stock. At the bakery, they complain if they can\u2019t get an ornately made cake without ordering ahead. \u201cThat kind of convenience, people expect it when they walk in the building, too,\u201d Liz says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is the discomfort that comes from the virtual and real worlds overlapping. Most of us exist in both places. Yet the rules of the real world don\u2019t always apply virtually, and the behavior of the virtual world, in real life, is typically weird and antisocial. Online, we shop without assistance, lurk on conversations without taking part, and pay to have whatever we want brought to us. The world is shaped around the user, with targeted ads and algorithmic feeds. Spending so much time in the virtual world shifts expectations for the physical world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:100\"><blockquote><p>This is the discomfort that comes from the virtual and real worlds overlapping.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Participation in the virtual world is the cost of doing business in the physical one. Besides adopting to delivery, many restaurants have changed their lighting, decor, and menus to be visually friendlier for diners who post to Instagram or TikTok. One trend saw posters raving about dishes with melted cheese that stretched as far as possible. Like viral Starbucks drinks, the taste was secondary\u2014what mattered was documenting the consumption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The virtual world of platforms and apps has given rise to the ghost kitchen\u2014a restaurant that, for the user, exists only on apps. Some ghost kitchens operate out of shared facilities with no storefront, and can give aspiring chefs a way to test out ideas. Other times, a restaurant owner sets up a second, online-only brand in their kitchen to boost sales. The concept is an outgrowth not only of delivery apps, but of the rise in commercial rents. The crisis of the pandemic made moonlighting via ghost kitchens essential for some restaurants to survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not every virtual eatery is a passion project. Some are chains managed by a corporate parent and are often branded with celebrity endorsements or gimmicky names that appeal to novelty on the apps\u2014examples include Egg the F* Out, OMG BBQ LOL, and B*tch Don\u2019t Grill My Cheese. Virtual chains compete against the small restaurateurs who the concept of ghost kitchens was supposed to save\u2014and sometimes restaurateurs are competing against themselves, if they add a virtual brand to their business. People pursuing their passion are made to pursue it in the same kitchen that turns out pancakes for a virtual chain called Granny Pannies (a real ghost kitchen). The customers may not know the difference between the businesses, since every restaurant looks the same on the app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As of May 2025, a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich from Egg the F* Out in New York City is $19.09, more than three times what it would be at one of the city\u2019s many bodegas. Food delivery was never about being cheaper, though. It\u2019s not guaranteed to be faster. It\u2019s rarely better. Delivery via app offers users control over their participation in a once-public activity\u2014a virtual alternative to reality. It lets diners get whatever they want and eat it alone, away from the friction of the physical world and away from reminders of what it takes to make and serve food, and the people who do this work. If diners want to be social, they can get a viral dish that looks good on camera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A few years ago, I went to my hometown in rural Illinois for Christmas. On a walk, I saw a sign advertising MrBeast Burger sticking out of the snow-covered grass at the edge of a park. I wondered who had put it there over the holiday\u2014out in the cold, surrounded by cornfields, hoping someone might pick up their phone and order a burger. I thought about the person who might place the order\u2014curious, looking for novelty, unaware of what it would take to get a meal themed around their favorite YouTube star. I wondered where the food would come from and how far someone would need to drive to drop it off. But these were concerns of the physical world. More and more, that\u2019s not where we live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-style-border has-light-gray-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">This is an excerpt from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.harpercollins.com\/products\/against-convenience-gabe-bullard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Against Convenience: Embracing Friction in an Age of Endless Ease<\/em><\/a> by Gabe Bullard. Published on September 15, 2026, by Hanover Square Press, an imprint of HarperCollins. Copyright \u00a9 2026 by Gabe Bullard. All rights reserved. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div style=\"--wp--block-button--width: 50;\" class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width wp-block-button__width-50\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-primary-background-color has-background wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/1335000690\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Buy on Amazon<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"--wp--block-button--width: 50;\" class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width wp-block-button__width-50\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-primary-background-color has-background wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/p\/books\/against-convenience-embracing-friction-in-an-age-of-endless-ease-gabe-bullard\/1e5ab524a5574880\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Buy on Bookshop<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gabebullard.