Reading List: Ravenous Woodchucks, Influencer Awkwardness, WWPMS?
Happy Friday, poppets! Let’s get right into this here good stuff.
Natalie Robemed: How 20-Year-Old Kylie Jenner Built A $900 Million Fortune In Less Than 3 Years (Forbes) - While some of you snicker about how reality stars are useless, I’ll continue to marvel at the fact Ms. Jenner owns 100% of a company that has sold over $630 million worth of makeup since 2015. A company that sells recognizable formulas at an insane markup, WITHOUT brick and mortar storefronts. A company valued by Forbes at $800 million built on the back of her social media savvy and ferocious momager. So fuck the haters, this young woman is laughing her way to mad bank.
Taylor Lorenz: Instagram’s Wannabe-Stars Are Driving Luxury Hotels Crazy (The Atlantic) - I may have shared this with y’all back in June, but when Lorenz re-published this piece on her Medium page this week, I was reminded how excellent it was. As I was a travel blog editor back in the wild west before Instagram, I marvel at the raw chutzpah these “influencers” have to cold call resorts and demand a comped stay. When I attended the very first Travel Blog Exchange (TBEX) in (mumble mumble long-ass time ago,) there was a seminar on the ethics of freebies and reviews. The legendary travel writer Pam Mandel has written on this extensively, so when I read articles like this, I think to myself WWPMS? (what would Pam Mandel say?) And I’m sure it isn’t complimentary. That being said, my P.O. Box address is the in the footer, SEND ME YOUR FANCY THINGS CUZ I’M NOT A REAL JOURNALIST (I kid… OR DO I?)
K.T. Nelson: Trump Fans Are Owning Libs by Losing All Their Friends (Vice) - As someone who reads an uncomfortable amount on cults and fundamentalist religions (hey, it’s like inoculation, right? RIGHT?!) the fact that these MAGA supporters are wholly embracing the social exile their Trumpist antics are pushing them into just makes me think of how drinking the Flavor Aid never ends well for anyone.
Wes Enzinna: Inside the Radical, Uncomfortable Movement to Reform White Supremacists and
Dave Gilson: You Can’t Understand White Supremacists Without Looking at Masculinity (Mother Jones) These takes on the current state of organized, violent racism are Kindle-queued for my coffee tomorrow morning. And you folks say I don't know how to have any fun...
And finally,
Miles Parks: A Family Of Woodchucks Ate Paul Ryan's Car (NPR) - I have absolutely no comment on this story, just that I haven’t laughed at a headline this much in my entire life. Also, I may have thought to myself “more like woodCUCK, amirite?” but then I reminded myself that no one would find that funny and that I should keep it to myself.
Y’all, you’re lovely. Be kind to each other. May you channel your inner (double Emmy nominee) JVN and have a fabulous weekend.