Putting requests out into the universe

Plus: three things I loved this week and you might too

Oct 12, 2025

This is a short one as I shift from working full-time into creating a new (and thankfully temporary) life structure that incorporates packing, getting my chaotic second dog trained, dumping stuff at thrift stores, the insanity of Facebook Marketplace, getting moving estimates, fitting in every appointment with every healthcare provider I have ever seen here, and trying to see more friends than I probably have in the past three years combined.

So, quickly for now: After a yearlong run of full time work contracts, I’m available for short-term brand freelance and editorial assignments. I just finished up a 6-month contract at Apple in the Design group as well as a book titling project (yes, I title books!) Over the past year, I’ve also been on full-time contracts with Airbnb and Pinterest; worked with smaller studios including Red & Co., Solidarity of Unbridled Labour, and Sunday Afternoon; and my essays have appeared in Mother Tongue and Gloria.

If you’ve reached out to me over the past year and I just didn’t have the availability to take something on, now is the time to reach out again!

You can find my brand site here and my author/editorial site here.

Also, just going to throw this other request out to the universe: My goal for 2026 is to sign with a new agent*. I’ve just started the baby steps of both a short story collection and a novel, and as my previous newsletter hinted at, I’m ready to get back in the ring. Whatever the hell that ring is. Even if it’s a ring of my own making 🤠. If you’re in the publishing world and have recommendations for me, I’d love to hear them. I’m looking for an agent who can be a true partner in shaping this next phase of my career and, baby, the clock is tickin’ (as I write this on my birthday).

Thanks for indulging me on all that. Now onto some good stuff!

The upside of amorphous days and the brain-emptying work of packing is being able to catch up on every podcast I care about and finally watching a movie for the first time in ages. I loved these this past week:

WATCH
Pavements, easily the weirdest, most entertaining, and most Gen X music documentary ever. Centered on the band Pavement in multiple distinct ways and all stitched together (thus the plural title) and heavily steeped in ‘90s-era Portland, this film has a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes. Like, soothe your soul and give your existential dread a 2-hour break why don’t you?

LISTEN
Sam Sanders has departed my favorite podcast Vibe Check (I literally gasped when I heard the announcement lol). But he has another podcast I’m also super into: The Sam Sanders Show. There have been two episodes in particular that I just love, love, love and I think you will too.

Can Faith And Queerness Coexist? with Jeff Hiller
You will appreciate this interview roughly 1000% more if you watch HBO’s Somebody Somewhere first. Also, this was recorded before he won an Emmy [*cries again*] for his performance in that show.

“Actor Jeff Hiller opens up about his journey from church kid in Texas to queer fame in Hollywood. Jeff and Sam swap stories of growing up gay in conservative Christian spaces, where church was both a sanctuary and a source of shame. They unpack the complicated ways faith and queerness collide. They also break down how Hollywood struggles to tell stories about people who are queer, religious, working class — and simply human.”

Can Satire Save Democracy? with The Onion CEO Ben Collins
This interview is full of the kind of attitude I’ve been craving from literally anyone in media and who could’ve guessed it’d come from The Onion? It also made me realize how The Onion has changed as a business, so this was a fascinating listen on that front too.

“Ben Collins became CEO of The Onion after a long career working in traditional news, so he’s got major thoughts about speaking truth to power. He breaks down the role of satire in our current politics and what journalism is getting wrong about free speech. Ben also talks about relaunching The Onion’s print newspaper.”