Free for ALL Friday!
It's Free for All Friday!
It’s Free for ALL Friday! Each week I keep track of some of the off-the-path things I've found, and work extra-hard to make sure you never hit a paywall, using my own subscriptions, gift links, and other (legal) hocus-pocus.
Life Story Magic
One more reminder that Father’s Day is Sunday, and if you’re looking for a great last-minute gift, it’s hard to beat Life Story Magic for $299!
What is Life Story Magic?
It’s the best way to preserve your most important stories quickly and completely.
I sit down with you or a loved one over video and conduct a 90-120+ minute interview.
You get the full video, professional transcript, and short, shareable reels, usually within 24 hours.
Free for ALL Friday!
How a Book Editor and Jazz Musician Lives on $55,000 in West Harlem
A 25-year-old tenth-generation New Yorker shows how to stretch $55,000 in one of the world’s most expensive cities.
Perhaps Ruby Pucillo’s number one bragging right is that she’s a tenth-generation New Yorker, one whose ancestors have lived thriftily in the boroughs since they first immigrated to New York City more than 300 years ago. Ms. Pucillo, 25, has tried to carve out a life for herself that would mirror her family’s ideals of spending little and living a lot. But because the city her relatives arrived in generations ago now ranks among the most expensive in the world, that can present a challenge. Ms. Pucillo’s 9 to 5 is working as an assistant editor at Abrams, an art book publishing house. After a recent promotion, her salary was bumped up to about $48,500 before taxes. On many a weeknight, and sometimes on Saturdays, Ms. Pucillo performs as an improv jazz musician. She studied music and loves to play, but the amount she makes fluctuates—sometimes netting her upward of $1,000 in a month, other times $25, often something in the middle. On Sundays, Ms. Pucillo travels back to where she grew-up, Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., to teach French and give voice lessons for $350 a month. All told, she makes about $55,000 a year.
Ms. Pucillo lives in a rent-stabilized prewar apartment with two roommates in West Harlem. Rent runs her about $1,460 a month, including utilities and internet. “I spend more than half my income on my rent,” Ms. Pucillo said. “But I really like my apartment, and I live on the most beautiful block in Manhattan. Community is completely free.” After rent is paid, Ms. Pucillo diligently tracks the leftovers of her paychecks on a spreadsheet on her computer; she can account for almost every cent. Each month, she spends $300 or less on groceries and $140 of her gross monthly income goes toward public transit, using a pretax subsidy her job offers.
Link: New York Times (Multiple reporters)
Humans vs. Bots — Who Does the Em Dash Better?
Chatbots are appropriating our most common rhetorical tics. Yet when it comes to language, human creativity can’t be beat.
The first em dash in my novel appears within the initial paragraph—to set off an aside about soap—followed soon by a second, closing off the aside. The first em dash in my story collection is different—my teenage narrator has an observation to share. For a long time, the em dash has been a cherished part of my repertoire as a writer—my favorite punctuation mark, even. If the comma, the semicolon and the period each approximate the breaths a politician takes while delivering an eloquent speech, the em dash represents a mind wandering off course. It’s the people’s punctuation mark. That is, it used to be. These days, I’m more likely to encounter an em dash in someone’s ChatGPT-produced LinkedIn post than in literature. There’s an overeager jauntiness to its latest incarnation, as if it’s trying to sell you something: The em dash isn’t just functional—it’s profound.
All this has inspired a debate: Is the em dash still a worthy punctuation mark, or has chatbot output devalued it? On one side, there are online vigilantes attacking any content punctuated with horizontal lines and students on Reddit advising one another to purge their college applications of them. On the other side stand the half-dozen-plus essays in defense of the em dash, including one in Air Mail that consists almost entirely of a compilation of quotes from people rhapsodizing about it. This one from the writer Lili Anolik sums up the vibe: “Asking a writer to give up the em dash is like asking a carpenter to give up the screwdriver.”
Link: New York Times (Vauhini Vara)
A New Generation of Moms Who Get High
A new generation of mothers is using cannabis to manage the impossible demands of modern parenthood
Taylor Mitchem’s baby was born in March 2020. By the time they both left the hospital, the world had shut down. Mitchem had no extended family nearby, no friends who could visit. Her husband was around, but because he was nervous about the newborn’s fragility, she felt responsible for most of the child care. Her postpartum days were endless and isolating, the challenges heightened by the day-to-night transition of infant care, she said—”seeing the sun come up and then seeing the sun go down and knowing you’re in it, nowhere to go, no escape.” Eventually, infant pressures were replaced by toddler demands; she still felt isolated and yearned for support even more. Before pregnancy and breastfeeding, Mitchem told me, she sometimes turned to weed to feel more balanced when she struggled with anxiety and ADHD. So by the time her kid was two and a half, she decided to resume her old morning ritual: She began to smoke daily—”gardening,” as she calls it. Parenting, she said, became less stressful. “Life is hard,” she said. “If you can have something that can take the edge off a little bit, why not?”