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Gabe Bullard<\/a> is a journalist, critic, and broadcaster. He has written for NPR, <\/em>The New York Times Magazine<em>, <\/em>Nieman Reports<em>, <\/em>99% Invisible<em>, <\/em>Bright Wall\/Dark Room<em>, <\/em>The Washington Post<em>, and <\/em>Smithsonian Magazine<em>, among other outlets. He was a Nieman journalism fellow at Harvard University and is co-founder of <\/em>Together, Alone<em>, an online magazine of television criticism. He\u2019s from the Midwest and now lives in Switzerland.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soggy fries, ghost kitchens, and a $19 bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich: what we’ve actually gained on the path to convenience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":259171,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"Soggy fries, ghost kitchens, and a $19 bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich: what we've actually gained on the path to convenience.","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"republication-tracker-tool-hide-widget":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[15974],"tags":[2341,719,343,25271,29249,3187,21954,29251,29248,1543,29250,22334,3193,8045],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[15713],"class_list":["post-259055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature","tag-apps","tag-book-excerpt","tag-books","tag-clr","tag-convenience","tag-dining","tag-food-delivery","tag-friction","tag-gabe-bullard","tag-internet","tag-modernity","tag-optimization","tag-restaurants","tag-virtual-reality","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - 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Nothing Now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In our relentlessly optimized world, Justin Neuman calls for more <em>nothing<\/em>. More time for both adults and kids to engage in free, unstructured play. More opportunities to play games without competition or scoring. More chances to <em>do<\/em> things without needing to produce outputs or achieve goals. More “transitional spaces” through which we can practice, imagine, and think.<\/p>\n<span hidden class=\"__iawmlf-post-loop-links\" data-iawmlf-links=\"[{"id":49048,"href":"https:\\\/\\\/aeon.co\\\/essays\\\/play-is-doing-its-work-even-if-were-not-keeping-score?src=longreads","archived_href":"http:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20260914195925\\\/https:\\\/\\\/aeon.co\\\/essays\\\/play-is-doing-its-work-even-if-were-not-keeping-score?src=longreads","redirect_href":"","checks":[{"date":"2026-09-14 20:27:15","http_code":200},{"date":"2026-09-17 21:10:22","http_code":200},{"date":"2026-09-20 21:13:01","http_code":200},{"date":"2026-09-24 07:57:29","http_code":200},{"date":"2026-09-27 13:03:46","http_code":206}],"broken":false,"last_checked":{"date":"2026-09-27 13:03:46","http_code":206},"process":"done"}]\"><\/span>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For years, I\u2019ve commuted on foot from Grand Central Station to 14th Street, 30 blocks, give or take. I told myself it was exercise, or that I was saving the subway fare, or that I liked the air. But the truth is I was thinking. Or rather, I was letting thinking happen. The lecture I couldn\u2019t outline at my desk would assemble itself somewhere around 34th Street, the important points falling into sequence with my footfalls, the argument clarifying as if the motion itself were doing the editing. I wasn\u2019t working on the lecture. I was walking in it, the way my kids were playing in Catan.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-fe48e5de wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div style=\"--wp--block-button--width: 50;\" class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width wp-block-button__width-50\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-primary-background-color has-background has-custom-font-size wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/aeon.co\/essays\/play-is-doing-its-work-even-if-were-not-keeping-score?src=longreads\" style=\"padding-top:15px;padding-right:15px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:15px;font-size:20px\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read the story<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-style-border has-light-gray-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\t<div\n\t\tclass=\"wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles wpnbha is-grid columns-3 colgap-3 show-image image-aligntop ts-2 is-3 is-landscape \"\n\t\tstyle=\"\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t<div data-posts data-current-post-id=\"259550\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-section-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span>More stories from <em>Aeon<\/em><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"259550\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-aeon tag-creativity tag-games tag-imagination tag-justin-neuman tag-optimization tag-philosophy tag-play tag-thinking category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/09\/14\/free-play-thinking\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">More Nothing Now<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tJustin Neuman | Aeon | September 1, 2026 | 2,755 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>“We are most human when we play freely, imaginatively, pointlessly. Gamification risks atrophying that most precious capacity.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"258728\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-aeon tag-amazon-jungle tag-andoque tag-anthropology tag-dolphins tag-eliran-arazi tag-indigneous tag-longreads tag-tripes category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/08\/26\/dolphins-and-other-lovers\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Dolphins and Other Lovers<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tEliran Arazi | Aeon | August 20, 2026 | 6,500 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>“The Andoque of the Amazon know what we have forgotten: the forest\u2019s most beautiful creatures are also its most dangerous.