Finally, an update

Hello!

I more or less abandoned this newsletter over the past six months; my life has been in so much flux that I wasn’t sure if, or when, I’d be able to come back to it.

Now I’m here, with some news! My academic career ended (at least for now) when The King’s College laid off all faculty at the end of July. It wasn’t unexpected, but I spent most of the year not knowing whether I’d have a job come fall. We finally found out mid-July (while I was in a Barbie screening, haha). You can read more here.

It was a shame to have that part of my life end that way, but in the meantime I’d been interviewing for a job at the New York Times, and this week they finally announced that I’m the new movie critic, beginning Monday. A.O. Scott moved over to the Book Review at the start of 2023, leaving the position open, and the gears turn slowly at the Gray Lady. I am really excited to be joining, for a lot of reasons, but perhaps especially because this is a crucial moment in the movie business and in movie criticism. I hope you’ll read me over there.

That means today is my last day at Vox, which is sad — I’ve been there for more than seven years, my first full-time staff position in media, and it’s been a wonderful place to work, especially in the hellscape that is digital media right now. Sometimes you have to move on, but I’m so, so grateful for the people I’ve been able to work with and the work I’ve been able to do.

Finally, I turned in the first draft of my book We Tell Ourselves Stories this summer, and it looks like it will probably be out in early 2025, just in time for the New York Public Library’s Joan Didion archive to become public. Serendipity.

I do plan to keep updating this Substack with links to my work, but of course you’ll know where to find me regardless! Thanks for reading. You’re the most important part of the job.