Who the hell wrote this?

plus, the perfect sport for scaredy-cats

Ellen Huet

Jul 20, 2022

Aha! There you are. Gonna try to keep this one quick.

☠️ “How’s the book going?”

Two current motifs in the desert of Booklandia:

After taking a short break from the book draft, I’m starting the next set of revisions. (Thank you to helpful also-writing-a-book colleague Mark Bergen for suggesting I not look at the draft at all for several weeks.) The time away has allowed me to look at my writing with fresh eyes, but sometimes the eyes are …. too fresh. Past Ellen apparently wrote some baffling sentences (not in a good way) and also has no memory of having done so. At times it feels like I’m combing through the scene of a crime I committed while sleepwalking. The good news is I still have the ability to surprise myself.
I’m still working my way through the piles of video/audio/etc. that I have related to OneTaste. Sometimes this means watching videos on 2x speed while folding laundry or cooking dinner. The archives are a blessing and a curse: lots of material, but there’s actually too much for me to go through it all. The marginal returns are quickly diminishing. Every reporter knows there’s a point when gathering more information turns from “reporting” into “overreporting.” I have misjudged that point many times. Probably doing it again here.

✂️ Other things for you to click on

The book I’m writing is about the sexual wellness company OneTaste, but I haven’t discussed it much in this newsletter because a lot of the reporting is sensitive. But if you’re curious about the subject, Vice put out a documentary series recently called True Believers, and one episode focuses on OneTaste. (I do some classic b-roll laptop-typing toward the end of the episode.)

You can watch the episode here (it looks like the free option works with ads). The original article of mine they reference is here.

Illustration: Jinhwa Jan for Bloomberg Businessweek

Also, a few months ago I went on a reporting trip to Joshua Tree to live in a van alongside other people living in vans. Then I wrote a feature for Businessweek about Kift, the startup that’s behind it all. It’s vans, mixed with co-living (if you know me you know I have a passion for communes!!), plus some wild ideas about how the cities of the future will exist online instead of irl. Read the story here.

🦺 Yeah I have power vested in me

In non-book updates, I successfully survived the gantlet (come at me for a spirited discussion of gantlet vs. gauntlet) of Summer 2022 Weddings, ft. the backlog of everyone who postponed weddings from 2020 and 2021.

Something extra special: I was lucky enough to officiate two weddings in June. If you ever get the chance to, I highly recommend it, mostly because you get the best view in the house for the ceremony. Yes, ordainment is free on the internet. And yes, you can insist on calling yourself minister.

Chris and Clem are seen here prepping their ceremonial wedding crème brûlée (long story)

Lest you think it’s all herebys and pronouncements, I will mention that during one of the ceremonies, right after some profoundly beautiful vows, I lost my place in my script, panicked, and then said “fuck” loud and clear into the mic. Even though I had worked hard to write clever jokes into my script, no one remembered them and instead people congratulated me on my foul mouth.

✅ Review it with Huet: slacklining

I like to learn new physical skills, but I also am deeply uninterested in exposing myself to any physical danger. As a result, I have found a sense of accomplishment in suitably low-octane challenges such as 1) beginner salsa dancing and 2) learning how to open a beer bottle with another beer bottle. I also hate heights.

In conclusion, I learned to slackline last summer (thanks to some patient and well-balanced friends) and I love it. It’s more difficult and more satisfying than it looks (which is usually kind of silly). And most importantly, if you feel yourself falling, you just… jump approximately 18 inches onto the soft, study ground. My ideal sport.