Learning about history is depressing and also really useful...? (4.3.25)
NYPD history? Not great. Student loan history? Not great. Oh and also, our TVs are watching us! But it's NOT ALL BAD I SWEAR!
Welcome to this week’s Open in a New Tab media recommendations list! 🎧 📖 📱
Quick notes:
This is the once a month newsletter open to everyone (paid or free subs)!
We’re starting a bookclub for paid subscribers this month if you want to upgrade your subscription. Hoping to make this a consistent (monthly-ish) bookclub 🤞🏻 to start this month, we’re reading Abundance, by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson.
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Thanks everyone for your support. Truly, writing this newsletter is SO FUN and really interesting. Hope you find things in here that get your brain whirling. Send to anyone you think might like it :)
Let’s get into it…
from listening 🎧
I. Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD: a multi-part narrative podcast series that digs into the history of the NYPD, going all the back to slavery times. The storytelling is incredibly immersive and compelling (the host, Chenjerai Kumanyika is a Peabody award-winner) and the story itself is really important. I’m only a few episodes into the series so far but knew I had to recommend it because wow do they make a clear argument for how the NYPD was never actually built to “maintain a higher standard of integrity” or “value human life, respect the dignity of each individual and render our services with courtesy and civility” (all values taken directly from their website)1 I mean.. no one is surprised but still…useful to see it so explicitly laid out.
II. What happens if the Internet Archive Goes Dark? an episode from the podcast Close All Tabs, hosted by
(my internet friend and tech journalist!) I highly recommend the whole podcast series, but this episode is a great place to start. The Internet Archive is a robust digital library of videos, text, audio, books etc. online. It maintains historical record of websites so you can see how websites have changed overtime (the episode opens talking about how the Trump administration is rapidly editing websites). It’s a pretty existential question they focus on: if we don’t have historical record of what happens in our digital ecosystem, what will come of our understanding of this moment in time, and also of history, politics, and one another? Pretty dark and also reallllly important to consider.III. I know a lot of what I post in this newsletter errs on the side of.. depressing? (gonna actually try to work on that cuz wtf..I know it’s bad out here but levity surely exists?!?!) so this rec is a nice departure: Etsy: Hipster Bambi vs. VC Villians from the
. I love the way the host and her co-host/brother rip into the tech/corporate world with sharpness, wit, and general “wtf are these people doing?!?!” energy. This particular ep is around Etsy and the ways that VC funding absolutely ruined what was a niche independent art marketplace. Highly recommend starting there but then picking any other episode in their catalog that piques your interest.from reading 📖
I. The Newspaper Flourishing Without a Paywall from the New York Mag. It’s all about how the Guardian US is able to sustain itself through donations, be them single or monthly recurring, as opposed to the paywall model. And ALSO, even more interestingly, is the banner (see screenshot below) they put at the bottom of their articles to show the unique value of the Guardian and also the urgent crises their industry faces. I really think the media industry could follow suit in this way: could be more innovative, braver, take more risks, but I fear there are few outlets that dare to do so.
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II. The Origin of Student Debt from the Intercept. Turns out, at least a major part of the reason why US colleges are so expensive and student debt abounds is because a key Reagan advisor, threatened by the anti-Vietnam protests on college campuses, said:
“We are in danger of producing an educated proletariat. … That’s dynamite! We have to be selective on who we allow [to go to college].”
Pretty remarkable on its face, saying the quiet part so so loud, and then also in how virulently that ideology drives the Trump administration too…the idea that education will lead to protest, rebellion, and political dissent (hello… that is THE WHOLE POINT of education—the more you learn you more interested you are in changing systems?!)
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III. Uh………I don’t quite know what to do with this fact: Your TV is Watching You from Vox. In the article they explain Automatic Content Recognition (ACR), a technology that while not secret is definitely not being shouted about from these TV companies. And yet— it is taking screenshots of what we’re watching and capturing audio snippets from the signals….every day it feels like we’re realizing we are deeper and deeper into the matrix.
At the end of 2024, Roku reported annual ad revenues of $3.5 billion, which accounted for 85 percent of its total revenue — far higher than its hardware business. Roku also has 90 million users — millions more than Apple TV+ — who have become a gold mine of data, not just about what they watch on TV but also who they are and what they like. Today, it’s better to think of Roku not just as an advertising company or the folks who make cheap TVs and streaming sticks, but also as a data company with millions of detailed profiles.
IV. What if instead of setting goals we set pacts? I absolutely love the advice from this Inc. article A Neuroscientist Says You Should Stop Setting Goals and Do This Instead. Where a goal is results-oriented (will get X dollars or viewers or deals etc.), a pact puts us back in the drivers seat; it’s about committing to doing something for X amount of time. Instead of “I want 100 paid Substack subscribers” (something I myself have said), a pact would be “I want to keep writing a weekly newsletter for 6 months.'“ Do you see the difference? Best part is that it’s highly possible that in writing for 6 months, one would also reach 100 paid subscribers. And ALSO, you’d learn a tremendous amount about what you like writing about, what’s hard for you, what your readers like etc.
So, I ask you: what’s a goal you have, and how can you reframe it in the style of a pact to yourself? Would love to hear from you in the comments or chat!
from anywhere else📱
😭😭😭 sad and cute!
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There are 8 rules of our private dinners for “Fucked Up Individuals” — saw this on IG and wow do I love it SO MUCH. What an interesting way to gather, to connect, and honestly to just do something new besides just meet for coffee or a drink, ya know? Just a few good screenshots:
That’s it for this week! As always, please comment or email me if you have recommendations for things I might read, listen to, and share! And also if you have any thoughts on what I’ve posted here.
Thanks!
Miriam
https://www.nyc.gov/site/nypd/about/about-nypd/mission.page
It’s interesting that the Guardian are starting to make waves in the US market now - they’ve tried before and failed, which is well known in its readership in the UK. They are a little middle class oriented sometimes, but they stick to their business model & are committed to being independent. It’s the only newspaper I ever read - and the only one that was in my house growing up. Their “Cotton Capital” series is also unique in exploring their own historical ties to slavery & how they are making reparations, which is also a model I suspect a lot of US news outlets could learn a thing or two from.