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"258416\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-aeon tag-biology tag-ecoacoustics tag-ecosystems tag-ella-browning tag-longreads tag-soil tag-underground tag-worms category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/08\/18\/underground-soil-sounds\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Worm Munch Matters<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tElla Browning | Aeon | August 17, 2026 | 2,800 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>“The lives that slither and scurry beneath the soil\u2019s surface are vital for ecological health: now we can listen in to them.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"257357\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-aeon tag-ancient-world tag-carlos-norena tag-greece tag-longreads tag-rome tag-silk-road category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/07\/22\/greece-rome-ancient-world\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Beyond Greece and Rome<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tCarlos Noren\u0303a | Aeon | July 20, 2026 | 4,100 words \t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>“A dramatic shift in perspective is producing a much bigger, broader and more exciting view of \u2018the ancient world.\u2019”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"256966\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-aeon tag-ali-riza-taskale tag-dystopia tag-mars tag-science-fiction tag-silicon-valley tag-surveillance tag-virtual-reality category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/07\/14\/looting-of-science-fiction\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">The Looting of Science Fiction<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tAli R\u0131za Ta\u015fkale | Aeon | July 14, 2026 | 3,994 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>\u201cTech titans claim the genre inspired them. But all they\u2019ve done is graft their politics onto stories of a better future.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"256870\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-aeon tag-ai tag-artificial-intelligence tag-history tag-humans tag-joshua-habgood-coote tag-nostalgia tag-people tag-philosophy tag-skill tag-technology category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/07\/13\/skill-nostalgia-arts-crafts-movement-ai\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Skill Nostalgia<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tJoshua Habgood-Coote | Aeon | July 6, 2026 | 4,102 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>“Is all the beekeeping, baking and leatherwork just escapist fantasy or the start of a radically human approach to work?”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>“We are most human when we play freely, imaginatively, pointlessly. 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Ghibli\u2019s Deepest Secret Is What Comes Next"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n<span hidden class=\"__iawmlf-post-loop-links\" data-iawmlf-links=\"[{"id":49046,"href":"https:\\\/\\\/archive.ph\\\/o\\\/tmieK\\\/https:\\\/\\\/www.bloomberg.com\\\/en\\\/news\\\/thp\\\/2023-12-10\\\/miyazaki-s-the-boy-and-the-heron-is-no-1-at-the-box-office-a-first-for-the-japanese-anime-master","archived_href":"","redirect_href":"","checks":[],"broken":false,"last_checked":null,"process":"done"},{"id":49047,"href":"https:\\\/\\\/www.bloomberg.com\\\/features\\\/2026-studio-ghibli-future\\\/?src=longreads","archived_href":"","redirect_href":"","checks":[],"broken":false,"last_checked":null,"process":"done"}]\"><\/span>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Goro Miyazaki’s first feature prompted his father, internationally acclaimed filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, to leave a premier screening for a smoke. At 85, the elder Miyazaki still works daily at Studio Ghibli, the singular storytelling operation beloved for its hand-drawn animations and explorations of environmentalism and family dynamics, in films such as <em>My Neighbor Totoro <\/em>and <em>Howl’s Moving Castle<\/em>. Whether Goro may succeed his father as Studio Ghibli’s leader is a central question of Sohee Kim and Felix Gillette’s feature, but it’s not the only one; Ghibli, now a subsidiary of a Japanese TV network, has long avoided the easy profits of sequels and held artistic vision at the center of its business. “To the outside world, how, exactly, Ghibli operates has always been something of a mystery,” Kim and Gillette write. Their story is a quiet, fascinating succession drama, rich with vulnerable characters and concerned with an old question: How can art best sustain itself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s been more than two-and-a-half years since Ghibli\u2019s latest film hit theaters, Hayao\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/o\/tmieK\/https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/en\/news\/thp\/2023-12-10\/miyazaki-s-the-boy-and-the-heron-is-no-1-at-the-box-office-a-first-for-the-japanese-anime-master\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>The Boy and the Heron<\/em><\/a>. The movie, about a youngster who loses his mother and gets mixed up with mystical birds, was a success, winning the Academy Award for best animated feature and generating more than $290 million in global ticket sales. But since its premiere, Ghibli has announced no theatrical movies, intensifying scrutiny of the gnomic company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The hunt for something new, Yoda and Miyazaki say, is ongoing \u2014 but tricky. The process is driven by the intuition of the studio\u2019s aging founders rather than more prosaic concerns such as market research, investors or the calendar. \u201cThey don\u2019t think ahead that much,\u201d Yoda says. \u201cWe have put out films inspired by whatever\u2019s happening at that point in time.