The Cut

“The hardest thing to convey to the children in my life about my childhood is the concept of unadulterated freedom. As people who have been scheduled and monitored down to the second for most of their lives, they truly cannot conceive of life outside of the panopticon of their own experience. When I was a child, a successful day was one where I saw my mother for two hours total, split evenly before and after she went to work.”

“In a newsletter, the reader is welcomed as a supporter, an ally — or perhaps even a friend.”

“Like Tinder, a therapy app serves up a tantalizing array of faces and names with the promise of choice and agency. But even if some users get lucky, a satisfying relationship is hardly guaranteed.”

“Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen grew up to make New York’s most desirable clothes. But can even perfection survive the pandemic?”

“I may scream into a pillow,  or stare out into the void, or get stoned out of my mind, or even weep a little. But I won’t complain.”

“She posted an ad for a roommate. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“A white woman calls the police on her Black neighbors. Six months later, they still share a property line.”

Emily Ratajkowski writes an essay on celebrity, objectification, and consent. “I’ve become more familiar with seeing myself through the paparazzi’s lenses than I am with looking at myself in the mirror. And I have learned that my image, my reflection, is not my own.”

On Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s powerful speech on the House floor, and the entrenched narrative of the “disruptive” woman.

“I think every life is like a novel.” Marga Griesbach was born in Germany in 1927. Her life is like multiple novels — horror, romance, magical realism, travelogue. Whatever you’re doing right now, you should stop it and read this story.