i personally loved the summer of purse guys
ALSO: right-wing media is melting down over a burrito, questions about gen z's actual socio-economic stances, would you eat the KFC Oreos, and more
Happy Tuesday, August 11th!
FYSA, every Tuesday and Friday, I’ll be in your inbox with the latest in politics, tech & social media, culture, and other relevant topics – and I’ll share some notes and tips on what I’m keeping my eye on.
I’M ALSO LOOKING FOR MORE PEOPLE TO DO MINI INTERVIEWS FOR OPEN TABS :) Tips, thoughts, concerns, good jokes, bad jokes, tea, etc?
And finally, if you enjoy this newsletter and want to share it with your network (and/or your chronically online friends), or buy me a matcha, that would be so appreciated 🙏
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announces decision to freeze her eggs
Ocasio-Cortez recognized the balancing act that comes with undergoing fertility treatment with her work as a congresswoman. Ocasio-Cortez told viewers that she would be taking her shots in the dressing room before a scheduled ABC interview on Sunday. (The Guardian, 8/9)
Lucy’s note: I just think it’s insanely cool and helpful of her to share this!
Conservative Media Is Fighting Over A $20 Burrito—And Affordability
The Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro echoed that sentiment, declaring: “If you’re paying $20 for a burrito and you’re not independently wealthy, you’re doing life wrong.” Conservative political commentator Tomi Lahren also chimed in, noting that while things are generally more expensive today, the young people complaining about it “all also get a daily iced coffee.” (Forbes, 8/9)
Democrats’ AI strategy is MIA
Democrats are pretty unified on issues like taxes, health care, antitrust, and Iran. But voters have no idea what most Democrats want to do about regulating AI models (foreign or domestic), using AI in schools, preparing for possible labor disruptions, taking government stakes in AI companies, circular economy risks, etc. This isn’t about picking the “correct” lane. It’s about picking a lane at all, because that’s the job. (Axios, 8/10)
A record-breaking eight Pulitzer awardees disclosed AI use this year
Journalists are trained to find the needle in a haystack, but doing so on a breaking news timeline can be challenging. To speed up the document review, the reporters leaned on a pre-built internal tool called WSJPT (a play on ChatGPT). The tool standardizes basic LLM requests across reporting projects, including prompts for summarization, classification, and image description. In this case, the reporters used the tool to summarize every page of every document scraped from the county portal. (Nieman Lab, 8/3)
Myspace eyes comeback as an ‘antidote’ to social media fatigue — but it may be a long shot
It also comes as millennials and Gen Zers are increasingly opting out of social media use, due to declining mental health and addiction driven by dominant platforms. Instead, they’re looking to go offline, embrace analog technology, and yearn for the 90s and early 2000s. With these headwinds in sight, the success of Myspace hinges on some key factors, including attracting advertisers, sustaining user interest, and dodging a thorny regulatory environment. (CNBC, 8/9)
US court rules Meta, other tech firms must face thousands of lawsuits over social media addiction
Most appeals come after a case has concluded with a ruling or a verdict. The companies contended that they should not have to wait until the litigation ends to challenge the lower court’s rejection of their immunity defense. But the 9th Circuit said Section 230 provides a defense to liability, not immunity from lawsuits, so the appeal was premature. (Reuters, 8/10)
Studios Want Creators. Do Creators Want Them?
Fox, along with every other studio, has been pulling talented people from YouTube to create and star in shows for years. What makes this different, Parks says, is the end goal isn’t necessarily to discover the next sitcom star. “If our wins were only counted by finding cool people on the internet and bringing them into broadcast, I think we would lose,” he says. Instead, they’re finding people with, say, a promising single season of a TikTok show and combining forces so they can take off on that platform. (Rolling Stone, 8/10 – free version)
The college experience now includes laundry and maid service
It costs between $800 and $1,800 each academic year to have your student’s dirty laundry driven to a central plant in Manchester, New Hampshire, to be cleaned. But, as tuition costs rise, Botnick says, this price seems reasonable. (WaPo, 8/11 – free version)
Gen Z’s anti-capitalist brand says one thing. Its spending data says something more interesting
The story that is coming into view is one of a generation with no savings cushion doing exactly what rational actors do when there’s no margin for error: cutting the expensive and uncertain (nights out, concerts, dinners) and doubling down on the cheap and reliable (a coffee, a jewelry piece, a beauty splurge that delivers guaranteed gratification at a predictable price point). The Bank of America Institute calls it the “little treat economy.” The more precise name is budget triage. (Fortune, 8/5 – free version)
Lucy’s note: I think this is an interesting take and good data… but perhaps a little harsh and unnuanced when it comes to claiming that buying coffees negates an entire overall personal belief/philosophy?
It’s the summer of Purse Guys
What the Purse Guys do, though, is remind us that the gendering of clothing, like the symbolism assigned to most anything inanimate, is arbitrary and mutable. High heels were once a menswear staple. A hundred years ago, baby boys were dressed in pink and baby girls in blue. Wearing Birkenstocks used to signal that you were antiestablishment, and now they just signal that you like to wear comfortable shoes. (WaPo, 8/10 – free version)
Lucy’s note: Also, I don’t think we need to say man purse or purse guy! Purses are for everyone because they’re literally just a fun, helpful way to carry sh*t, and gendering it is probably why women have had to carry things for men when they go out for decades!
Oreo’s New KFC Flavor Has Fans Saying It’s Gone ‘Too Far’
According to the post, the KFC collab features Oreo cookies with a layer of KFC chicken-flavored creme. The cookies also have special embossing, with KFC branding in place of the usual Oreo logo. One design shows what looks like a chicken drumstick in the center of the cookie, while the Caramel Popcorn Oreo features a little popcorn bucket design. (Delish, 8/9)
What it’s like to chase solar eclipses around the world
On Wednesday, parts of Europe will be plunged into daytime darkness as the moon passes in front of the sun, temporarily blocking its light and casting a shadow across the continent. For many of us, it will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But for some, following eclipses has become something of an addiction. (BBC, 8/8)
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Extra Credit 🤓
Substacks That Really Substacked This Week 🤌
The fortune teller of social media from Rachel Janfaza and Rachel Karten
Hailey Bieber reads Nietzsche: how literature became cultural capital from All The Cool Girls Read
The Niche Survey
Sneaky Links
TL;DR I’ve inexplicably started receiving codes to stuff… here are the things I actually like :)
My BNTO code for August is LC7QE5 for $20 off (if you know me IRL, you know my rant about the Nuulification of the 20-something city dweller)
I also have a code for CampSnap??? And I do love my CS8 camera from them but like I don’t think I said that online? Either way, it’s LUCYR7 for 7% off
That’s all for now – I’ll see you on Friday!
Love this!!