\u201d If it doesn\u2019t feel right, he says, Ghibli won\u2019t force something into production: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean that they\u2019ve stopped thinking about or coming up with creative ideas. They\u2019re constantly thinking about, \u2018OK, if we were to put a film out now, what would that be?\u2019\u200a\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-fe48e5de wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div style=\"--wp--block-button--width: 50;\" class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width wp-block-button__width-50\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-primary-background-color has-background has-custom-font-size wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/features\/2026-studio-ghibli-future\/?src=longreads\" style=\"padding-top:15px;padding-right:15px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:15px;font-size:20px\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read the story<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-light-gray-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\t<div\n\t\tclass=\"wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles is-style-borders wpnbha is-grid columns-3 colgap-3 ts-2 is-style-borders\"\n\t\tstyle=\"\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t<div data-posts data-current-post-id=\"259548\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-section-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span>Pass the popcorn: More picks from the silver screen<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"186960\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-directors tag-entertainment tag-hayao-miyazaki tag-japan tag-movies tag-popular-culture tag-sam-anderson tag-studio-ghibli tag-the-new-york-times-magazine tag-theme-parks category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2023\/02\/14\/spirited-away-to-miyazaki-land\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Spirited Away to Miyazaki Land<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tSam Anderson | The New York Times Magazine | February 14, 2023 | \t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>“What happens when the surreal imagination of the world\u2019s greatest living animator, Hayao Miyazaki, is turned into a theme park?”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"258233\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-art tag-chris-stanton tag-christopher-nolan tag-directors tag-film tag-imax tag-interviews tag-movie-theaters tag-movies tag-pat-caldwell tag-theater tag-vulture category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/08\/13\/pat-caldwell-imax-projectionist-nolan-odyssey\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Thank This Retired Projectionist for Those 3 a.m.\u00a0Odyssey\u00a070-mm. Imax Showings<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tChris Stanton | Vulture | August 3, 2026 | 3,576 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>“A Tennessee native and longtime film projectionist who first started working in Imax theaters in the \u201990s, Caldwell has become integral to Imax\u2019s 70-mm. rollouts even as he considers himself mostly retired.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"257533\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-anthony-breznican tag-comedy tag-comic-con tag-esquire tag-mel-brooks tag-movies category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/07\/28\/spaceballs-rick-moranis-comic-con\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">\u201cSpaceballs: The Clickbait\u201d\u2014Inside the Return of Rick Moranis at Comic-Con<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tAnthony Breznican | Esquire | July 27, 2026| 3,494 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>\u201cMoranis gets lost and found, Mel Brooks stays mint-in-the-box, and Josh Gad IS <em>Ebenezer<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>“The ambiguous future of Japan\u2019s most prestigious group of animators won\u2019t get clearer anytime soon.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"Sohee Kim and Felix Gillette | Bloomberg Businessweek | August 13, 2026 | 5,214 words","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"republication-tracker-tool-hide-widget":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[15973],"tags":[1890,18164,29293,18804,29292,23426],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[15505],"class_list":["post-259548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editors-pick","tag-bloomberg-businessweek","tag-felix-gillette","tag-goro-miyazaki","tag-hayao-miyazaki","tag-sohee-kim","tag-studio-ghibli","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Studio Ghibli\u2019s Deepest Secret Is What Comes Next - Longreads<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/09\/14\/studio-ghibli-hayao-goro-miyazaki-succession\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Studio Ghibli\u2019s Deepest Secret Is What Comes Next - Longreads\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\""The ambiguous future of Japan\u2019s most prestigious group of animators won\u2019t get clearer anytime soon."