short term pain for long term pain

How "scrappy" became the defining mode of life and the trends one of my favorite fashion writers loves — and hates.

Mar 22, 2026

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🦿 HIP REPLACEMENT 🦿 this week features Creative Night events manager, Justin Rocha, who joined Ben Dietz and I to talk Buzzfeed’s impact, why burgers are having a cross-generational moment, and if the Oscar’s actually connected with Gen Z: tune in on Substack, YouTube, or Spotify!!

‘Armageddon scenario’ for gas markets
Conflict turns shipping into ‘wild west’
Jump in Gas Prices Feels Different
Gas prices could squeeze oil companies

Mess, mess, mess: as if a simple war (Ugh.) wasn’t enough, the whole world is getting squeezed as essential parts of supply chains are truncated. Should we divest from oil? Of course, but that’s not going to be the lesson here, as Covid and its intersectional catastrophes illustrated that we are quick to learn no lessons from the disasters we live through. Back to closing down countries and begging people to stop flying! That’ll do it — or, at least, deeply bruise AI.

Trump: NATO, China police Hormuz
Trump backs FCC chair’s threat

Real fuck around, find out vibes around the war too as Trump was duped into it with no one (In Europe!) to save him, all of which is leading to honest coverage of the situation that his goons are farting in the hopes of upping favorability. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. (To the FAFO vibe: don’t take Joe Kent’s conspiracy bait, as the former counter-terrorism lead sought to noblely resign while stoking antisemitism, which not-dead Netanyahu himself is stoking too. Now Joey’s clout chasing with Tucker Carlson, saying there’s a Kirkspiracy!)

Unease in Japan
”laugh at the image mocking Joe Biden”
”White House published photos of the PM”

Sanae Takaichi’s trip to Washington is one of the more embarrassing cases of international Trump simping, perhaps worse than that of Giorgia Meloni or Javier Milei. This story line will undoubtedly continue, as will the brutal memes.

Hourslong lines as TSA agents quit

All due to a looming government shutdown, which has paused funding for the DHS, taking down the TSA too. This ties into another trend of the week: a joking boiling point around people who aren’t connecting such inconveniences to political activity.

Blizzard, heat, atmospheric river all at once
Historic March heatwave in US west
Why earthquakes have rattled SC

If you can’t make your own ecological disaster for your dystopia, store-bought is fine.

London, SF, Beijing: ‘remarkable reductions’ in pollution
What’s Behind Historic Drop in US Crime

Now for something good: consistently, cities are doing better for the planet as places are generally getting safer too. Knowledge and action are powerful things. (Look at the comments of the second story though, as many a right wing chud is going “THANKS TRUMP!!” when the reality is complicated, participating in the global trend of murder and crime going down.)

Rare daytime fireball spotted from orbit
A meteor soared across Europe

We had two rare-and-wowing meteor sightings, one in the Midwest and one in Europe. Are these aliens signals from aliens who are trying to STOP FIGHTINGGGG us? Maybe, or perhaps it’s them offering their take on meme jokes.

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There was a time when a boss saying we were “scrappy” was exciting. We, the Little Rascals of new media, cranked late hours for the promise of getting a hit story of the day, for a Facebook video going viral. We, the underdogs of the app store, worked on three audio storytelling projects at once to be the first-to-market in what we assumed to be a growing audio-education market. We, the humble workers detached from the VC funding, nodded and smiled and stepped up to take a little cash in exchange for months and years of our lives. How did that work out? I wade toward the end of a second decade stacking three or four concurrent jobs atop of each other within the trench coat I call a “career,” all in the hopes one of the jobs will become good enough that I can “get my time back,” financially mono-tasking for once: this is what it looks like to have been born and bred within the scraps.

Fifteen to twenty years in this techno-economic pyramid scheme, the “scrappy” mentality has remade the world into a series of cost cuts few benefit from — and is becoming an increasingly obvious sign that only elite billionaires will avoid being thrown down here with us. Look to CNN as an example, a network that is sweating in a competitive news landscape, under the pressure of an incoming regime, which has forced its anchors to playact as if podcasters. That’ll do it! That’ll do it. Poor Jake Shane, the whipping boy of the Oscars, has come to represent the problem of creators-as-journalists-as-bestie, where such “buzzy” individuals are bequeathed outsized roles due to supposed influence instead of true expertise. But what about journalists themselves? They’ve been trying to become creators for years now, representing how fraught (“scrappy”) the walls around both kingdoms are. There’s a trend of artists hoping to ditch the art that made them, an update on the Black-to-white code switch (Post Malone, Jack Harlow, MGK, Pink) that sees an increasingly bold musician-to-actor (or whatever) sales switch. Art itself cannot exist just “as it is” — or was — as supposedly definitive works like the book Pretty Little Liars are being edited to include modern pop references, the most damning example of work never being done, that life and death are now the same, that there will never be rest when you can be used in the “scrappy” agenda. And so what if all of these items tie to the creative or media based worlds? Oof.