Mitchem, a 36-year-old based in Colorado, now calls herself a “garden momma.” She posts about her cannabis routine to more than 120,000 followers on TikTok, where more than 76,000 videos feature the “#gardenmom” label. “Coffee and coughy,” a morning ritual of smoking before the children wake up, is a common genre; other videos show moms using cannabis during nap time or before the dinner-bath-bedtime witching hour. For some, posting about the lifestyle has led to influencer status and brand partnerships; many garden moms use the same Millennial-chic glass gravity bongs, sharing discount codes and #ad hashtags. As these women frame it, cannabis is not escape but preparation, the “medicine” they need to take before their work as mothers begins.
Link: The Atlantic (Sarah Levy)
A Struggling Motorcycle Brand Wants to Start a Culture War With Harley-Davidson
A struggling motorcycle brand tries to win market share through anti-DEI politics rather than better bikes
Motorcycle marketing usually relies on familiar themes. A lonely highway. A scenic vista. A growling engine. In a recent social-media video, Minnesota-based Indian criticized its larger and more prosperous competitor Harley for making electric motorcycles, moving some production to Thailand and embracing diversity, equity and inclusion programs. “They chased political trends,” a narrator said of Harley in a tone reminiscent of a campaign-attack ad. “We back the people who matter.” The video followed nearly two weeks of social-media commentary from conservative influencers denouncing Harley and praising Indian—a dynamic that echoed previous campaigns against such companies as Cracker Barrel and Deere.
The attack by Indian appeared to have minimal results. On Tuesday, a day after Indian’s video dropped, Harley said it was bringing some bike production back from Thailand to the U.S., a move it said would create dozens of new jobs. Praise from the Trump administration followed. “AMERICAN MANUFACTURING WIN!” the White House posted on X. Harley said in a statement that its “only agenda is getting back to basics,” and so far it appears unscathed. Its share price has risen 6% since the clamor began. On Wednesday, a group of Harley dealers issued a letter praising the leadership of Chief Executive Artie Starrs and condemning “divisive narratives.”
Link: Wall Street Journal (John Keilman)
Scores Fall Ill at Air Force Base After Hegseth Makes Flu Vaccine Optional
A flu outbreak at a training base highlights the risks of making military vaccines voluntary
A major flu outbreak has sickened nearly 160 troops at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas less than two months after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that U.S. troops would no longer be required to be vaccinated for the flu, defense officials said. The outbreak at the base in San Antonio raced through an Air Force Basic Military Training wing, where new recruits sleep on bunk beds in open bays and share meals at large communal tables. A trainee in his sixth week of basic training died after falling ill on Friday and being taken to Brooke Army Medical Center, the Air Force said in a news release. It was not immediately clear whether the death of the trainee, Keon McDaniel, was related to the flu outbreak. A comprehensive medical review into his death is underway to determine the cause, according to the Air Force.
Mr. Hegseth cast his decision to make the flu vaccine optional as a matter of religious freedom and medical autonomy. “Under the disastrous Biden administration, this Pentagon waged an unrelenting war on our warriors on many fronts, including when it came to denying them simple medical autonomy and the freedom to express their religious convictions,” he said in a video announcing his decision in April. He described the flu vaccine requirement as an “absurd, overreaching” mandate that had served to “weaken our warfighting capabilities.”
Link: New York Times (Multiple reporters)
Iran Gets Major Economic Lifeline for Minimal Concessions in Initial Deal
The agreement delays the most difficult steps for Iran for later talks, while granting it crucial benefits now
An initial agreement by the United States and Iran to halt their war grants Iran major economic benefits while delaying, for now, the thorniest areas of disagreement between the two countries and the toughest concessions Iran would have to eventually make on its nuclear program. The agreement lifts the U.S.-imposed naval blockade of Iranian ports and, most crucially, grants Iran waivers to begin exporting its oil even before the negotiation of a final agreement on its nuclear program. That will give Iran a critical economic lifeline. In recent years, its economy has been in a tailspin, with a collapsing currency and sky-high inflation. The one major step to be taken by Iran is reopening the Strait of Hormuz to free passage for the next 60 days, though the agreement seems to leave open the possibility of charging fees after that period.
“On balance, the memorandum appears to favor Iran,” said Nicole Grajewski, who teaches at the Center for International Studies at Sciences Po in France and studies Iran’s foreign policy. “Tehran secures movement toward sanctions relief, a pathway for the restoration of oil exports, access to economic benefits and a reduction in military pressure while making relatively limited new nuclear commitments.” But many of the most difficult concessions that the United States sought have been postponed, she said, though it is possible a future agreement could rebalance each side’s concessions and gains.