\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/09\/14\/studio-ghibli-hayao-goro-miyazaki-succession\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Longreads\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-14T19:25:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-14T19:25:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brendan Fitzgerald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" 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No Place Like Group Chats"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For <em>The New Yorker<\/em>, Hanif Abdurraqib looks at group chats and the place they hold in our lives as cherished spaces to connect over memes, share photos, and process difficult times. For him, though, the most important function of these online spaces is to help one another feel seen, regardless of what’s happening in our lives or in the world. <\/p>\n<span hidden class=\"__iawmlf-post-loop-links\" data-iawmlf-links=\"[{"id":49045,"href":"https:\\\/\\\/www.newyorker.com\\\/culture\\\/essay\\\/in-praise-of-my-group-chats?src=longreads","archived_href":"http:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20260914163504\\\/https:\\\/\\\/www.newyorker.com\\\/culture\\\/essay\\\/in-praise-of-my-group-chats?src=longreads","redirect_href":"","checks":[{"date":"2026-09-14 16:57:54","http_code":206},{"date":"2026-09-17 17:25:03","http_code":206},{"date":"2026-09-20 19:27:12","http_code":206},{"date":"2026-09-24 01:10:41","http_code":206},{"date":"2026-09-27 19:59:03","http_code":206}],"broken":false,"last_checked":{"date":"2026-09-27 19:59:03","http_code":206},"process":"done"}]\"><\/span>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over time, the group has become a family affair, as partners and spouses have joined. The conversation is sometimes absurd, and sometimes salacious, but I\u2019ve come to cherish it as a sturdy and rich world that hangs on the edge of the wider collapsing one. I fall into it and remember that even if I fail in a great number of things, on any given day, I can love my friends well just by finding something they love and saying, \u201cLook, I saw this and I thought of you.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-fe48e5de wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div style=\"--wp--block-button--width: 50;\" class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width wp-block-button__width-50\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-primary-background-color has-background has-custom-font-size wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/culture\/essay\/in-praise-of-my-group-chats?src=longreads\" style=\"padding-top:15px;padding-right:15px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:15px;font-size:20px\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read the story<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-light-gray-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\t<div\n\t\tclass=\"wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles wpnbha is-grid columns-3 colgap-3 show-image image-aligntop ts-2 is-3 is-landscape \"\n\t\tstyle=\"\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t<div data-posts data-current-post-id=\"259538\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-section-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span>More writing by Hanif Abdurraqib<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"253101\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-hanif-abdurraqib tag-human-connection tag-love tag-nostalgia tag-relentless-convenience tag-the-new-yorker category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/04\/20\/friction-nostalgia-abdurraqib-the-new-yorker\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Our Longing for Inconvenience<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tHanif Abdurraqib | The New Yorker | April 17, 2026 | 2,879 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>“The modern world has made us ill-equipped for the nuisances of past technologies, even as it has fuelled nostalgia for things that might transport us back to calmer times.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"238129\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-despair tag-hanif-abdurraqib tag-poetry tag-suicide tag-the-new-yorker category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2025\/05\/20\/in-defense-of-despair\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">In Defense of Despair<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tHanif Abdurraqib | The New Yorker | May 16, 2025 | 2,675 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>“The feeling is most commonly framed as an end point, a level of despondency that cannot be overcome. But it doesn\u2019t have to be.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"194649\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-faith tag-hanif-abdurraqib tag-morality tag-mortality tag-the-paris-review tag-video-games category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2023\/10\/18\/were-more-ghosts-than-people\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">We’re More Ghosts Than People<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tHanif Abdurraqib | The Paris Review | October 16, 2023 | 3,922 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>“I believe in redemption in the same way that I believe in heaven: I feel required to.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>“My old friends and I have ended up scattered across different states, in different time zones, but we\u2019ve made our own neighborhood inside the black and blue bubbles of our 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Is Everyone In Tech So Sad?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you spend your day in front of a computer, you may ask yourself, at times, why you do it. What’s it all for? Who benefits? For <em>No\u0113ma<\/em>, Aaron Horwath suggests that the crisis confronting knowledge workers these days isn’t strictly economic, it’s also existential. He explores the pitfalls of work-as-performance and wonders whether the “messy middle,” which embraces human interaction and collaboration over an army of agents, might offer more for workers and employers alike.