Happy Friday! I’ve been reading a lot of longer pieces the last few weeks and I thought I’d share some of the more interesting ones.

Also, a wee announcement: I’m going to be re-booting my newsletter in the next few weeks so if you’d like an early look at the weekly links post or a preview of other things I’m working on, you can sign up here. I’ll also be switching services, so things might be bit bumpy until I get the wrinkles ironed out.

• This reads like a horror novel and makes me hope I never need to have a roommate ever again. And it didn’t end in the way I thought it was going to, either: Jamison Bachman, the worst roommate ever (content note: animal death)

• This is a haunting and deeply troubling account of Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser, the two teens who tried to kill their friend. Living with Slenderman is about internet culture, mental illness, and how our justice system simply isn’t set up for children. I found this upsetting on multiple levels, but was unable to stop reading. It reminded me, in many ways, of Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme and the murder they committed. (content note: this piece is written by Kathleen Hale, which I did not notice when I read it. My apologies and as I said in the comments, I’ll be more mindful in the future.)
• Animal Crossing is a dystopian hellscape: “If you think about anthropomorphic worlds for any sustained length of time, chances are, things are going to get weird. That’s because animals occupy a fraught and complex space in real-life human culture where they can be categorized, sometimes interchangeably, as both friends and food.”
• How protein conquered America: “This once-obscure nutritional slurry turned out to be science fiction come true — it’s how we humanoids will power through our swole dystopian landscape.”
• Typing practice. My favorite bit comes near the end, as Ehrenreich is talking about a math class: “If you accept imaginary numbers without raising a question, you’ll swallow any goddamn thing they decide to stuff down your throat.”

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