Ann Friedman - I only want the ghost to like it

Have you taken the reader survey yet? It'll take about 5 minutes of your time, and I promise it's kind of fun. I'll share the results with you in a few weeks. And I'm offering some great giveaways for those who participate.

Now we move straight on to the links, because today my swiss-cheese brain is all holes, no dairy. 

"Death and birth are placed at either extreme of the experience of life as if life were a line rather than a cycle that is part of other cycles, shaping and being shaped by them," writes Yasmin El-Rifae. "They may be on either end, but these experiences touch."

An interview with Saree Makdisi on what the coverage of campus protests is missing. And Spencer Ackerman on how politicians and administrators are playing the 9/11 Era hits.

Carrie Frye on the OJ trial as and the book-publishing industry. This is the rare paywalled article I'm linking to—consider a subscription to Flaming Hydra! And a perennial rec to read The Journalist and the Murderer.

Our inboxes, ourselves. And Rachel Khong on what it was like to compose bogus websites for powerful people eager to rewrite their narratives. 

Learning to dance, falling in love: "He didn’t want to know what any body could do, but rather what this body could do, or what was possible in the combination of two particular bodies." Chloe Cooper Jones on being brave enough to try.

Why can't we stop talking about nonmonogamy? Brandy Jensen wrote the first thing I've enjoyed reading about this moment in polyamory.

The unexpected joy of a neighborhood squirrel census, by Keren Landman, MD.

I am really enjoying Miranda July's new novel.

I composed this while listening to the Challengers soundtrack (via Choire Sicha's newsletter, which has become an end-of-day favorite of mine), copy-pasting links at record-breaking speed.

OOTF. My foray into death-positive TikTok continues. This one via my dear friend Gina, who recently remarked that whenever I'm on drugs my favorite discussion topic is my own funeral.

"Well, that was the best and thank you." - a first-time Hotline caller.

"Oh, I think I'm supposed to say something back??" -another first-timer.

Have you called the Hotline yet? (323) 909-XXXX. Here's how it works: I leave you a new short message every week, and give you a prompt to leave one back. It's fun and surprisingly intimate for an interaction between strangers. (For paying members only right now. If you sign up this weekend, I'll send your the full phone number early next week.)