I never got involved in that scene because •yikes• but I read a lot of it and a lot about it, early. Strauss’ ‘The Game’ is mostly about “pickup” not make making men happy. I recommend an even stranger, gutsier book about the texture of that scene from an explicitly feminist perspective. 9/

This will be fun! I hope to see folks there

New post for the media-tech and depolarization nerds, about the new media startup @aemula.bsky.social lydialaurenson.substack.com/p/new-depola...

I wrote this post about Epstein last year, but it seems that many people are re-finding it now open.substack.com/pub/lydialau...

My talk from @hope.net 2025 was just posted this week! "Media, Vibe Coding, And The Long Tail" www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEZA...

❝ “The club” let newcomers run into the cancellation buzzsaw while watching to see if they survived ❞ Laurenson’s memoir reflects her characteristically thoughtful ambivalences, so I added a link to it to my post on the subject

Some spots just opened up at this event Friday evening. If you're in the Bay Area, come out and meet us - I'll be reading from my piece "Canceled Left and Right," which was originally published in The Ick by @emilybynight.bsky.social :) partiful.com/e/Z4BlVOQNTf...

Today is possibly the biggest divergence I have ever seen between my timeline here and my timeline on Twitter/X

ABUSE OF POWER COMES AS NO SURPRISE

I recall reading an interview with a fella a few years ago in which he said, “Yeah, I met Epstein once. Vibes were off.” I am acquainted with @lydialaurenson.bsky.social. She is not exaggerating about living a Weird Stuff life, such that her Vibes Were Off account here is terrifying. 2/2

(screenshot of text posted with permission)

I wrote a post-Slutcon update! Also reposted an old interview that I did a while back, with an anthropologist who studies poly families. Plus some links to other stuff I mentioned in my Slutcon session, including a post about intergenerational co-living communities open.substack.com/pub/lydialau...

"If you think merely being brilliant is enough to make a person successful — or even good at surviving — then you haven’t met enough brilliant people. On the other hand, what is survival? What is success?"

A poignant, immensely courageous and most thought provoking essay, by a fellow alumna. College at Age Sixteen: What Is Intelligence For? Simon's Rock College, and the Center for Talented Youth, and the challenge of gifted children. By Lydia Laurenson open.substack.com/pub/lydialau...

If anyone can teach us about the real-world consequences of cancel culture, it's @lydialaurenson.bsky.social For the season finale of The Ick, her essay brings down the house: www.emilybynight.com/p/how-i-got-...

seen on fbook this morning

You would think I’d already know this, but I don’t: Is there any process whatsoever by which an individual mentioned in the media can complain to the media organization in question, about how a journalist handled the situation? Or is the only recourse a defamation lawsuit?

Whoever is giving out the bunny stickers and things, bring some to reg? 🥺

My talk at @hope.net went well :) I’m happy to be meeting so many interesting people here - and I’m lucky my talk was on the early side, so I can now chill and watch other people’s talks :) I’ll post the talk recording link soon!

While refactoring a lot of my personal security protocols, I recently started using privacy dot com. This is a service that connects to your bank account and generates individual “card numbers” you can use to pay for things without giving your main credit card number, which means that…

Thrilled to be giving a talk at @hope.net in August in NYC. And also so excited to be coming back to that great city 💗

Supreme Court justices trying to recreate feudal monarchy entirely within the framework of a constitutional republic like a bored programmer trying to run DOOM on a smart fridge

I’m at the Norman Rockwell Museum @normanrockwellm.bsky.social today. I was today years old when I learned that this picture, often used in memes, (a) was painted by Norman Rockwell and (b) is actually titled “Freedom of Speech”

Worthwhile account of what it was like to start questioning our ability to know what's actually going in our own country in the current media landscape. Not explicitly stated, but I read this as partly about death of local news removing an empirical check on national outlets

Thrilled to announce Season 4 of The Ick, featuring writing from @eurydicelives.blogsky.venki.dev, @jakee.bsky.social, @lydialaurenson.bsky.social, @ninatummyache.bsky.social, @deepfates.com.deepfates.com.deepfates.com.deepfates.com.deepfates.com + more surprise guests TBA!

ok fine I wrote something about the New Yorker article open.substack.com/pub/lydialau...

Just posted my interview from yesterday with @zackbeauchamp.bsky.social about his book, “The Reactionary Spirit.” 💫 Audio, background notes, and transcript are all here: open.substack.com/pub/lydialau...

One of my husband Robert's favorite quotes comes from Horace Greeley, a newspaper man who founded the New York Tribune so many years ago. I think of it often: “Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, riches take wings. Only one thing endures and that is character.”

I have a deep aversion to local TV news, but now I am ON it because last year, the power company Arizona Public Service cut off electricity to my mother’s house outside of Phoenix, killing her.

I learned to vibe code and made an artificial intelligence fact-checker in an afternoon. Now I have new thoughts about the future of media lydialaurenson.substack.com/p/vibe-codin...

I have an ongoing fascination with how it’s affected Twitter/X for all users to infer that the website owner can probably see their private likes on posts

My latest Substack post is a throwback to my early career as a roleplaying game writer: A mystical martial art inspired by shattered mirrors, made for an anime/wuxia game I’ll probably only do this once :) but I got some surprisingly good feedback for it already! open.substack.com/pub/lydialau...

So this just happened over on X

@tehlorkay.bsky.social I LOVED your story “Tell Them” in @therebis.com - I picked up a copy of the magazine at a literary event last night and paged through it this morning. When I landed on your story it gave me chills and made me cry. Thank you for writing it. Is the story online anywhere?

New post: “The Time I Joined Peace Corps and Worked With an African HIV Program for Sex Workers in eSwatini” I’ve waited over a decade to tell these stories. It’s maybe strange that I feel like now is the right time, given everything that’s happening. But I do. open.substack.com/pub/lydialau...

Secret UK order requires blanket access to protected cloud backups around the world, which if implemented would undermine Apple’s privacy pledge to its users. Some of us have been waiting for this showdown since 2016 when the Snoopers' Charter was passed. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Conscious ungoverning

Hi, friends. Here's what I want you to do: four simple things. It's not going to take long. Let's go. werd.io/2025/i-want-...

My favorite author Tanith Lee is suddenly getting recommended a lot because Neil Gaiman reportedly stole a bunch of her stuff. So I seized the day and wrote a tribute to her. She’s brilliant and complex and worth reading, whether Gaiman stole her material or not. open.substack.com/pub/lydialau...

I have overhauled my cornerstone article/handout on key book publishing paths. For the last 10 years, it's been 1 page. Now it's 2 pages. It better covers the finer distinctions writers now encounter in the market. Free to use/share/distribute, no permission required. Link below.

Post you from a different era

I reposted an interview about spirituality that I originally did years ago with Abraham Burickson, the artistic director of Odyssey Works. It was illuminating to learn more about this great artist’s spiritual worldview. His words still come often to my mind. open.substack.com/pub/lydialau...

Italo Calvino’s "Invisible Cities" is, deservedly, a classic of magical realism. I recently heard a friend-of-a-friend was posting recordings of Calvino’s cities, with each city read by a different person. I volunteered. We chose for me the city of Raissa. cities.quipsoteric.com/episodes/49-...

I wrote a very short piece on the phrase “a translation is a betrayal” open.substack.com/pub/lydialau...

Love this!

Sing to me, O Muse

There used to be a tool called Nuzzel for Twitter users that was really great - it aggregated the most shared links among people you follow. It got shut down eventually. Now someone has made a version for Bluesky :) www.niemanlab.org/2024/11/reme...