Counterprogramming for The Bad Day
The arc of the moral universe appears to be bending toward f*ck you
In Case You Missed It
Babygirl derailed my life for almost an entire month. I wrote a critical and cultural examination of the film here and followed that up with an extraordinarily personal and intimate essay on my experience with D/s dynamics here.
I don’t know what else to say about the current state of affairs that [redacted]’s Inauguration Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day falling on the same day doesn’t already cover. Or that somehow the TikTok ban and the Israel-Hamas ceasefire unfolded simultaneously and received roughly the same amount of media coverage. Frankly, I think the ban garnered more. As serial sexual harasser Pepé Le Pew once remarked while *not totally getting it*, Le sigh.
Regardless, today is the first dumb day of the rest of our dumb lives, or at least the next four extraordinarily dumb and dangerous years. I plan to separate myself from all news media and social media for the week, starting today, while I think more deeply about where I can be useful during [redacted]’s second term.
Backing up, I started this year with a spontaneous writing trip to Maine right after the new year. I saw a little window of time and I grabbed it. It’s been almost three years since I felt ready (brain-wise, energy-wise, focus-wise) to work on multiple personal writing projects, including writing humor (which I completely lost the ability to do in 2022). This trip, combined with my long holiday break, meant intentionally immersing myself in all sorts of articles, videos, TV shows, and movies that mostly just made me feel good and also made me fall back in love with people and creativity. If you need that (and I think you do), I hope you’ll enjoy this little bit of counterprogramming.
Read
When I was writing in Maine I was focused on two things—trying to draft, craft, and submit a piece to McSweeney’s. And to also work on my answers to the questions sent to me by
and for their forthcoming book (INSIDE JOKES: A COMEDY AND CREATIVITY GUIDE FOR ALL WRITERS, out January 2026). Answering those questions had me digging into my inspirations and beliefs about writing as well as old pieces of mine. Here’s a new one and an old one (i.e. apologies for this being a shameless Me Edition):• NEW! And written specifically for TODAY: “It’s about time our government finally reflects the real America—an airport terminal at 10 a.m. on a weekday”
• Does anyone remember Successories? It still exists as a company but what I’m talking about are these motivational posters that were in every office environment back in the day, and now feel extremely Lumon Industries coded. I wrote this piece in 2019 but am only noticing now how much Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey was an influence. Sidebar: I genuinely want some of these to be made into posters (call me): Successories for Her.
Watch
• I have never seen a single episode of The Larry Sanders Show. I know. I’ve been watching it almost every day for the last couple weeks and if you haven’t seen it—or even if you have—it feels like visiting with old friends whether that’s an era (the late ‘80s/early ‘90s), a place (Los Angeles), or celebrities who are now gone (Richard Lewis, Phil Hartman, Teri Garr, there are so, so many). Also it feels like visiting with a few old friends whose jokes don’t age well but hey now! But mostly, it’s funny as fucking hell. Obviously.
• I became a huge Albert Brooks fan when I first saw Broadcast News but I don’t think I ever truly grasped just how groundbreaking he was and is. This Rob Reiner-directed documentary about him and his career is so personal, engaging, touching, and of course very, very funny. Defending My Life is on Max.
• Speaking of Broadcast News, I will defend it to the death as a perfect film. But more than that, it was an early window and warning (1987!) about where our news and media landscape was heading. It’s so wild to watch now.
• Imagine sitting down with one of your parents and asking them direct questions about their sex lives (and them asking you some questions back) 🙀 This short film You’re Never Too Old to Have ‘the Talk’ on The New York Times is about doing just that and it’s everything you’d imagine—awkward, funny, but also overwhelming tender and emotional. Watch here.
• Given what can feel like nothing but terrible news about reproductive and maternal care—especially when it comes to Black mothers—the original clip featured in this story grabbed attention for good reason. Watch this quick story of an ob/gyn who’s delivered 5,000 babies and speaks words of affirmation to them on their first day in the world.
• Did you know that all that confetti in Times Square on New Year’s Eve is thrown by hand?! I sure didn’t. The documentary filmmaker and photographer Joshua Charow (who also created a book, film, and photography show about the original artists lofts in NYC), made a short film about the tradition of confetti in Times Square and the man behind it: “Who Releases 3,000 Pounds of Confetti on Times Square By Hand Every Year?”
Help
When in doubt, give (or volunteer or help). I’m going to spend my disassociation week sorting out how much I’ll be donating and where, using the below links as guides. These are all focused on the fires in Los Angeles, but I’ll also be supporting abortion organizations, you can find some of my favorites by scrolling down in my Linktree here.
• ALL LA FIRE LINKS. Thanks to my friends over at Friends Everywhere for this one (as they said it so well—you gotta love producers when it comes to a killer spreadsheet!) There are tabs for Free Meals, Brands Providing Products, Volunteer Opportunities, Housing Support, and much, much more.
• Pasadena Humane has been doing just astounding work taking in hundreds of pets in advance of the fires and continuing to take in and treat injured pets (and wildlife) in the wake of the fires (including goats, chickens, tortoises, pigs, and peacocks!) You can read more about their work in the Los Angeles Times here and donate at the main link above.
• Displaced Black Families GoFundMe Directory. This one is making the rounds, thankfully, but if you checked it out early on please note that it’s been updated to include GFMs for businesses plus links to more groups and resources including Displaced Latino Families, Displaced Disabled Folks, Mutual Aid directories, pro bono therapy links and local community resources. Los Angeles might seem like a fancy place full of zillionaires but as anyone knows who’s lived there, it’s a city like any other city meaning it’s made up of regular people who can’t just bounce back from this level of catastrophic personal and community loss without help.
Listen
• Ending on a lighter/astrological note, I loved, loved, loved this Vibe Check episode: “Reading Us for Astrological Filth featuring Chani Nicholas”
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It's my dog's 4th birthday. He was born the day Joe Biden was inaugurated. It's so fucking bittersweet.