<\/p>\n<span hidden class=\"__iawmlf-post-loop-links\" data-iawmlf-links=\"[{"id":49032,"href":"https:\\\/\\\/www.noemamag.com\\\/why-is-everyone-in-tech-so-sad\\\/?src=longreads","archived_href":"http:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20260909172316\\\/https:\\\/\\\/www.noemamag.com\\\/why-is-everyone-in-tech-so-sad\\\/?src=longreads","redirect_href":"","checks":[{"date":"2026-09-09 20:04:45","http_code":206},{"date":"2026-09-12 20:17:14","http_code":206},{"date":"2026-09-15 20:42:25","http_code":206},{"date":"2026-09-18 23:13:32","http_code":206},{"date":"2026-09-22 01:21:44","http_code":206},{"date":"2026-09-25 05:26:52","http_code":206},{"date":"2026-09-28 14:30:42","http_code":206}],"broken":false,"last_checked":{"date":"2026-09-28 14:30:42","http_code":206},"process":"done"}]\"><\/span>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But perhaps the most powerful action of all is simply to maintain an awareness (and remind others) that Workism is a spectacle. For most employees, we owe it to each other to remind one another that this work is not, in the grand scheme of things, all that important. It is illusory. No one has ever died over a spreadsheet. The world does not wait with bated breath for product launches. A marketing campaign will not change the world. Almost no one will remember all the work we do. But they might remember the types of people we were, the relationships we had and how we treated the people we worked with.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-fe48e5de wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div style=\"--wp--block-button--width: 50;\" class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-width wp-block-button__width wp-block-button__width-50\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-primary-background-color has-background has-custom-font-size wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.noemamag.com\/why-is-everyone-in-tech-so-sad\/?src=longreads\" style=\"padding-top:15px;padding-right:15px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-left:15px;font-size:20px\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read the story<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-light-gray-background-color has-background\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\t<div\n\t\tclass=\"wp-block-newspack-blocks-homepage-articles wpnbha is-grid columns-3 colgap-3 show-image image-aligntop ts-2 is-3 is-landscape \"\n\t\tstyle=\"\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t<div data-posts data-current-post-id=\"259377\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-section-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span>More picks from <em>No\u0113ma<\/em><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"243620\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-aryn-baker tag-crispr tag-gene-editing tag-genetic-editing tag-noema-2 tag-science category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2025\/10\/15\/editing-nature-to-fix-our-failures\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Editing Nature To Fix Our Failures<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tAryn Baker | No\u0113ma | October 7, 2025 | 3,793 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>“Gene editing may enable us to prevent a species from ever becoming extinct in the first place. But should we?”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"235178\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-climate-change tag-colonization tag-conservation tag-global-warming tag-julia-webster-ayuso tag-language tag-linguistics tag-noema-2 tag-preservation category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2025\/02\/25\/the-languages-lost-to-climate-change\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">The Languages Lost To Climate Change<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tJulia Webster Ayuso | No\u0113ma | January 28, 2025 | 4,354 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>“Climate catastrophes and biodiversity loss are endangering languages across the globe.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\n\t<article data-post-id=\"229426\"\n\t\tclass=\"tag-claire-l-evans tag-dream-science tag-history tag-lucid-dreaming tag-noema-2 category-editors-pick type-post\"\n\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"entry-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2024\/09\/12\/living-in-a-lucid-dream\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Living In A Lucid Dream<\/a><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"newspack-post-subtitle newspack-post-subtitle--in-homepage-block\">\n\t\t\t\t\tClaire L. Evans | No\u0113ma | July 1, 2024 | 3,921 words\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>“Recent research on lucid dreams suggests that consciousness exists along a spectrum between sleep and waking, between hallucination and revelation, between dreamworlds and reality.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div><!-- .entry-wrapper -->\n\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>“A lot of people seem to be realizing that knowledge work is mostly pointless. AI might give us the pleasure of finding out what happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":699,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"scaip_prevent_shortcode_addition":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"Aaron Horwath | No\u0113ma | August 6, 2026 | 3,736 words","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"republication-tracker-tool-hide-widget":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[15973],"tags":[29283,18507,29282,19524,21625,29281],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[15980],"class_list":["post-259377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editors-pick","tag-aaron-horwath","tag-ai","tag-knowledge-workers","tag-late-capitalism","tag-noema","tag-workism","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why Is Everyone In Tech So Sad? - Longreads<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/longreads.com\/2026\/09\/10\/workism-noema\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Is Everyone In Tech So Sad? - Longreads\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\""A lot of people seem to be realizing that knowledge work is mostly pointless. 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