Before we delve into the posts we’re reading and loving elsewhere on the internet, don’t miss Patrick Hearn on the ethical and social dilemma of Japanese whaling.
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‘How Goop’s Haters Made Gwyneth Paltrow’s Company Worth $250 Million‘ (Taffy Brodesser-Akner for the New York Times)
If it feels like we link to Brodesser-Akner a lot, that’s not a coincidence. Her profiles of public figures are deep, thoughtful, and mesmerising. The latest, on the controversial head of a totally bananas ‘wellness’ company, is no exception.
At first, Goop — so named not just for her initials and for, you know, goop, but because someone along the way told her that all the successful internet companies had double O’s — appealed to an audience that admired G.P.’s rarefied lifestyle. Martha Stewart (for example) was an aspirational lifestyle brand, true, but the lifestyle was so easily attainable once Stewart took her wares to Kmart and Macy’s.
‘“I Never Gave Up on Love”: Michelle Williams on Her Very Private Wedding and Very Public Fight for Equal Pay‘ (Amanda Fortinini for Vanity Fair)
Another sensitive, thoughtful, sweeping profile — this time of a woman who is used to being profiled badly, with a story that takes unexpected twists and turns.
I do know what she means, and assure her I will not be talking about her complexion or marveling that she ate a cheeseburger. We don’t even order food. Instead, we drink cup after cup of room-service coffee and talk about motherhood, books, grief, her creative process, and her work.
‘Literary ambition. Fabulous parties. A hidden past.‘ (Melissa Chadburn and Carolyn Kellogg for the Los Angeles Times)
Love all the articles about weird scammers that are suddenly cropping up? This is a fantastic entry into the genre.
In three places — Los Angeles, San Diego and Rehoboth Beach, Del. — March became a part of the literary community. She won over new friends, even accomplished authors but especially writers trying to find a way into that world, with her generosity, her enthusiasm and apparent literary success — only to leave town abruptly.
‘The Rub of Rough Sex‘ (Chelsea G. Summers for Longreads)
Let’s talk about sex, and how complicated it can be.
If you read between the lines, Schneiderman is not exactly denying the alleged acts occurred: He’s saying the four women who claim harm agreed to it. These women maintain that Schneiderman slapped them so hard that he left bruises or that their ears bled, that he choked them until they blacked out, and that he threatened to kill them if they told on him. Schneiderman claims it was all in fun. It was games. It was nothing but sexy-time consensual play between adults. How sad that these women don’t understand, or feel regret, or can’t accept the kinky joy, his buttoned-up statement whispers in the background.
‘“I Saw Kink In God”: Dominatrixes And Their Orthodox Jewish Clients‘ (Hannah Frishberg for Buzzfeed)
The depth of reporting here, with a look at the world of Jewish men seeking something through BDSM sessions, is fantastic; an intimate, honest, non-fetishistic profile.
While Moishe spoke candidly about his life and place in the secular and religious worlds he inhabits, he always emphasized the fact that he is one man — who is still grappling to understand his own psyche — and not a representative for a larger sect or for anyone else’s desires. He is not alone, however, as someone at the intersection of New York’s dominatrixes and the city’s most devout Jewish communities.
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Photo: Wombatik/Creative Commons