welcome to the 15th edish of the needsletter. i hope you are all doing well? well adjacent?
in the spirit of habit and follow through, i am writing and sending this today even though i really don’t have any ideas. well, i guess that’s not true - i have loads of ideas, but all of them are just little bits and pieces that kinda pass through my brainzo. incredible thoughts. things like:
remember the platinum rule? i think we need to bring that back.
why can’t good words come out of my brain and fingers and cursor? is there a german word for when you have good ideas but they get stuck in your thought churn only to be eventually shelved in your thought hoarder house “for later”? is there also maybe a word for when the things you think of become actual things that smarter people got out of their brains and fingers before you could get them out of yours but you totally had the same idea? or for when you say a thing first but someone else says it maybe better or funnier or more concise and then everyone is like “yes, true, great thought you brilliant person” and you’re like WAIT WHAT am i invisible? HELLO? IS THIS THING ON?! and then what’s the word for when you have an meltdown about caring that someone else did a better job than you at something which OBVIOUSLY means that you are really not ready for a seat at whatever “the table” is so you might as well just never say anything again because you suck? is the word just anxiety, or what?
why do teachers/profs assign 10-20 page papers? why do they do that to themselves and their TA’s and students? i don’t wanna make assumptions, but i think it’s safe to say that nobody wants to read 20+ 20 page papers, especially knowing that SO many of them will be so bad. do they read them all? probably not, right? do they get better as the years go by? i feel like a better way to do essays in school would be if they had a max word count, but if you made your point well enough in less than that, it was still totally chill and counted just as much. or is that how it’s always worked and i missed some essay memo and was reaching the exact word count like a fucking idiot. i just wonder about the whole essay thing in general, especially as students get closer to getting actual jobs. of course, it’s important to know how to form an argument and do research and shit, but how the fuck does a 20 word essay prepare people for corporate email culture? it does not. it prepares people to be the most hated communicator in the office. we can do better by our youths.
isn’t it weird how places exist when you’re not in them? i can’t elaborate further, this is as far as i’ve gotten with this idea. yes, i was high when i first had this thought. it’s been haunting me for years. everytime i go somewhere else it’s like a 3D map is unfolding in front of my eyes or something. i’ll stop saying words about this now because i think this sounds nuts.
i like my side part and will actually die for my skinny jeans but i also like a centre part and wide leg pants. why is this a thing? can i LIVE? jesus christ.
who else out there is thinking about everything and feeling everything for themselves but also everyone around them at the same time?
cancel culture has eaten itself. i don’t know how to elaborate on this much either without my brain getting into a gordian knot.
speaking of cannibalism - i AM concerned that we will not be getting any answers on this whole armie hammer thing and i AM NOT ok with that.
ok back to this: who is the rightest? like, morally. is there anyone out there who’s doing it all actually correctly?
related: if i can’t fully give up meat and eating junk and watching rubbish and being a lazy turd and smoking joints and drinking sometimes and ignoring my kids when they’re bothering me and if i don’t shower every day or use forget my reusable grocery bags every once in a while or buy the driscoll’s berries or follow influencers on instagram or put off exercising for weeks on end or swear too much or order things on amazon dot com or post too much on the internet or care too much about what others think or don’t enjoy meditating or make non-harmful choices that some people just wouldn’t make am i bad? does it depend? what’s the balance? who decides?
will i ever be satisfied? don’t answer that.
ok i feel better now. thanks for reading that.
in other news: i’ve got a few podcast episodes out that you can listen to!
on Big Lists, i talk about ROM COMS baby! my top fave topic with my top fave dudes. we go through the awful rotten tomatoes bracket.
on Katie Needs a Podcast (are you subscribed?!) i talk with my best bud Mallory Hood about the year 2000! i love this episode and i hope you enjoy it too.
ok chat later, pals.
xoxo
kt