Nana, Which Side Were You On In The Great Headline Case Wars?
Good morning, my loves! You’re nearing the end of your pre-Labor Day week, and I hope that you’ve compiled your fun-optimizing to-do list / are ready to be the very best at relaxing and unwinding, because it is a competitive sport. I’m sorry, I’m being informed that it’s just me who makes to-do lists for holiday weekends? Huh. But how do you make sure you’re number one in attempting to sleep in? Seems inefficient to not track those deliverables but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
The word nerd twittersphere is aflutter over which sentence case a headline should follow, and Mother Jones had the only appropriate response: ThE sTaFf oF mOtHeR JoNeS iS vErY DiViDeD oVeR HeAdLiNe cApiTaLiZaTiOn aNd nEeDs YoUr HeLp (contemplating writing out that string of letters in an ancient CMS is giving me stress hives.)
2020 is just around the corner, who’s excited? (Hyperventilates into an old donut bag, contemplates purchasing land in the tundra.) Well, Facebook has announced a new policy for buyers of political ads, which means you need to Tony Romm’s reporting on what this actually means for, you know, democracy.
Discuss: Beto O’Rourke’s campaign kicked a Breitbart reporter out of one of his events. On one hand, a strong and independent press is a (currently being battered on all sides) pillar of our democracy and must be protected at all costs. On the other hand, this is a website that published headlines like these ones and has documented connections to hate groups and the white nationalist movement.
Friends, I know I’m prone—nay, practically steeped in—hyperbole, but I stand by this statement I am about to type: this piece on a brewing neighbor war in a D.C. suburb over NIMBY complaints TO THE POLICE about barking dogs… in a dog park may be my favorite piece of journalism, of all time, full stop. The lede subject is a doofy golden retriever puppy named Chubbs and the kicker is: “After this reporter’s dog spent some time digging (for the truth, we presume), he was asked what he thought of the park. He woofed. Twice. The police did not arrive.” I MEAN, COME ON. GIVE JESSICA CONTRERA ALL OF THE JOURNALISM AWARDS PLS.
And finally, even though this is now the third Washington Post story I’ve linked to today, it’s totes worth it: everyone’s favorite Washington Post humorist Alexandra Petri had the most delightful take on the Professor / Bedbug / Bret Stephens debacle: I am a bedbug and would like to be kept out of this mess (fair warning: there is a big-ass bedbug photo as the lede to the piece that initially make me shriek. Out loud. At work. Don’t worry folks, my colleagues love me... I think?)
I love writing this every morning. Thank you for having me in your inbox. You’re awesome.
Be kind to each other, and to yourselves.
xoxo Amy