What’s Cool Now That the Sun Is Setting Before 7pm Again

By luck or fate or some other reason, you’ve found yourself reading an email from Thinking Is Cool, *the* podcast to listen to if you want to have better conversations. If this email was forwarded to you, sign up for regular correspondence from me, Kinsey, right here:

Good morning, everyone. No two Friday Thinking Is Cool emails are alike, but they all follow a loose theme: what I’m thinking about heading into the weekend. Today, it’s hard to think about anything other than Nicki Minaj’s cousin’s friend’s balls. When I tell you this story has consumed me this week…

If you don’t know what I’m talking about this must be a really weird way to start your day. I urge—nay, implore—you to read about the most 2021 story to happen so far in 2021. Many morals to this story, but the most important: get vaccinated, practice safe sex, and don’t lie about your swollen balls to someone with a famous cousin.

Now that I’ve said the word balls more than I ever anticipated to in a professional capacity, let’s talk about what else I’ve been thinking about this week. Time to take it anywhere.

What’s Cool Now That the Sun Is Setting Before 7pm Again

This week, my brain (the parts not stuck on Nicki Minaj’s cousin’s friend’s balls) has been on a nonstop treadmill of random and unfinished thought-starters. I’m in one of those moods to think really hard about literally everything, from how weird the term “significant other” is to why no one talks about the way they filmed vampire running scenes in the Twilight series.

Today, I’ve decided to share some of those ideas with you—none of them are particularly complete, but they’ve all inspired me to call my parents, post on Twitter, text a friend, journal...you get the idea. In no particular order, this week’s Thot Leadership:

I just bought corduroy cargo pants. With money. I paid a store money in exchange for pants that are both 1) corduroy and 2) multi-pocketed. If you had told 2019 me and my skinny jeans that I would not just want but covet corduroy cargo pants, I would have laughed in your silly little sartorially challenged face.

But today, I wear things like corduroy cargo pants. I have tattoos. I collect cowboy boots. I got bangs. Outwardly, my entire vibe changed during the pandemic. And I’ve been digging into why that is—here’s where I landed: When faced over the last 18 months with a frustrating inability to express ourselves publicly and socially the way we once did, we clamored for any sort of obvious articulation of self that didn’t require face to face conversation. For me, that was completely upending my personal style (in addition to Tweeting a lot more).

Makes me wonder what my personal style might look like next year after 2020 and 2021 rapidly sped up the inevitable shifts in what counts as “a cool outfit.” Kinda digging the dark academia vibe for my post-corduroy cargo pants era?

The Met Gala and moral absolutism. There is much discourse to be had around what a monumental disappointment this year’s Met Gala looks were (that’s what you get when the theme is AmErIcA) ((Keke Palmer for president though)). But what caught my timeline’s attention was, of course, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Brother Vellies “Tax the Rich” dress, pictured below:

There seem to be a lot of opinions about this dress and the message it sends. While I’m no public policy expert, I do have a small take to share: I think AOC’s message is an important one, but this wasn’t the time or place to make it. By advancing an agenda seemingly for the headlines instead of the follow-through, her efforts to bring this country’s wealthy to account read a little too performative for my taste. It felt like a shtick.

But that’s not really the extent of what I’ve been thinking about re: the Met and AOC. It seems a lot of people online made this into a Left vs. Right issue. I sensed very little room for liberals like myself to say “hey I think this was maybe a little off base” without having our Democrat cards revoked.

From my corner of the internet, this felt like a “you’re either with us or against us” type beat, and I hate those. When we remove the ability to exist (and think) dynamically, we box ourselves into toxic groupthink norms.

Idk maybe I just didn’t like the tuxedo feel of the front of the dress? Could be that too.

This. Haha...what?

Do you need to starve to be an artist? In my book club (which is literally just my dating app boyfriend and me sharing books and then talking about them), we’re reading Just Kids by Patti Smith. It’s forced me to hold a mirror up to my own creativity, and at times question it.

Can I really be a creative—in the truest sense of the word—without struggle? Is suffering the only path to true creative enlightenment? Can I still be an artist and buy corduroy cargo pants and the occasional Sweetgreen salad? I hope so, but the archetypical definition of an “Artist” might suggest otherwise.

Okay! That’s enough thinking for today. Tune in next week for who knows what!

And now for a word from our sponsor:

What do Will Smith, Tony Hawk, The Chainsmokers, and yours truly all have in common?

Hint: It’s neither Las Vegas residencies (thank goodness for your ears) nor MasterClass episodes (dream big though).

Answer: We’re all investors on Public.com. Have you heard of it? Public.com is a free investing social network app that allows you to both own parts of the companies you believe in and share ideas about your investing strategy with your community.

My favorite part about Public.com? It has no commission fees on standard trades and no account minimums to get started. You can invest in thousands of publicly traded companies for as little as $1.

Download the app today or sign up online at Public.com with the code STAYCOOL to receive $10 in free stock (and then you should follow me to learn more about all of my hottest stock-related takes). Just remember: This offer is valid for U.S. residents only, and you must be 18 or older to join. Visit Public.com/disclosures for more information.

Earlier this week, I released an episode about Apple and the ways it has irreversibly changed human history. I had quite a few perceptions shattered in making the episode, and I hope you listened and thought about your own relationship with technology.

As luck would have it, the days following this episode’s publication were very much filled with news about Apple. A short compilation to pair with the most recent episode of Thinking Is Cool:

• Apple urged basically everyone who owns an Apple product to update their software to fix an issue that reportedly opened our gadgets to invasive spyware built by NSO Group, an Israeli security company. Of course this happens right after I literally said on my podcast, “Apple’s reputation for security and data privacy is pretty stellar compared to its peers.”

• Apple debuted details of its new iPad, Apple Watch Series 7, and hotly anticipated iPhone 13 at its “California Streaming” event Tuesday. Luv shiny new things.

Listen to the episode if you’re cool!

Thank you for reading. I’m becoming increasingly unhinged in these emails...hope you love. If you do, email me. If you don’t, also email me. Down to ~ideate & iterate~ always.

See you Monday for a first-of-its-kind episode of Thinking Is Cool. Have a groovy weekend!

-Kinsey

Twitter | Instagram | Thinking Is Cool

P.S. Last week, I devoted this entire email to one very existential exploration of what it means to grow emotionally—the pain, the beauty, the discomfort. Did I intend to evoke Julia Stiles in that poem scene of 10 Things I Hate About You? No. But God gives his most emotional battles to his most PMS-ing soldiers.

Thank you for all of the support following that email. And to my friends who read it and reached out—I love you, and you’re forever.