Social media, despite its reputation as the ultimate agent of self-promotion, actually feeds on self-loathing. Meghan Daum agentfeedlothe Change image and share on social
As with 'feminism,' not to mention 'liberalism' and 'conservatism,' 'political correctness' tends to mean what you want it to mean, which also pretty much amounts to utter meaninglessness. Meghan Daum amountconservatismcorrectness Change image and share on social
I've always been interested in this notion of what is authentic and how we define that and why our culture imposes certain emotions and emotional constraints onto experiences. Meghan Daum authenticconstraintculture Change image and share on social
To me, having 'material' for an essay means not only having something to write about but also having something interesting and original to say about whatever that might be. Meghan Daum essayinterestmaterial Change image and share on social
For my part, if I'm working while flying, I'm often a bit relieved to be forced to shut down the computer on final descent. But I guess I'm a slacker. Meghan Daum bitecomputerdescent Change image and share on social
A young female essayist saying they're influenced by Joan Didion is like a young female singer-songwriter saying they're influenced by Joni Mitchell. Meghan Daum didionessayistfemale Change image and share on social
Checking email every 45 seconds is not only compulsive, it's presumptuous. It suggests a belief that anyone who sends us a message needs us to read it immediately, even if the message is from SkyMall telling us our Bigfoot Garden Yeti statue has shipped. Meghan Daum beliefbigfootcheck share on social
Just as I never liked bumper stickers - even though I do brake for animals, and if I had a kid, she would definitely be an honor student - I don't like the idea of expressing my views through social-media-controlled rainbow-or-anything-else-ification. Meghan Daum animalbrakebumper share on social
In about an 18-month period, my mother got sick and died, and then I had a freak illness less than a year later and almost died myself. And I found in both of those situations that there was this expectation to have a kind of transformative experience. Meghan Daum dieexpectationexperience share on social
If you must know, my parents came from pretty hardscrabble backgrounds in the southern Midwest. I certainly didn't grow up poor, but I did spend my 20s and early 30s juggling temp jobs and choking on massive student-loan debt. Meghan Daum 20s30sbackground share on social
