Before the July 4th break, the SCOTUS released a slew of decisions that left us feeling far less than celebratory. We were reminded again that dissent and activism is patriotic; not unquestioned acceptance of the machinations of power.

So let’s slow down the capitalist grind a bit, shall we? Instead of jumping straight into answering emails, give yourself a minute to sink into some interesting ideas, articles we think you should read, and a missive on a game we all (mostly) know and love.

As a person who rides horses in New York, I feel somewhat of a connection to Martha Stewart. She keeps her horses at the place where I ride upstate (what some might call a seal of approval), and the nearby Bedford Riding Lanes Association’s annual “biggest prize” at its gala is the chance to go riding with her. I have yet to even attempt to win, but there’s plenty of Martha to go ‘round for the casually interested observer.

This month, the domestic goddess - turned - known-insider-trader - turned - weed mogul has dropped another frame into her multifaceted image: swimsuit model. Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, specifically, and the oldest such model to grace the cover at age 81.

You’ve used a memoji, right?

It’s ok if you haven’t. It’s a feature that now comes with every iPhone, where you can translate your facial movements into a cartoon (in addition to the above you can be a mouse, a dragon, an illustrated version of yourself — the list goes on). It’s super cute. But as I learned at TED last week, there’s a world in which it is not.

This week I’m away from my part-time home in Florida, and so is our governor. While I am aligning with leftist hearts and minds in New York, he is rallying the conservative masses on his book tour.

Prospective presidential candidates routinely queue up book tours right before their runs, as a way of priming their audiences, revivalist-style, before campaigning is allowed. DeSantis is kicking off his charm offensive in Iowa.

I do not remember first watching the Terminator … but I do remember generally being able to make a Skynet joke by mid-late elementary school. And I do remember a younger Arnold Schwartzenegger, heavily armed, fighting the good fight in subsequent films. What I do not remember was ever wanting to live under the leadership of Skynet, the film’s driving antagonist, an artificial neural network-based superintelligence system.

The entire Terminator franchise is built around the idea of slaying this fictional force. In the first movie, when Skynet gained consciousness, people tried to deactivate it. In response, it launched a nuclear attack. The humans ultimately beat Skynet, but over the course of the series, the AI tries to send emissaries back in time to prevent the humans’ victory.

Jose Mejia is a writer and editor who used to run a design studio, sometimes codes, and obsesses over how things are built. He's currently leading Product at Friends With Benefits, a decentralized autonomous organization that brings together artists, technologists, designers, musicians and other curious creative people to imagine and build a better internet.

We spoke with Jose about what a better internet would look like, and how his team helped envision it by producing the second annual FWBFest.

Megha Desai is the President of the Desai Foundation, an organization that empowers women and children through community programming to elevate health, livelihood, and menstrual equity in rural India. Recognized by the Clinton Global Initiative in 2022, the organization has directly impacted over five million lives, across eight states in India. Previously, Megha worked in advertising, branded entertainment and marketing. She currently sits on the board of directors for TIE – Boston and the Take Two Media Initiative. She also advises many companies, including SpiceWell, an ayurvedic spice company.

She is a contributor to publications like The Boston Globe, Entrepreneur Magazine, Fast Company and THRIVE. She is also a singer and performs with the Resistance Revival Chorus (signed to Righteous Babe Records) at venues like Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Summer Stage and more. She splits her time between NYC, Boston, and Bombay.

Katie Longmyer is an executive and former nightlife producer who works as a connector between artistic and commercial worlds. She has served as managing director at America’s leading creative agency, Mother; transitioned Google’s annual development platform I/O from a conference to a festival; built the 10-year-running Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival; led the cultural team that created the Made In America Music Festival; and stewarded the Gucci x Dapper Dan partnership.

On top of ongoing consulting, Katie has become the go-to cultural strategist for global executive leaders, including tech and creative CEOs. A couple of choice titles: Head of Special Projects at The Translation and Chief of Staff to the co-founder of WeWork.

This month we’re here with Siri Dahl, a multi-award-winning adult film performer and content creator with a background in writing and podcasting. As one of adult's most recognizable independent models, Siri collaborates with dozens of content platforms and film studios in the industry, and has been an ambassador for the Adult Time studio brand since 2021. She's an outspoken advocate for the rights of sex workers, as seen most recently in Netflix's "Money Shot: The Pornhub Story."

This month, we’re here with our client and hero Plan C, a ground-breaking digital campaign that provides up-to-date information on how people in the U.S. are accessing at-home abortion pill options online.

Since its founding in 2015, the organization has become a leader in the movement for reproductive rights and abortion access, putting forth a vision for a new reality: A world with democratized access to these safe, effective pills as a self-managed care option.

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