My New Yorker Debut

I wrote a Talk of the Town about the GlamBot

As you can tell, I decided to go for pragmatism instead of wit with the subject line this go round just because I don’t think there’s a ton else much to say about it. I got the chance to write a front-of-book piece for the New Yorker this week which was a dream come true for reasons I’ll expound on briefly below. The last time I wrote for them was a digital feature about techno which I still love but this is a little different, ya know? It’s on newsstands this week so if you grab a copy send me a picture of you reading! (This week’s cover is also beautiful 🍊.)

Here’s the short version: I got to hang out with the GlamBot guy Cole Walliser while he directed the camera on the SNL50 red carpet and also got to chop it up with Tom Hanks and Lady Gaga a little bit. They’re both exceptionally friendly and very funny which feels unfair. You’ve probably seen Cole’s videos flying around the internet, but if there’s one to watch it’s this one that feels like it’s plucked from a Curb episode:

colewalliser

A post shared by @colewalliser

And now for something a little more earnest: I make this joke to my friend

Peter C. Baker

a lot, but I didn’t consider myself editorially sentient until, like, 2018. I also worked a full-time job outside of media because I never thought I was good enough. Writing was always going to be something I had to fit in between everything else, like taking a pottery class or learning Italian. So many of the people I respect as writers and critics and journalists have been doing this since college, and I always feel more than a little behind and feeling the need to sprint and catch up. Milestones like this were completely unimaginable to be a few years ago and even though my natural instinct is to minimize it—it’s the front of book! It’s 900 words! It’s not a feature!—I’m trying my best to ignore those voices and be proud.

It's funny that being in print feels so different and more significant given this will all be forgotten about by the next issue, but I think the ephemerality is why I'm so excited about it. Everything lasts forever on the internet, this will only last a week. And that feels, somehow, more human. Please let me know if you dig the little story. More to come. (And thank you to my friends Katy Kelley and Candace Gabel for the photos since I’m in south Florida and can’t find a copy anywhere lol.)