Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 18hThis week, I put down a deposit for an enormous Yoshi-themed birthday cake and then, a night or two after that, had a nightmare where my preschooler decided that he was done with his ardent, long-enduring Yoshi phase mere days before his birthday party. Parenthood is psychosis. 0110
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 03/10/2026Today is my mom’s birthday; she would be 71. She died from ovarian cancer in 2017, a fact that sucks abominably and always will. But this year is proving more of a struggle than previous years. As my son becomes ever more himself, I am struck with the vastness of what she, he, and I have missed. 2201
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 03/10/2026This is gruesome beyond words. And imagine being one of the nurses or doctors caring for this woman, bearing witness to the violence imposed upon her body in the name of justice. 062
Reposted by Rachel Vorona CoteAnnie Berke @sayanniething.bsky.social · 02/10/2026My review of PRIMETIME is live! Thank you so much to @simontorracinta.bsky.social rracinta for commissioning and to the editors at @dissentmag.bsky.social ag for their keen insights every step of the way: 053
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Nikki is a true groundbreaker, and we are so lucky that she is here, writing books. 110
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Having a preschooler is nuts because suddenly, the reason you’re late in the morning is that they asked you whether there are “real bad people,” what said bad people do, and why they do those things. (This happened to me yesterday. Thank you, son.) 170
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Achtung Baby! Bono has hopped about the Ed Sheeran hate train. 151
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 01/10/2026I've really struggled to absorb this brutal news from Cornell. It was hard to be a girl coming of age in the early aughts; I carry some vile memories I'd sooner forget. It's fucking shameful that the conditions for college sexual assault remain as pungently auspicious as ever. 1131
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 30/09/2026This sick, sad man is a gender studies course in and of himself. 2171
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 30/09/2026I'd have to say that my favorite thing about Zoom meetings is being confronted, relentlessly, with my unintentional facial grotesqueries. 140
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Hate to imagine what that couple is serving at their wedding dinner 030
Reposted by Rachel Vorona Cotelaura olin @lauraolin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026In addition to the names of the Cornell 7 we should also make famous the administrators and law enforcement officers who originally thought an apology letter would be sufficient. 125059
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 30/09/2026It bums me out how rarely people gather in homes these days. On the one hand, I recognize my extroversion — I will generally choose socializing over solitude. But the trend is surely affected by more varied circumstances. For instance, I love hosting, but rarely do, because my place is so small. 151
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 29/09/2026From the jump, this writer is shadowboxing. I don't think anyone who opposes the use of AI in writing-intense courses is arguing that writing is the ONLY way a person learns to think. But that does not diminish how critical it is to the development of one's point of view. 6395
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 29/09/2026"Runaway Train" by Soul Asylum plays as I flee with my bindle to Union Station. 040
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 28/09/2026I believe in rehabilitative justice, and I also believe that certain violences are so horrific that the process of rehabilitation ought to be a long, stridently intense fucking road. This is all so sickening, and sickeningly familiar. 150
Reposted by Rachel Vorona CoteTajja Isen @tajjaisen.bsky.social · 28/09/2026COVER REVEAL for my new book, TOUGH LOVE. It's a memoir about my habit of falling into intense, complicated relationships with domineering mentors (maybe you can relate?). Now available for preorder! US: www.simonandschuster.com/books/Tough-... Canada: www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/763573... 4184
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 27/09/2026Who is going to send me on assignment to Los Angeles at the end of November so that I can witness Paul F. Tompkins’ triumphant return to standup? 030
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Okay, here’s my Top Shows ballot, based on little beyond my gut conviction. Obviously it remains to be seen whether Widow’s Bay and Severance stick the landing, but I love what I’ve seen of both so much that it feels important to include them. 160
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 26/09/2026I’m an avid fan of many creatures, but otters are the best species, and it’s simply not close. 111
Reposted by Rachel Vorona CoteJoyce Carol (p)Oa(s)tes 😱 @basicchunnel.bsky.social · 26/09/2026(celebrity walking through the Fitcarraldo Closet) Oh my god I love this one, I’m taking it *flashes a solid blue rectangle at the camera* 1104
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 26/09/2026I love Criterion very much, but what we REALLY need is a Fitzcarraldo Closet. www.ft.com/content/fad8...ft.comFitzcarraldo – inside the chicest publisher on earthJacques Testard is transforming our reading habits, one blue book at a time 0142
