January In Review

News, love stories, and the translation of books to film

Every four years, news outlets see a bump in their ratings as more Americans follow the presidential election. We started this year with a piece from Gabe on what’s lost when the news comes at us too quickly, with no pause for analysis or verification.

With an uptick in news comes an uptick in conversations about the news online. The internet can be a toxic, frustrating place. For an antidote, there are accounts like MeetCutesNYC, the subject of Arielle’s essay this month. The account is “an urgent reminder that digital spaces can be an opportunity to engage the world with greater empathy.” It’s a welcome reminder, indeed.

This month saw the release of the movie Foe, based on the novel by Iain Reid, whose novel I’m Thinking of Ending Things was previously adapted for Netflix. We watched Foe and talked with Reid about adaptations, how the interiority of his writing can be represented on screen, and whether working on in the collaborative world of filmmaking changes his approach to the solitary work of fiction writing.