#7 newsletter-ception! plus an Etsy hole.
#7 newsletter-ception! plus an Etsy hole.
I hope this email finds you hydrated.
My mom had met friends through this website that was essentially Facebook/Reddit/Craigslist for young Korean moms in the Chicagoland area LMAO. I remember being young and going to the mall with my mom and meeting her new...Internet friends? My mom was a stay-at-home mom at the time, so I’m glad she found a way to find people with the same interests as her (shopping?), but looking back, it’s pretty funny. The ability to make friends on the Internet is not a choice, it’s actually a gene you inherit, and I got it from my mom.
This anecdote is (very) loosely connected to the featured guest(s) today.
open your purse!
In reference to this cultural phenom. Every month I’ll be picking an organization to raise funds for.
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO DONATED! Together we raised $235.00 for Brave Space Alliance (the first Black-led, Trans-led LGBTQ+ Center working on the South Side of Chicago). Yaaaayyyy.
This month, I’ll be collecting donations for The Bail Project™.
“On any given night in America, there are nearly half a million people sitting in jail before trial simply because they can’t afford bail. The Bail Project™ National Revolving Bail Fund provides free bail assistance to low-income individuals who are legally presumed innocent, and whom a judge has deemed eligible for release before trial contingent on paying bail.
[Cash bail] criminalizes poverty and is a structural linchpin of mass incarceration and racial inequality. It affects entire communities, devastates families for generations, and guts the presumption of innocence.”
Here is a good video that explains America’s cash bail system, and here is The Bail Project™’s plan for reimagining pretrial justice. Swipe through this post as well!
Venmo me at @elisebang (email me if you prefer a different method) and at the end of every month, I’ll match up to $50.
best Strokes album and you can fight me on this!
You know who else likes this song?
feature of the week: Perfectly Imperfect the newsletter!
The Perfectly Imperfect boys and I found each other via aforementioned Four Pins retweet. Not only does their newsletter slap (the taste! the culture!), but they are also v cool and v nice people. Crazy how that works! Whenever we like each others’ Substack posts, I feel like we are high-fiving through the screen. It’s been really neat to meet other Substackers (absolutely need to think of a better name for that), and I look forward to their spicy recs every week.
Hello, my fellow newsie-senders (oh, that one’s bad too)! What is Perfectly Imperfect, why did you start it, and how did it come about?
“Hi Elise! Thanks for having us on.
Perfectly Imperfect is a recommendation newsletter covering a wide range of topics such as fashion, music, books, food, movies, and booze.
So much of our modern discovery is guided by algorithmic recommendations based on current interests, so it’s important to break out every once in a while in order to keep things ~fresh~. Starting this newsletter was a way to contribute to that process by not only sharing our recs, but bringing on interesting guests to talk about what gets them excited. It’s also a sneaky way for us to get spoon-fed recs by people we find cool 😎.”
What's been the most rewarding part and the most challenging part about starting a newsletter?
“One of the most challenging parts has been balancing our full time jobs with writing, creating graphics, editing, sourcing new guests, and researching for three posts a week. However, it’s been super rewarding to see people really connecting with what we’re doing & discovering new things— it makes all the hard work feel worth it.”
Why do you think the newsletter format is growing in popularity, and how do you think it affects the future of media?
“I think readers want to support their favorite writers, hear fresh voices, and consume new content— platforms like Substack are just making it easier than ever. This ease of use coupled with the desire for writers to have more control and/or break away from problematic publications is what makes the newsletter/blog format so compelling. For instance, Casey Newton (a prominent tech writer) recently left The Verge to start his own newsletter on Substack which I think is great! We’re excited to see what people do with the medium over the coming years.”
Can you give my subscribers some recs?
Something to buy:
Alex: “Everything from Staatsballett, a cool company with a mission in sustainability and helping reduce the harm we do to our planet ❤️. Kailee and Avery are doing something awesome here.”
Something to read:
Alex: “Catch-22 is a wild ride. You follow a cast of eccentric characters set during World War II as they spiral out of control. Read this if you like quirky stuff and want some good old fashioned laughs.”
Something to watch:
Tyler: “My favorite animated film of all time might just be My Life as a Zucchini. It’s an incredibly beautiful & moving experience that clocks in at just over an hour. Start it nice n’ early, that way you have time for a lil palette cleanser after you inevitably cry over some lumps of clay.”
Something to listen to:
Tyler: “Is it cliche that I listen to a song called “the summer ends” as soon as September rolls around? Sure, but that doesn’t change how American Football’s classic debut perfectly captures the melancholy feeling when summer gives way to fall. I assume most of you have listened to this album before, so just consider this a gentle reminder to throw it on next time you’re crunching through some leaves.”
Something to drink or cook:
Serey: “Banana bread is literally the gateway drug into the world of baking. I’ve made this recipe so many times (I mean more than 30 times this year alone), and I think it may be my signature baked good. This recipe was inspired by Bon Appetit and Chrissy Teigen. It’s the most tender loaf of bread, and just the right amount of sugar.”
Something miscellaneous:
Serey: “I got into tennis recently after contemplating it for so long because I thought that I wouldn’t enjoy it because I wouldn’t be any good at it. After playing for the first time, I guarantee you that you’ll still have fun, and it’s not an expensive thing to get into. The only trouble is finding a court, but we’ve been using PlayLocal to reserve free time slots, and we’ve been putting 20+ hours a week. More importantly though, running sucks, and this beats running by miles.”
Any goals, hopes, and dreams for Perfectly Imperfect? :)
“We hope to keep bringing on interesting guests and continue to grow! As long as people are resonating with our recommendations & tuning in each week we’re going to keep it going. It’s been so much fun & our guests have felt the same way, so hopefully that comes across while reading. After all, what’s more fun than writing about things you’re excited about! So, the sky is the limit & we’re so excited to keep building off this idea :).”
Subscribe to Perfectly Imperfect’s newsletter, follow them on Instagram at @perfectlyimperfect (gr8 moodboard), and follow Alex, Tyler, and Serey on Instagram for recs in real time 😎.
going✈️insane.
link diving.
Halloween pop-up stores, explained Vox
I still…don’t believe it?
The New Localism The Sociology of Business
I’ve definitely plugged Ana Andjelic’s Substack before. Ana writes about “how the new forms of social, cultural, and environmental capital change brand strategy.” This post is about modern food brands pivoting their brand strategy to emulate that of a fashion or design brand.
et cetera.
A quick Etsy hole: cute glass mushroom earrings, sick 80s tennis mugs (if you buy these, you’re obligated to send me one), funny Karl Marx poster, risograph prints by @weareoutofoffice, Morroccan rugs (still obsessed).
Girl, I Guess: A Progressive Voter Guide to the 2020 General Election in Cook County and Beyond. I used this guide last election to vote in Chicago and will be using it again to vote absentee! Use it in tandem with BallotReady (very handy!). If someone knows of a New York version, please send my way!
Pre-order the book Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast. Here is an excerpt that the New Yorker published two years ago, if you’re trying to cry right now.
Thanks to reader (and creator of my logo) Elyse Marcinkowski for showing me Tom’s Juice. They’re made-to-order cold-pressed juices delivered in NYC. Only $5 a bottle, and they have cute shirts!!!
I got a tattoo from @honeypokes. Give him a follow! I’m obsessed with his work.
The trailer for Minari.
same time next week?
Thanks for reading! Love you for it💗 A hint for next week’s guest: 🧊🔥.
Is there anything you wanna see in a future newsie? Shoot me an email at eliseabang@gmail.com, Tweet me, or DM me on Instagram.
Talk to you next week! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
i prefer "subbies"