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Began frothing at the mouth because I didn’t see Buffy the Vampire Slayer on the list, but then @kvanaren.bsky.social reminded me that these are the best shows of the *21st* Century. 💀 151
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 23/09/2026The thing about Gavin Newsom is that you simply cannot trust a man whose hairline looks like that. It is so scrupulously maintained that it appears almost wig-like. It is a deceiver’s hairline. 1122
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Can you imagine if peak-of-her-career Joan Didion had written about this community? The disdain would waft from the page, thick as smoke. 180
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Robert thinks Shakespeare was at the pub with the poet of Beowulf. 2155
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 22/09/2026This man (Stephens) is a superb example of the way racism pickles the brain, making one intellectually incapable of anything resembling a cogent argument. 1163
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Yesterday my preschooler was stung by a yellow jacket in two different places while he was at the playground (it sucked, but he’s fine). Later I told him he could watch tv while I folded laundry in his room. He turned on a National Geographic documentary about bees. 🤔 1130
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 21/09/2026I will be there, and hope you will be too! Spousal bias notwithstanding, Paul is brilliant and such a great speaker. 030
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 21/09/2026In theory, I’m glad that Ed Sheeran’s wet, mopey face is making the rounds because he has earned that humiliation. But after years of seeing footage of families brutally losing their lives, and hearing from friends in Gaza about their precarious reality, it frankly makes me too angry to behold. 180
Reposted by Rachel Vorona CoteChris Scott @iamchrisscott.bsky.social · 21/09/2026A new little computer nightmare from me at Plague Circus Pressplaguecircuspress.comI Am Still in the Computer Lab by Chris Scott 1207
Reposted by Rachel Vorona CoteFree DC @freedcproject.bsky.social · 21/09/2026His name is Wilber Rafael Garces Perez and ICE shot him and then took him into custody while he worked for DoorDash. DoorDash continues to be silent as ICE attacks its workers and complicit in attacks on our communities. 13242138
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 20/09/2026I cannot express the extent to which DJT has absolutely trashed downtown, between all the authoritarian flourishes (banners with his glowering face, etc) and gilt gold paint. Ravaging Kennedy Center is kind of too much to bear. 1287
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 20/09/2026This is wrenching. I’m a white mother parenting a white child, so my positionality and privileges are different. But what I keep thinking lately is that we in America have built such a hostile, individualistic, and systematically unequal society. Facing it head on can feel like pressing a bruise. 1100
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 20/09/2026First, a few that I love and didn’t review: Happy People Don’t Live Here, by @ambersparks.bsky.social If Only and Repetition, both by Vigdis Hjorth The Church of Divine Electricity, by Emily Mitchell Medium Rare, by @joukovsky.bsky.social A Very Cold Winter, by Fausta Cialente 385
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 18/09/2026But CAN he perform the choreography for the “Weapon of Choice” music video? That is the pressing question. 050
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 18/09/2026“Why’d you give me this fuckin thing, man?” 020
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Gutting in every sense. And chilling, particularly in a nation with such abundantly rich literary tradition. What on earth are we doing?? 030
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Humanities parents at our most flagrantly stereotypical: our preschooler learned the verb “to foil” (as in, to foil a plot), and we basically went nuts commending him on his use of SUCH a good verb. 060
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 17/09/2026In the context of his disgrace, there’s something uniquely appropriate about Ed Sheeran being a mid musician who adorns himself with the most absurd, try-hard tapestry of tattoos—extreme “pretty fly for a white guy” behavior. A ridiculous person can be a good soul, but this guy just screams farce. 430
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 17/09/2026I would let this adorable little menace ruin my life 0151
Reposted by Rachel Vorona CoteAnnie Berke @sayanniething.bsky.social · 06/09/2026My new post on Coyote vs. Acme, May December, and laughing at others' pain went live this AM on Substack -- please check it out and, if you like it, please follow and subscribe (it's free)substack.comAnnie Berke (@sayanniething)“Well, I’m not gonna cross-examine you. Say what you wanna say” On Coyote vs. Acme, May December, and laughing at others’ pain — If chatty, personal, occasionally associative criticism, together wit... 061
Rachel Vorona Cote @rvoronacote.bsky.social · 16/09/2026What makes this so especially bleak is that Netflix is counting on the public not only being depraved enough to want to see this infamously unethical experiment turned into voyeuristic entertainment, but also ignorant enough to not know what its very well-documented results were. 1101