From “reporter-free newsrooms” to directors-as-doulas, movies-as-lifestyle-brand to the subscriptionification and appification of everything, this extends the “second jobs” mentality into something dirtier: what was once just you and I working as social media managers and graphic designers and on-air talent and writers and editorial strategists all at the same time has now become everyone playing this same dumb games of multi-hyphenation as the knives are drawn to more throats. Now, the water has risen so high in this economic pit that all of us — Even executives of fast food companies!!!! — are having to tread water as to not drown in toxic sludge. No one is safe from the sniper of economic precarity: short term pain for long term ~~pain~~ gain! “My 2026 life is exactly the same as my 2025 life,” a creator explains, outlining how the American economy might be “resilient” but regular people are not. “Except that it costs $400 more per month.” “Two and a half: that’s how many year’s I’ve been unemployed,” a woman says, placing herself within the long-term unemployment trend. “4,000: that’s roughly how many job applications I’ve put in.” “I’m a waiter at a local restaurant in Queens, a full time college student who sleeps an average of four hours a night and is still thousands in debt,” a young man asks the US Ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz. “How is a war in a country half the world away, funded by the taxes pulled from my check, helping me in any way?

This is inspiring a mania, one that is poised to have a breakout of bigger and crazier actions to work with-and-against these uncaring times that seeks to kill all of us: madness as a cheat code to over-optimization, to corner cutting where your body is the one taking the scars. This may mean more Polymarket betting your life or throwing away a career for something meaningful or more violent actors without casues, all highlighting a crisis of meaning and mattering in a world of performance, of everything in life (dating, friendships, shopping, sex) becoming transactional. “I’ve been to some concerts of people who have huge fan bases for 30 seconds of music,” the musician Lucy Dacus explains. “It’s cool that people are connecting to the snippet. But what is that like to look out and just see people that for the rest of the time just don’t care?” Life isn’t really life when it’s a collage of micro-experiences masquerading as a rich tapestry of longterm relationships; thus, this creeping mania as we realize we’re losing all the things that make us who we are. Workslop and stupidity reign over a crisis of caring. Why does everything have to be so efficient? Why lose the process of making, of waiting, of enjoying-the-ride? Who is profiting from all this streamlining? “Part of what makes art special is that it’s difficult to make, even with all the tools right in front of you,” the creator Drew Gooden explained in his now definitive 2024 piece “AI is ruining the internet.” “It takes practice, it takes skill, and, every time you do it, you expand on that skill. Every song you hear, every movie you watch, is the result of thousands of hours of trial and error. You can fail a million times and use that experience to finally succeed.”

Perhaps that’s exactly it: is the “scrappy” creep an expression of trial-and-error being practiced by humanity? Will we reach a point of reflection, where we “learn from this” to the betterment of all people? Or will we continue to be ground down, more of us trampled as the K-economy yawns further in its path of consumption? Something will break, by enough people entering economic mania, staring in the mirror and finding themselves in the throes of lifeslop with nothing to show for it but 3D printed food and chibi world leaders. What happens when we as a society realize we have all become the Lomans? What are we to make of Falling Down befalling us all? What happens when we see ourselves as over-worked NPCs instead of the chosen ones whose scrappiness will grant them salvation?

‘One Battle After Another’ Was ‘Totally Meh’
Oscars Ratings Down, Lowest Since 2022
What Was Up With the Lighting?

The Oscars were flop, as we discussed Tuesday, which was made worse by the very awful Vanity Fair party and Jake Shane terrorism. Meanwhile, soundstages are going empty, jobs are disappearing, and David Zaslav is filling his pockets. “But movies are FUN!!” someone cries, to which I say: sure — but the art of it all is being killed by the business itself, which is being ran very poorly while wasteful shit like throwing away the literal red carpet encapsulates so well. (Curious about Hollywood’s waste problem? I wrote about that in 2019.)

Zara Taps John Galliano

This is…crazy? In that it’s certainly really cool that normies will have access to one of the greatest designers of our lifetime, but this continues the problematic trend of fast fashion brands — Gap, H&M, Uniqlo — collaborating with top designers to appear “more luxury” as a tactic to sell even more. It’s luxurywashing! Greed by another name, as Galliano enters the scraps with us.

Housewives Went to Washington
ABC Pulls ‘The Bachelorette’

A tale of two housewives: a fleet of Real Housewives (Nene, Candice, Luann) went to the Capital to advocate for greater HIV care across the country to protect all people (Especially Black women and queer persons!), as another wife — The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ Taylor Frankie Paul — had her Bachelorette series dropped days before it debuted thanks to a viral video of her committing domestic assault. What a week!

You Don’t Have to Love Afroman

A huge story this week, as the 2000s era artist won a battle against the cops for raiding his home. This is what police accountability looks like, even if Afroman’s values are a bit questionable.

America Has More Spas, Gyms Than Stores

What sort of indicator is this? It seems to reflect a mass vanity psychosis, but also that “online” is now “the store” and food is no longer real.

