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This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference.

Defector

Sophie Abromowitz

Life Lessons

Finding Friends, Legacy, And Leather Sluts At New Jersey’s Finest Holiday Inn

Sohini Desai

Arts And Culture

Eight Years Of Rituals With Rosalía

Megan C. Reynolds

Looking For A Job Has Become An Alienating Humiliation Ritual

drawing: a person with a clothespin on their nose holds a bottle of wine to their face

Why Is NA Wine So Far Behind NA Beer?

Announcements

A Non-Exhaustive List Of Things That Happened To Me Last Week 

Alex Sujong Laughlin

Hudson Williams, Alyssa Liu, Megan Skiendiel and Lola Tung sit side-by-side in the sun looking at the camera in Laufey's music video for "Madwoman"

Wasia Can Be A Lot. It’s Fine.

<p>Columnist. Author of many <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Drew-Magary/e/B001JS8R52/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1">fine works of literature</a>, including <em>Point B</em>. Handsomest man in the world.</p>


Drew Magary

Gloria Caulfield delivers her commencement address

The Machines

Wow! America’s Graduating Seniors Really Fucking Hate AI!

Lauren Theisen

1940s Helpful Department Store Saleswoman Holding A Dress For Ctomer Wearing A Hat With Coat And Handbag Over Her Arm

How To Dress To Change Your Life

Dave McKenna

(Eingeschränkte Rechte für bestimmte redaktionelle Kunden in Deutschland. Limited rights for specific editorial clients in Germany.) Children in their free time Bourgeois children in a cafe in the 'Casino des Enfants' in Paris - 1904 - Vintage property of ullstein bild (Photo by ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

Food

Watch Out For Those Fees

GRIMSBY, ENGLAND - JUNE 28: An aerial view of imported new cars on the quayside of Alexandra Dock at Grimsby Port on June 28, 2025 in Grimsby, England. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Want To Buy A Car? Be Ready To Suffer

The College Trip

Albert Burneko

In a black-and-white old photo from an exhibition in Paris in 1960, a robotic typist sits at a desk in front of a typewriter, with two women looking on.

Why Would You Ask AI To Tell The Story Of Your Own Life?

<p>Hamilton Nolan is a journalist based in New York City. Subscribe to his work at <a href="https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1687350200913000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0naFbUVOe-5ZgtPDtIM3gz">HamiltonNolan.com</a>.</p>


Hamilton Nolan

Go Ahead And Use AI. It Will Only Help Me Dominate You.

A Bit Of Church

Confessions Of A Bookanizer

Ray Ratto

A customer takes a photograph of a glass of Russian River Brewing's Pliny the Younger at the Russian River Brewing Company on February 1, 2019 in Windsor, California.

An Afternoon With Pliny The Younger

Two joggers run in an autumnal park between two trees.

Falling Back In Love With Running

Kelsey McKinney

A barren Dust Bowl wasteland with a single fencepost standing in the foreground.

Now Let Us Survey Our Summer’s Gardening Bounty

Rachelle Hampton

A young woman at home, feeling sick. She is, appropriately, holding her lower back.

I Hurt My Back

<p>Former Defector intern, now freelancer.</p>
<p>For professional inquiries or tips please write lucybl00m@protonmail.com or yuck.20 on Signal.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


Lucy Bloom

You Can’t Be Too Careful

Seeking Closure At Planet Hollywood, Where My Life Once Exploded

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<div class="p-rich_text_section">Puja Patel is a writer, editor, and curator who has served as the Editor-in-Chief of Pitchfork and <em>Spin</em>, a culture editor for Deadspin, and a columnist for MTV and the <em>Village Voice</em>. Her work has appeared in publications such as the <em>New Yorker</em>, <em>Harper&#8217;s Bazaar</em>, and <em>Rolling Stone,</em> among others. She serves on the advisory board of NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music and Building Beats, a nonprofit organization that provides music education to underserved youth across New York City and Los Angeles.</div>
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Puja Patel

Mods Asleep

Just A Tip

Bills Week

I Have Found A Personal Finance Influencer Who Isn’t As Bad As “Personal Finance Influencer” Sounds

Bill Laimbeer #40 takes the ball during the NBA playoffs against the Boston Celtics

Bill Laimbeer Made Me A Youth Basketball Maniac

black and white photo of a woman reading with glasses on

My New Glasses Have Ruined My Ability To Read! Help Me!

<p>Emily Bice is a Brooklyn-based writer. Her work centers on explorations of how we navigate love and life in the 21st century. These investigations have taken her to a fishmonger, inspired meditations on dating, and even led to rollerblading a marathon. You can find more on her Substack, <a href="https://129waysto.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://129waysto.substack.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1728739707762000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1SlDWyDATtJJ90_yxFN0B1">129 Ways to Get a Life</a>.</p>


Emily Bice

a woman bowls into a time travel-like vortex

Ten Frames Of Time Travel

Tom Ley

Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks and Bennedict Mathurin #00 of the Indiana Pacers get into an altercation after Game 5 of the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on April 29, 2025 in Indianapolis, Indiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement.

Bucks Collapse Leads To Giannis Antetokounmpo Delivering Fatherhood Lessons To Tyrese Haliburton’s Dad

<p>Nicholas Russell is a writer from Las Vegas.</p>


Nicholas Russell

: A COVID face mask dangles from the rear-view mirror of a car

Why I Keep Masking

<p>The author can be reached at postpostdoc@protonmail.com.</p>


Post-Postdoc

Capital

How I Became Highly Educated Grist For The AI Mill

<div>Rick Paulas is a writer in Brooklyn who made <i><a href="http://www.theladyingreenpoint.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.theladyingreenpoint.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1693673714100000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3mdrn4_mwbI7boyzf49u2G">The Lady in Greenpoint</a></i>, a 3-mile walking audio ghost story starting at the Pulaski Bridge, and <i>The Palmer Hotel</i>, a collection of spooky short stories set over a century in a downtown hotel, which has sold out.</div>
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Rick Paulas

Why Is This So Good?

The Best Thing I Own Is My Tiny TV/VCR

Jen Vafidis

Richard Kind poses at a gala celebrating "All In: Comedy About Love" opening night on Broadway at The Hudson Theatre on December 16, 2024 in New York City.

How Meeting Richard Kind Changed The Course Of My Life

<p>Vivian Blaxell grew up in rural Australia and co-founded Tiresias House, Australia’s first shelter and resource centre for and by trans people. Her essay &#8220;Nuclear Cats&#8221; was shortlisted for the 2021 Melbourne Prize for Literature. She lives in Naarm/Melbourne, VIC, Australia.</p>


Vivian Blaxell

Coke Sign at corner of William Street and Kings Cross, Sydney