My newsletter is healing
Now I just have to figure out what it is
Hi! It’s too awkward to talk about how long it’s been so let’s just jump right in:
If you haven’t noticed, I’ve moved us to Substack. I did this for two reasons: The first is that Mailchimp has changed a lot since we last spoke and I don’t recognize it anymore. I tried writing this email with their new interface and it was like trying to drive a car or dial a phone in a dream.
The second reason is that Substack is basically an updated version of blogspot.com which, despite my being a wannabe Thought Leader on Medium or a sometimes marketer on MailChimp, capital-b Blogging is my favorite way to write.
I once had the best party-girl blog* of the early aughts but I had to take it down after I broke my leg at a bar and filed a personal injury suit with the bar’s insurance company. Their lawyers found the blog and printed out the whole thing, which came out to like 1,000 pages so it made a very dramatic THUD when they dropped it on the table at my deposition.
Literally labeled “Exhibit B” was a picture of me dressed as a chicken and dancing on a table. I guess they were trying to say I wasn’t really injured, but that chicken picture was almost a year later.
Did you know that personal injury lawsuits’ reputation as being frivolous and fraudulent is part of a paid PR effort by enormous corporations, their insurance companies, and the Chamber of Commerce to discourage people from taking action when they are legitimately hurt? There’s a whole documentary about it that’s guaranteed to piss you off if you are in that kind of mood.
I didn’t mean to email you about public safety injustice, I actually want to make an announcement to women with pelvises and their allies:
My friend and former colleague Abi Sundaram recently invented Zencape, a discreet, heated, cute waistband for cramps and stuff. She’s developing the product starting with people of color and gender-diverse (the most underrepresented) people. It’s currently in its pre-launch phase but you can sign up for the waiting list through that link and follow Zencape on Instagram to see it all come together.
Some other new stuff to check out:
If you’ve grown to prefer being at home over the past year, you should subscribe to Nina Isabella’s Sunday Spaces newsletter and make the most of it. Nina has a chic and aspirational esthetic but an overall warm and cozy tone that makes me feel like, with her tips and advice, I could maybe get my apartment to not look like someone with ADHD is running a toddler daycare inside someone else’s college dorm?
Similar to how Substack feels like Blogger’s Revenge, Instagram Live feels very much to me like new and improved public access TV, and my friend Jackie’s Tarot Talk Tuesdays is my favorite new show. She brings on a fellow reader every week and they pull cards for people who tune in. I lurk there weekly for my free mini-reading.
I know there’s a Rhetorica logo at the top of this newsletter but I haven’t mentioned what’s going on with it. That’s because I’m not totally sure! I barely know what Rhetorica is or will be. But I promise to figure it out and take you all along for the ride, if you’ll join me. P.S., have you answered this yet?
Now’s probably a good time to mention that you’re receiving this email because you either signed up for my newsletter at some point (maybe to get a free book?) or you’re a friend of mine and I signed you up. Either way, if this is not your jam there is an unsubscribe button here somewhere. Conversely, if you know anyone who might like this blog disguised as a business newsletter, there is also a way to share it.
See you back here soon!