It’s the Wynonna and Ashley of newsletters’ first 🎙️ AUDIO 🎙️ issue! In which we cover Hollywood royalty, actual royalty, and "responsible ejaculation."
Oh hey, you guys, I loved the audio newsletter and yes, I listened to the end! I don't have kids, but life gets better every decade, in my experience so far, so don't listen to those people telling you it's the best time of your life when your kids are little.
I think if your only criticism of Archetypes is that you don’t think Meghan is funny, that’s a win! I don’t think she’s in any way striving to be funny or have casual conversations. I think she simply wants to be heard. These are serious topics taken with the gravity and tone they deserve. I understand many won’t see it that way or even take her seriously, but I appreciate her earnest approach. Her conversation with Constance Wu in particular struck me as particularly honest (but only because I haven’t listened to her episode with Paris Hilton yet, which I’m reading is very good). I’m here for it! And it’s ok if not everyone is with me. Also, I love her intro music, I Am Woman by Emmy Meli!
Thank you for writing in! My criticism of Archetypes isn't just that Meghan isn't funny—I get that the show's intention isn't to be a barrel of monkeys. I'd need a couple of thousand of words (and a good editor, hi Maggie) to fully explore these ideas, but I find Meghan's worldview/politics to be a dated* kind of broad-brush go-girl feminism—and the show in turn to be more of a reinforcement of labels than a leveling thereof—that doesn't hold up or feel fresh or especially insightful. More self-aggrandizing. She wants to be heard, yes, and I guess everyone deserves to be heard on *some* level, but to me nothing I've heard out of her so far feels genuinely additive to the larger conversation about women's place in the world circa now. The medium in chat podcasting is the message, and authenticity (whether earnest or hilarious) is, uh, queen: I could forgive MM for not being funny (and I have an entire dissertation in my head about what we as a culture have lost since the shift to funny being considered the most important quality in a person/romantic prospect/coworker/friend/etc. happened), but what she's trying to do would require authenticity, levity, and/or originality for me to get on board. It's the capital-C correctness and righteousness that I find most unappealing. I could go on, but I hear have a reputation for going to long, so I'll wind it up! I'll just say that you, Katie, are funny AND sincere AND fresh...and I would listen to your podcast in a heartbeat. You also have great taste in a feminist anthem, so I'll stream "I Am Woman" elsewhere. XO
*In one episode MM mentions Linda Ellerbee's Nick News W/5 (a program that I too found formative!). If you were Rip Van Winkle and found yourself listening to MM's audio program after a 30-year slumber, you'd think absolutely nothing in our world/culture had changed since Ellerbee's 1992 show.
Love, love, love The Spread--your recommendations, analysis and voice, so much so that I don't need to hear your actual voices! It's enough for me to savor reading (almost) every section and having immediate access to the articles/podcast links. I'm a reader who has grown children. Instead of revisiting "the best years of my life," I'm bingeing SmartLess thanks to you. At 71, happily I'm getting those promised laughs.
You may be the Ashley and Wynonna of newsletters, but you are the Lizzie and Jane Bennett of Substack!
Oh hey, you guys, I loved the audio newsletter and yes, I listened to the end! I don't have kids, but life gets better every decade, in my experience so far, so don't listen to those people telling you it's the best time of your life when your kids are little.
Your wisdom and ears mean the world to us! Xx
I think if your only criticism of Archetypes is that you don’t think Meghan is funny, that’s a win! I don’t think she’s in any way striving to be funny or have casual conversations. I think she simply wants to be heard. These are serious topics taken with the gravity and tone they deserve. I understand many won’t see it that way or even take her seriously, but I appreciate her earnest approach. Her conversation with Constance Wu in particular struck me as particularly honest (but only because I haven’t listened to her episode with Paris Hilton yet, which I’m reading is very good). I’m here for it! And it’s ok if not everyone is with me. Also, I love her intro music, I Am Woman by Emmy Meli!
Thank you for writing in! My criticism of Archetypes isn't just that Meghan isn't funny—I get that the show's intention isn't to be a barrel of monkeys. I'd need a couple of thousand of words (and a good editor, hi Maggie) to fully explore these ideas, but I find Meghan's worldview/politics to be a dated* kind of broad-brush go-girl feminism—and the show in turn to be more of a reinforcement of labels than a leveling thereof—that doesn't hold up or feel fresh or especially insightful. More self-aggrandizing. She wants to be heard, yes, and I guess everyone deserves to be heard on *some* level, but to me nothing I've heard out of her so far feels genuinely additive to the larger conversation about women's place in the world circa now. The medium in chat podcasting is the message, and authenticity (whether earnest or hilarious) is, uh, queen: I could forgive MM for not being funny (and I have an entire dissertation in my head about what we as a culture have lost since the shift to funny being considered the most important quality in a person/romantic prospect/coworker/friend/etc. happened), but what she's trying to do would require authenticity, levity, and/or originality for me to get on board. It's the capital-C correctness and righteousness that I find most unappealing. I could go on, but I hear have a reputation for going to long, so I'll wind it up! I'll just say that you, Katie, are funny AND sincere AND fresh...and I would listen to your podcast in a heartbeat. You also have great taste in a feminist anthem, so I'll stream "I Am Woman" elsewhere. XO
*In one episode MM mentions Linda Ellerbee's Nick News W/5 (a program that I too found formative!). If you were Rip Van Winkle and found yourself listening to MM's audio program after a 30-year slumber, you'd think absolutely nothing in our world/culture had changed since Ellerbee's 1992 show.
Love, love, love The Spread--your recommendations, analysis and voice, so much so that I don't need to hear your actual voices! It's enough for me to savor reading (almost) every section and having immediate access to the articles/podcast links. I'm a reader who has grown children. Instead of revisiting "the best years of my life," I'm bingeing SmartLess thanks to you. At 71, happily I'm getting those promised laughs.