Link: New York Times (Multiple reporters)
A $40 Million Gold Heist Risks Exposing CIA’s Top-Secret Spy Programs
A CIA official allegedly walked out with $40 million in gold bars, risking exposure of the agency’s most sensitive operations
Five decades ago, four burglars broke into a billionaire’s safe, setting off a chain of events that exposed and foiled one of the CIA’s most ambitious operations against the Soviets. Now, Central Intelligence Agency veterans are worried that another seemingly brazen heist—this time allegedly committed by a CIA official—could expose another top-secret program, after authorities say the official walked out of his office with $40 million in gold bars. The CIA’s David Rush, arrested in May on charges of theft of public money, was a senior supervisor in the agency’s science and technology division. That unit designs the spycraft tools agents use to intercept conversations, procure clandestine photographs and communicate. Rush hasn’t been indicted or publicly responded to the charges in court. He operated a highly classified intelligence program approved by Congress several years ago to use large quantities of cash to obtain critical information about American adversaries, according to people familiar with the matter, and held a rank that is the CIA’s equivalent of an army general.
The case has shone a spotlight on the way the agency conducts its business, and some former CIA officials said details of the legitimate clandestine operations he ran would inevitably surface. The case echoes the circumstances surrounding a 1974 case of a robbery at eccentric aerospace businessman Howard Hughes’ office, which ended up revealing a CIA effort to recover a Soviet nuclear-armed submarine. “You could start to see things exposed that shouldn’t be discussed, things that are real and truly sensitive,” said Mark Fowler, a former senior CIA officer who ran spying operations against Iran.
Link: Wall Street Journal (Joel Schectman)
A Peter Thiel-Backed Tribunal Is Putting Journalists on Trial. I’m Its First Target
Peter Thiel’s latest venture uses AI to adjudicate disputes against journalists, raising questions about power and truth
For many journalists, blowback is just part of the business. The irate call to the editor or publisher, often expressed through the promise of litigation. The online pile-on, often expressed through personal invective. Occasionally, the threat of violence, often expressed through all-caps derangement. It’s rare to encounter a novel variant. But on April 21, I received a remarkable email. “Someone has filed an objection against something you wrote,” explained Austin Livingston, pointing me to a web page where Purdue Pharma heir Michael Sackler, a film financier and self-styled ethical investor, had paid a new tech startup—fittingly called Objection—to assess the legitimacy of a skeptical article I’d published about him and his business in The Hollywood Reporter five years earlier.
I perused the web page, designated “Sackler v Baum (2026).” It featured a countdown clock ticking toward an apparent verdict. Then I read up on the company, which is backed by the prominent right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel, who waged a legal war against Gawker Media after it published coverage about his business interests and personal life which upset him. The effort led to the outlet’s demise. At first glance, Objection seemed to be a kangaroo court catering to rich and infamous plaintiffs, the latest service in the lucrative sector of digital reputation management. Objection’s Founder and CEO is Aron D’Souza, an Australian entrepreneur and provocateur best known as the mastermind behind Thiel’s litigation strategy against Gawker, which involved a patient, extensive search for the ideal proxy plaintiff to sink the online news outlet. The campaign, quietly funded by the tech investor, culminated in Hulk Hogan’s successful invasion-of-privacy suit and ultimately helped force Gawker into bankruptcy.
Link: The Hollywood Reporter (Gary Baum)
The Black Soldiers Who Changed the Meaning of the Civil War
These troops helped transform a conflict fought initially to preserve the Union into one that destroyed slavery as well
In January 1865, not long after his march had reached the sea, General William Tecumseh Sherman held a remarkable meeting in Savannah, Georgia. Along with Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Sherman spoke with a group of 20 Black ministers about slavery, the Civil War, and the world that was to rise from the ashes of both. Of the sentiments the Baptist Garrison Frazier voiced on behalf of the group, one in particular was repeated: the desire, as Frazier put it, “to assist the Government in maintaining our freedom,” by which he meant serving in the military. Since the beginning of the conflict, Black Americans had invested their hopes for freedom in the Union cause, through both their support of the military and their service within its ranks. Expressing that devotion, Frazier told Sherman and Stanton that “if the prayers that have gone up for the Union army could be read out, you would not get through them these two weeks.”
On the eve of Juneteenth, a holiday celebrating the military order that affirmed emancipation in Texas, such connections are under strain. Pete Hegseth has taken up Edwin M. Stanton’s title as “secretary of war” but not quite his mantle. As my colleague Clint Smith writes in the July issue of The Atlantic, Hegseth has been at work supporting the administration’s project of “delegitimizing the accomplishments—and the very presence—of Black people in the military.” In addition to Hegseth blocking the advancement of Black senior officers and presiding over the restoration of Confederate memorials, the Department of Defense has removed tributes to Black heroes in the Pentagon and on department webpages.
Link: The Atlantic (Jake Lundberg)
Thanks for reading, and Happy Father’s Day to all the dads and granddads out there. Just to save you scrolling all the way to the top, here’s the Life Story Magic offer again. See you in the comments!
Wow. I’m first to comment. That’s a first.
It’s amazing to me that I’ve gone over 72 years and never heard of an em dash or en dash. The good news is it doesn’t matter. I’m just going to use the dash my keyboard gives me and pretty much any way I want as well-so there. 😬
Scary about Theil trying to go after journalists in not good and novel ways. Also still wondering why Congress hasn’t forced Hegseth out - oh wait - they don’t do anything. Sheesh