I’m going to be taking December off from Maybe Baby to give myself some time to rest and plan for 2021. To keep you company this month, I’ve unlocked all my 2020 podcasts—i.e. they’re no longer behind a paywall. I’ve released 22 episodes this year (they drop every Tuesday), most of them exploring the topics I wrote about the previous Sunday, whether with new depth, in a new way, or from a different perspective.
Thank YOU Haley! It's been so great to listen to the pod every week, my personal faves have been those with Avi and Harling, and your brother and sister. Those conversations always have me laughing out loud while I do the dishes or finish a painting, it feels like a bunch of my own friends chatting in my ears. Hope you have a restorative December and feel refreshed in the new year. I've also found myself using some of your terms in my daily life, notably 'bodega Santa', which is one of my favourite roles to assume when I'm out on a rare shop visit. The people who set up those impulse buys at the checkout really see me coming... Looking forward to having Maybe Baby back in 2021! X
Glad to read you’re taking some time to yourself to rest and recharge. Wishing you a lovely and cozy December filled with binge watching TV and lots of reading and eating. I’m so grateful to have discovered your writing during the pandemic, it has now become a source of great joy and comfort and something I reflect upon often. Thank you for creating this newsletter and for your writing; this little corner of the internet is such a lovely place. You continue to augment my thinking, alleviate loneliness, help create meaning, and inspire me. See you back in 2021!
It has been incredibly cathartic to hear you articulate - in the way that you are uniquely able to ✨ - some of the same feelings and thoughts I have been wrestling with over these weeks and months.
I had imagined December 2019 and the year 2020 very differently - for a time we had a nearly impossible opportunity. Corbyn and Sanders very nearly made it... this year was something worse than I could have even imagined last December when Labour lost the GE.
But reading your newsletter makes solidarity still feel real. Makes connection with others still feel possible in what has been an impossibly bleak year.
Having someone to relate to and help make sense of/escape from this very scary time has made a huge difference for me. Thank you for taking the time to share it all and doing it so beautifully. Hope you have a restful and satisfying break! xx
First, thank you so much for this year! I loved loved loved every newsletter, especially the Dear Baby. You’re awesome and I am way more likely to support artists and creators via subscription after feeling so satisfied with yours.
I’m not sure this is something you’re interested in but I surely would love to have some kind of writing workshops/course with you. Not sure if you’re ready to jump on that train haha
Have a very nice Christmas and I hope you get to enjoy with your best ones 😊
It’s so strange to reflect back on those early newsletter and pandemic days! Thank you for creating a space to process the boredom, grief and even occasional benefits (!) of quarantining. I’m dropping by to say I hope you’ll take inspiration from one of my favorite pieces into consideration as you plan for 2021. I’m talking about the profile of Abigail Bruley and the analysis around personality and permanence. It was an outstanding piece of journalism, and for me, it played to your strengths as a writer who is deeply reflective and curious about what makes us human. I know those pieces take time, travel (not happening) and rapport that might be impossible to conjure on Zoom/Hangouts/FaceTime. Still, I like the way one-on-one interactions can spark new paths of thinking and help us see things we might overlook in other contexts. That doesn’t happen much for me personally in times of quarantine, so I am increasingly seeking it out in journalism. I’d love to see your approach in my inbox ❤️
Oh man, going back to newsletter #1 really hits. I remember how specifically terrifying that day felt, and I’m actually glad that it’s memorialized here. I live in Canada on a literal island, so despite following suit with the rest of the country & our province in a lockdown, it lacked the brevity I saw online which got to be pretty disorienting. Especially in the US, when your Day 18 came, it felt like a huge mindfuck because we were only on Day 9 (and you’re right, the first week felt very hard!!) and I was still holding out just a little hope that we would get back to things after a couple weeks. I remember writing about that day in my journal (I was one of those who kept a lockdown journal, yes).
Anyway, I’ve been massively grateful for the company, so thank you. I feel like a lot of the article-reading, subscription-sign ups, and generally keeping track of life lately with photos and writing and sending messages are credit to here. I hope you get that rest you were looking for back in March.
Your newsletter was my Sunday pick me up. Brought consistency to the bleak parts of 2020.Thanks for the gift of lifting the paywall. Fully support having the paywall btw! Get that well deserved break.
Every Sunday I cozy read your newsletter in bed and every Tuesday during whatever assigned task I’ve given myself to give my life structure I listen to the pod. THANK YOU for creating this sweet slice of internet space. I’m excited for all the ways it will transform and all the conversations and questions it will spark. Happy resting!!
