Meet the Team (Please Pay Us)

Hey there! I’m Esther, a freelance editor, fact-checker, writer and Chicagoan. I’m an elder millennial, an Appalachian Jew, a fifth-generation Ohioan and a prototypical late-diagnosed ADHDer. (You can hire me for a variety of nonfiction and journalism purposes at my RealName.com!)

This is Ira, an eight-year-old Rottie mix who is scared of every dog but loves small children. You can’t see it in this photo, but he’s got the most wonderful stubby tail. He is a cartoon. His favorite food is mint-flavored dental treats.

Human exclamation point!

When I was a kid and just learning about punctuation, I would call exclamation points excited marks. My whole life, I’ve loved the things I love without reservation. Nothing makes me happier than sharing what lights me up and why. During a struggle session with a dear friend about Finding Work and Doing What Makes Me Happy, he suggested I just go for it somewhere — so, here we are. Expect essays, criticism and explainers on what’s grabbing me these days. Right now, that means Chinese and Korean media, but I’m always eager to think about creativity and culture.

How to help us out

Everything in this newsletter is free for now, but as a freelancer In This Economy, I definitely appreciate any support. If you’d like to shoot me a one-time tip, I’ll see you at my Ko-Fi — thank you! Being a subscriber also helps me brag about my ~reach to potential employers and publishers, so if you’re interested, Substack makes subscribing easy, even if you don’t have an account.

You can also shop for books through my storefront at Bookshop.org, where I get a small kickback when you support independent bookstores and amazing authors, some of whom are my friends, which is honestly so freaking cool.

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