July roundup: I paid $10 for a soda and have some thoughts about Love Island

Hi,

July was a month. I stayed in New York, despite the humidity. The city empties out just enough that you can actually get a table somewhere and everything feels slightly unhinged in the best way.

Work-wise, I’ve been trying to intentionally scaling back on some of my other work to focus on content. I’ve been a bit burned out, and in trying to do all things was, actually, doing nothing that well, IMO. So I’m hoping August will be a continuation of me being a little bit more deliberate with my time.

Other highlights: I dog-sat a golden retriever, took the ferry to the Rockaways, and had a bunch of really good oysters. Sometimes a month doesn’t need to be more complicated than that.

Welcome is the July edition of my monthly roundup: everything I wrote, everything I watched and read, the best and worst things I bought, and more. Let’s go.

What I wrote this month

Hey … can you pay me back now?

We’re in the summer of financed fun, where the rising cost of having a social life has turned friend groups into informal credit markets. Because, if you think about it, the person who fronts the bill is essentially providing unsecured, interest-free loan backed by nothing but the friendship.

Love Island is the highest form of capitalism

Love Island is inescapable right now, and what strikes me watching it is how obvious it’s become that most of these people are there for the brand deals. Love Island has become this perfect embodiment of the attention economy and what precarity does to our sense of security. The self becomes the product, attention makes it feel legitimate, and thus fame becomes a viable financial path.

The economy is just a VIP list now

The economy increasingly rewards people who can afford to never wait, mix, or be observed. Covers everything from concierge TSA services to private internet to the fact that someone is building a luxury theme park in Mexico. (We are living in a dystopian novel and no one seems concerned.)

To be an American, revisited

America turned 250, so I did what any normal person would do and wrote about the psychology of the American Dream and why it’s making us miserable. Also in this issue: student loans just got way more confusing, a reader question about whether to panic about the AI bubble (no), and the secret reason your boss wants you back in the office (narcissism).

Over on social …

From the archive

Is money secretly ruining your relationship?

Money is the number-one predictor of divorce, and yet most couples would rather talk about literally anything else. How financial dynamics create invisible power imbalances in relationships and why being honest about money with your partner is both the hardest and most important conversation you can have.

Is it possible to be financially happy?

What financial happiness actually means (spoiler: it’s not a number), why most of us are chasing a feeling of security that keeps moving further away, and what the research says about the relationship between money and wellbeing.

What else is going on?

Reading.

• Discontent — Oh baby, if you feel existentialism and nihilism about the white-collar workforce, you will love this. Wonderfully written.
• Say Nothing — A gripping nonfiction book about the Troubles in Northern Ireland that reads like a thriller.
• Swimming in the Dark — beautiful prose, atmospheric, for me a little slow in the middle. If you like this style of book I highly recommend Cleanness by Garth Greenwell.

Watching. I saw The Odyssey in theaters. Or more accurately, I felt The Odyssey in theaters, because the speakers were blown out and the entire auditorium was just vibrating on bass for two and a half hours.

Listening to: Crybaby

The best thing I bought this month

A flight to Amsterdam in October to see my best friend, who is having a BABY!!!

The worst thing I bought this month

A TEN DOLLAR soda at the movie theater. I panicked at the concession stand and asked for a large, and the cashier then handed me a SIXTY-FOUR OUNCE cup that I had to carry into the theater with two hands.

Thanks for being here, for reading, for sending these to your friends, for supporting my work! If you’re not subscribed yet, this newsletter is free every Wednesday. And if you want access to the full archive (including the paid essays above), you can become a paid subscriber below.

See you next month.

Hanna