Thanks for all the great content this year! I always look forward to your emails hitting my inbox and I have now become A Person Who Listens to Podcasts which is a new and exciting thing for me, particularly in a year with very little in the way of new or exciting. I've gotten a lot out of your writing, and I really enjoy the blend of thoughtful, emotional, interesting and genuinely funny content you manage to cram into each letter/recording. I hope you have a pleasant, restful December and come out feeling refreshed and inspired on the other side!
Best of luck to you this month Haley!! Hope it’s a nice change of pace for you :) also looking forward to listening to the podcasts! There’s an article you wrote a while ago about relationships and ever since then I’ve kept it bookmarked and send it out to all of my friends when they’re having their doubts and it even led me to breaking off a few things. Your voice will be missed very greatly this month <3
Hope you have a good time away from the internet. I was just reading some of the comments on the nepotism podcast and like, I find it amazing how people will "critique" an internet personality (I'm thinking of Harling here) and be like "she's too rich, gtfo the relatively major fashion publication I'm reading", compare her to the daughter of one of the Seinfeld writers in terms of fame thus nepotism, and so on.
Like I can understand as far as "oh fuck, I'm reading rich people stuff, this sucks", which happens to me a bit, but I assume I'm slightly responsible as I'm involved in the reading, I was looking at brain candy, it was high quality (good for whoever made it), I need to move on and do something else now, I know how the internet works. So already a lot of the comments on MR specifically about Harling really bothered me because, apart from having rich parents, she didn't seem to do shit wrong. And as for rich parents, plenty of young people these days are a lot worse off than their parents, not everyone has a supportive relationship with their parents, my point being that you can't deduce just from who someone is that you're "punching down" and thus everything goes. In fact the fact that "am I punching down Y/N" is the only question that often comes into play is in itself pretty alarming.
But then following her around everywhere else she appears carrying a bag of popcorn, "critiquing" her, expressing constant surprise that her home is rather nice and that this is cringe, and then getting huffy at you because you won't take "critique" or give her the opportunity to confess (confess what? just confess), and I think you probably low-key get some of that too, I just don't get it. I mean, I get that everyone likes something to read over popcorn. But it's just e-stalking and bullying after a point.
Anyway, thank you for the newsletter, I'll miss getting it the next couple of Sundays but look forward to it in the new year!
Thank YOU Haley! It's been so great to listen to the pod every week, my personal faves have been those with Avi and Harling, and your brother and sister. Those conversations always have me laughing out loud while I do the dishes or finish a painting, it feels like a bunch of my own friends chatting in my ears. Hope you have a restorative December and feel refreshed in the new year. I've also found myself using some of your terms in my daily life, notably 'bodega Santa', which is one of my favourite roles to assume when I'm out on a rare shop visit. The people who set up those impulse buys at the checkout really see me coming... Looking forward to having Maybe Baby back in 2021! X
Glad to read you’re taking some time to yourself to rest and recharge. Wishing you a lovely and cozy December filled with binge watching TV and lots of reading and eating. I’m so grateful to have discovered your writing during the pandemic, it has now become a source of great joy and comfort and something I reflect upon often. Thank you for creating this newsletter and for your writing; this little corner of the internet is such a lovely place. You continue to augment my thinking, alleviate loneliness, help create meaning, and inspire me. See you back in 2021!
Thank you for your newsletter!
It has been incredibly cathartic to hear you articulate - in the way that you are uniquely able to ✨ - some of the same feelings and thoughts I have been wrestling with over these weeks and months.
I had imagined December 2019 and the year 2020 very differently - for a time we had a nearly impossible opportunity. Corbyn and Sanders very nearly made it... this year was something worse than I could have even imagined last December when Labour lost the GE.
But reading your newsletter makes solidarity still feel real. Makes connection with others still feel possible in what has been an impossibly bleak year.
Have a restful break.
Sending love from London, UK.
Having someone to relate to and help make sense of/escape from this very scary time has made a huge difference for me. Thank you for taking the time to share it all and doing it so beautifully. Hope you have a restful and satisfying break! xx
Hi Haley! :)
First, thank you so much for this year! I loved loved loved every newsletter, especially the Dear Baby. You’re awesome and I am way more likely to support artists and creators via subscription after feeling so satisfied with yours.
