Cruel Compendium #73 🐝

TikTok therapists, vampire facials, and a cornucopia of newsletter recs

May 07, 2024

ICYMI, last week I wrote about the film Stress Positions and looked back on summer 2020, my last one in New York City.

Be sure to click “View entire message” at the end of this email so you can read the whole post in your browser. On to the links!

One newsletter I always make time to read by Claire Zulkey and Dan Oshinsky and a bunch of other writers I love

Find your next favorite read right here.

My therapist is a TikTok star by Kate Lindsay

This answers so many questions I had about these uber-popular social media therapists and how their real-life, offline patients feel about it. Not great, it turns out!

Beginners

In this sprawling package, creatives of all kinds talk about how to cultivate an astistic life and keep at it, including Ice Spice, Nick Cave, Amy Tan, Debbie Harry, Zadie Smith, Tracy Chapman, Jewel, John Waters, Toni Morrison, and many others.

How ‘vampire facials’ at an unlicensed spa left three women with HIV by Fenit Nirappil

This story had my jaw dropped.

Taylor Swift’s new song resonates with working women by Jessica Dickler and Ana Teresa Solá

Why “I cry a lot but I am so productive” cuts straight to the heart of millennial women.

Books lately

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward — Book 11 of 2024
A novel pulsing with pain. Annis, an enslaved teenager in America, is separated from her beloved mother, sold by her enslaver (and father), and forced on a harrowing walk from the Carolinas to New Orleans. But along the way she connects with the omnipresent spirits and powerful stories of her ancestors and harnesses her own intuition, and her fierce will to be free.

The Guest by Emma Cline — Book 12
This is my favorite book of the year so far. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time worried about this 22-year-old girl leading a life of risk and lies among the elites of Long Island.

Bits and bobs about freelance writing.

My friend Caitlin Dewey relaunched her wonderful newsletter, Links I Would Gchat You If We Were Friends, last week! She’s a journalist I always look to to explain the madness of internet culture to me. Subscribe!

How I Landed $50K in New Content Marketing Clients in 45 Days by Jennifer Gregory. A helpful breakdown of exactly what this writer did in a marketing push. She says “this amount of effort was on the low side” which has me rethinking my entire life.
16 freelance rate databases and resources from Kaitlyn Arford
Giselle Buchanan is launching the next cohort of Written into Being, a virtual creative writing journey that meets every Sunday for a month starting May 26. I wrote about my positive experience with the workshop and shared a poem.
Amber Petty has a free Write Your Magazine Pitch in 30 minutes workshop right now that might be a great fit for some of you. I love her helpful and enthusiastic coaching.
“If you’re an artist, you better claim that!”

Causes I care about, and actions you can take to help.

Donate to help Rodina and her family evacuate Palestine.
Donate to campus bail funds.
Nicole Cardoza’s Banned Book Club is hosting a virtual book club in May to read The Hundred Years' War on Palestine by Palestinian-American author Rashid Khalidi. I’ll be reading.
Visit ceasefiretoday.com for helpful links to email your Congress members, sign petitions, find a protest near you, and more.