The skeletons are all sold out
In this week's edition: front-yard nihilism, romance scammers, remote learning and collab houses
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As a symbol of 2020, it’s almost a little too on the nose: a macabre house-sized spectacle of misery and death, designed to flank the driveway of your suburban home. They loom up in troops behind chain-link fences. They crush Mini Coopers under their weight!! And yet, we’re so far past the point of parody now that … sure, viral 12-Foot Skeletons, okay.
It turns out that Home Depot (… because of course a surging home improvement store founded by Trump donors invented this particular monster) always sells more Halloween stuff right before elections. I don’t know what the society-sized version of a therapist is, but that feels like a neurosis that could stretch several sessions.
Alas, should you also want to throw your hands up and embrace front-yard nihilism, you currently … can’t. The skeletons are all sold out. (God, we can’t even have that.) But Home Depot DOES have an app that lets you project said skeleton over photos of your home. Like I said: For some, it might prove a little too on the nose.
If you read anything this weekend
This wrenching look at the kids left behind by remote learning. You’ve read versions of this story before, I’m sure, but none that see the problem so personally. [Alec MacGillis, The New Yorker]
This surprisingly poetic dispatch from r/unemployment, the closest thing we have to a modern breadline. The ballooning subreddit has become an “ad hoc, crowd-sourced, people’s benefit office” — and a singularly visible hub of pandemic misery and resilience online. [Bridget Read, The Cut]
This deeply thoughtful and entertaining dive into the dark Technicolor heart of Tiktok. If you read one piece about “collab houses” and the youth culture they emblemize, I’d make it this one. [Rebecca Jennings, Vox]
This lengthy second look at the eBay harassment scandal, which still somehow ranks among the most-bonkers stories of a bonkers year. All the cockroaches and funeral wreaths you loved in the original, now with damning employee interviews and executive emails! [David Streitfeld, NYT]
This fascinating profile of an online romance scammer who tricked his marks into serious, IRL relationships. We all love a good scam story, and Shaun Rootenberg’s hustle was so … unusually committed. [Katherine Laidlaw, Toronto Life]
And now for something completely different
Postscripts
The people getting hotter during the pandemic. The straight male sex workers of OnlyFans. How QAnon is rebranding for a mainstream audience and what it’s like to be Black in indie music.
The real estate gurus of YouTube. The millennials boomeranging back home. The future of the office lunch is (sadly, I think!) very much in question. Bandcamp is the anti-Spotify. Google Maps has a Nazi problem. Last but not least: The surprisingly long and political history of staff reporters quitting to write newsletters.
Sharing is caring
I treasure all endorsements but this one meant a lot for a simple reason: A few years ago, Joe created a Twitter bot that — imho!! — is also still the best one on the internet. It’s called @colorschemez (remember??) and it generates zany color names and combinations. “Particularized barney.” “Orthotropous banana.” THANK YOU to Joe & everyone else who shares this newsletter. Your referrals are the main way it finds new readers!
— Caitlin