I’m not sure this is something you’re interested in but I surely would love to have some kind of writing workshops/course with you. Not sure if you’re ready to jump on that train haha
Have a very nice Christmas and I hope you get to enjoy with your best ones 😊
It’s so strange to reflect back on those early newsletter and pandemic days! Thank you for creating a space to process the boredom, grief and even occasional benefits (!) of quarantining. I’m dropping by to say I hope you’ll take inspiration from one of my favorite pieces into consideration as you plan for 2021. I’m talking about the profile of Abigail Bruley and the analysis around personality and permanence. It was an outstanding piece of journalism, and for me, it played to your strengths as a writer who is deeply reflective and curious about what makes us human. I know those pieces take time, travel (not happening) and rapport that might be impossible to conjure on Zoom/Hangouts/FaceTime. Still, I like the way one-on-one interactions can spark new paths of thinking and help us see things we might overlook in other contexts. That doesn’t happen much for me personally in times of quarantine, so I am increasingly seeking it out in journalism. I’d love to see your approach in my inbox ❤️
Oh man, going back to newsletter #1 really hits. I remember how specifically terrifying that day felt, and I’m actually glad that it’s memorialized here. I live in Canada on a literal island, so despite following suit with the rest of the country & our province in a lockdown, it lacked the brevity I saw online which got to be pretty disorienting. Especially in the US, when your Day 18 came, it felt like a huge mindfuck because we were only on Day 9 (and you’re right, the first week felt very hard!!) and I was still holding out just a little hope that we would get back to things after a couple weeks. I remember writing about that day in my journal (I was one of those who kept a lockdown journal, yes).
Anyway, I’ve been massively grateful for the company, so thank you. I feel like a lot of the article-reading, subscription-sign ups, and generally keeping track of life lately with photos and writing and sending messages are credit to here. I hope you get that rest you were looking for back in March.
Thank you for your company:)
thank you and have a good break haley! see you next year :)
Your newsletter was my Sunday pick me up. Brought consistency to the bleak parts of 2020.Thanks for the gift of lifting the paywall. Fully support having the paywall btw! Get that well deserved break.
Every Sunday I cozy read your newsletter in bed and every Tuesday during whatever assigned task I’ve given myself to give my life structure I listen to the pod. THANK YOU for creating this sweet slice of internet space. I’m excited for all the ways it will transform and all the conversations and questions it will spark. Happy resting!!
Thanks for all the great content this year! I always look forward to your emails hitting my inbox and I have now become A Person Who Listens to Podcasts which is a new and exciting thing for me, particularly in a year with very little in the way of new or exciting. I've gotten a lot out of your writing, and I really enjoy the blend of thoughtful, emotional, interesting and genuinely funny content you manage to cram into each letter/recording. I hope you have a pleasant, restful December and come out feeling refreshed and inspired on the other side!
Thank you Haley <3 for all your toughts and kindness that I think makes us all better people. Love from Sweden
Best of luck to you this month Haley!! Hope it’s a nice change of pace for you :) also looking forward to listening to the podcasts! There’s an article you wrote a while ago about relationships and ever since then I’ve kept it bookmarked and send it out to all of my friends when they’re having their doubts and it even led me to breaking off a few things. Your voice will be missed very greatly this month <3
Hi Haley, tysm for making your podcasts public. They make me feel like I have ✨a social life ✨
Hope you have a good time away from the internet. I was just reading some of the comments on the nepotism podcast and like, I find it amazing how people will "critique" an internet personality (I'm thinking of Harling here) and be like "she's too rich, gtfo the relatively major fashion publication I'm reading", compare her to the daughter of one of the Seinfeld writers in terms of fame thus nepotism, and so on.
Like I can understand as far as "oh fuck, I'm reading rich people stuff, this sucks", which happens to me a bit, but I assume I'm slightly responsible as I'm involved in the reading, I was looking at brain candy, it was high quality (good for whoever made it), I need to move on and do something else now, I know how the internet works. So already a lot of the comments on MR specifically about Harling really bothered me because, apart from having rich parents, she didn't seem to do shit wrong. And as for rich parents, plenty of young people these days are a lot worse off than their parents, not everyone has a supportive relationship with their parents, my point being that you can't deduce just from who someone is that you're "punching down" and thus everything goes. In fact the fact that "am I punching down Y/N" is the only question that often comes into play is in itself pretty alarming.
But then following her around everywhere else she appears carrying a bag of popcorn, "critiquing" her, expressing constant surprise that her home is rather nice and that this is cringe, and then getting huffy at you because you won't take "critique" or give her the opportunity to confess (confess what? just confess), and I think you probably low-key get some of that too, I just don't get it. I mean, I get that everyone likes something to read over popcorn. But it's just e-stalking and bullying after a point.
Anyway, thank you for the newsletter, I'll miss getting it the next couple of Sundays but look forward to it in the new year!