September In Review

A roundup of essays and comments from the last month

Each month, we publish a roundup of our recent writing, along with feedback and comments from our readers. We have a double edition this month, since we launched with a full complement of essays. And we’ve heard some thoughtful feedback. The comments and our responses are below each of the links.

On Twitter, Jennifer responded to the argument that The Bear draws inspiration from classic sitcoms: “I agree and my first thought on finally watching it was why didn’t anyone tell me it was so wholesome.” 

Melissa Scholes Young writes, “Thanks for this conversation. ‘I feel most like myself when I am thinking.’ The simple joy of being with me.”

Danielle Dancho writes, “I agree with you about the ageism of today (comparing it to the 90s obsession with heroin chic, which I’m still recovering from). It makes me sad to watch 25 you get Botox, fillers, and whatever else, just to fit some made up standard of beauty and to hopefully avoid aging. We’ve bought into the line that women lose their value over 30 hook, line, and sinker, and they don’t even see it. I hope we come to our senses.”

Jessica DE writes, “I def relate & appreciate the ‘Charlotte's growth’ perspective though cuz that rings true of the original series. She was the most insufferable at the beginning and by the end she was my favorite.”

“He who controls the yardstick controls the narrative,” John emailed in response to this piece about the unreliability of digital metrics. It’s a good point; in the digital age, streamers control what information gets out about their shows. A hit can be whatever they say it is.

Mike wrote to point out that there is a type of streaming program that’s enormously popular: video games. Livestreams of games on Twitch draw tens of millions of viewers. “Some of those numbers are just wild,” Mike says. This is a great point. Even before livestreaming became so popular, walkthroughs and other video game themed videos were huge on YouTube. The popularity of live play on Twitch is a sign that the moniker “esports” might be well-deserved for video games, as live sporting events are still popular on television.

Sarah Styf comments, “As a 44-year-old woman who is hitting her stride, I want to see stories about women embracing their age.”

Thank you for reading this month. To weigh in on any of our pieces, you can either comment on the page or reply to the email newsletter.