Brakes on Psychedelic Antidepressants

Sorry, shroomheads: looks like the effects of such psychedelics on issues like depression might be a bit over-hyped. That doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy them! But if you are on psychedelics right now? Don’t look at these images.

Dachshunds are riding high
“I had with my guide dog, London”
“iconic task of ringing the church bell”

Good dog posts of the week: French Bulldogs — and all their many maladies — are still the most beloved American dog but dachshunds are picking up steam, which I’ve tracked for the past few years from Scandinavia to Paris; the Whitney Biennial has started with a (personal) breakout being the work of Emilie Louise Gossiaux, which is dedicated to her guide dog and will make you cry; and a dog from Crete who has gone viral for ringing a church bell.

“Is God real?”
“woman of VIRTUE”

It’s been a big week for the drag queen Lushious Massacr, who not only won a Queerty award but used her space in the spotlight this week to literally wax poetic about the need to (somewhat literally) come as you are. An icon! Which reminds me: I cannot wait to watch The Comeback tonight!!!!

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Viv Chen and I met as many a writer meets: in the halls of the metaphorical office we haunt (a la: Substack), where we exchanged stories of what we do, tee-heeing about the worlds we occupy and how they overlap.

We’ve since become mutuals, as I love Viv’s take on fashion and culture, all of which comes to life in a particularly vivid way on her TikTok along with her very cool-girl-style newsletter, The Molehill. She’s effortlessly chic, with an approach to fashion that is a combination of 1990s archival expertise meets high fructose flexing: she’s exactly the person you think of when you imagine what a fashion writer is today — or at least she’s who I imagine when I think about what a contemporary fashion writer should be now. Also? I appreciate anyone who opts for big color in these very colorless, pallid, ashen times. My sister in this battle against the boring!!

Given her ability to explore the grayscale morality of Harper Stern while encouraging one’s inner style child, I wanted to chat with her about the trends she’s following and loving and hating and avoiding as she similarly is keeping track on the happenings of the world through what we wear. Tuck in for some deep thoughts on why analogue hobbies are good, how trends help and hurt fashion, and why you’ll not find her having gochujang cookies.

Tell me about a trend you’re following that you’re really into.
I actually feel like the “analog hobby” internet trend has introduced more creativity into my life. Yes, there’s the whole contradiction of oh, you’re sharing an “offline” activity online so it runs counter to the spirit of the analog lifestyle...to which I say, everything is labeled as performative if it’s shared with an audience...and that’s okay. We should all try out more hobbies for our personal enjoyment, and it’s not better or worse to have discovered that hobby via the internet or IRL. For example, I’ve recently come across these passionate gardening creators on TikTok and spent a weekend weeding planters and sowing poppy seeds...a sentence I never thought I’d say!
What’s your approach to navigating trends in fashion?
None of us are totally immune from trends. It’s in the air and water of our society. I think the more you know yourself and explore your likes and dislikes and the why’s behind that, the less influenced you’ll be by external trends. A lot of my outfits are definitely trend-conscious, but I’ll always try to style it in a way that feels like me.
What do you think is the biggest source of fashion trends now?
Hmm I would say television and movies, which trickle down and get dissected on social media platforms. Like what’s happening with Love Story and everyone wanting to dress like CBK. I think it both hurts and helps fashion because there’s duality to everything. But in general, the media and advertising systems are designed to get people to consume more and consume faster—so I would encourage people to engage with trends with a curiosity mindset (vs. a consumption mindset) first!
What’s a trend you hope never dies?
Oof. I loooove reading that genre of dramatic, delusional, self-absorbed personal essays that The Cut has perfected and I hope those never go away.
What’s a trend you are so over?
I’m so over the pan-Asian-fusion-maxxed desserts. Sorry, but I do NOT want a szechuan peppercorn yuzu galangal cookie. Whenever I see a menu like this, I’m immediately suspicious of whether it actually tastes good and every single time I end up wishing I just ordered a chocolate cake slice or something.

Catch more from Viv over on The Molehill and be sure to follow her on Instagram and TikTok.

“camp asf”
“I had a neck lift”
“poly flag on the moon”
“gay boy with a living room”
“Oscars always makes twitter”
“home after the bar”
“Where’s Pedro??”
“ABOUT how Diane”
“take her seriously”
“Kevin from the Backstreet Boys”

Best Oscar content, including a sequel to Nicole Kidman’s Tweety Bird fawning (which isn’t as good as the original). Special shout out to Jeremy O. Harris who called Sam Altman a Nazi to his face! We love gay-on-gay crimes of passion.

“happy to dislocate”
“she started twisting”
“so did JD”
“plotting on that toe”
“Britney was stepping”
“rih the next day”
”Chaka was stepping”
”having my second dinner”

An unlikely — but welcome — meme return this week was the Areatha Franklin toe terrorism jokes that popped up last fall (and has become a standard observation).