All Is Not Too Well 💔
˙◠˙Don't Blame Me for writing about Taylor and Joe˙◠˙
My angels - hate to be coming back off easter break to be writing almost solely about RELATIONSHIPS but that’s what today’s edish is all about, so sit tight for that!!
Before we get into it, I hope you all had the most gorg break!!! Close Friends saw what I got up to (a lot of Scrabble and ocean views.) I also finished Bunny (yeeesh what a book) and started a Jodi Picoult one (my fave for the holidays.) Succession also got SPOILT for me on Twitter (don’t worry, I’m not going to do that to you), but then I watched the episode and… wow. Just a masterpiece. Hope ur live, laugh, loving wherever you are, and that reading this newsy can be a nice entry back into a short week 𓆩♡𓆪 xxxx
Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn are no longer together 💔
So you’ve been ghosted?
Timmy & Kylie???
🗺Around the world🗺
Is Biden running for Prez again?
Leaked documents in a Discord server for Minecraft
“The Dalai Lama apologizes for asking a young boy to suck his tongue”
Today’s mundane poll: When you make a fist do you instinctively have your thumb tucked in or out?
We have to talk about it: Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn are no longer together 💔
Where were you when the great break-up of 2023 happened? Me? I was doing a crossword with my little brother on a sunny Sunday morning when I saw Entertainment Tonight post on Twitter that Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn had amicably broken up, after six years together and Twitter went into fucking meltDOWN MODE (me included.)
I text my Swiftie besties to let them know (hate being the bearer of bad news) and then started trying to FACT check it. After ET (not the alien thing) came People Magazine (who seemed to just be going off what Entertainment Tonight were saying, BUT in the past have been a pretty good source), and then Good Morning America, CNN, the list goes on.
First of all, if you don’t want to believe it’s true, I would HIGHLY encourage you to read this killer piece by Embedded about why it is (and why as Gen Z, our media literacy takes a hit when we trust individuals over Big News) (yes I’m aware that it’s me, hi, I’m the problem it’s me a lil here.)
Here are some snips from this piece - firstly about how Kate (who wrote the piece) verified the sources I mentioned above:
“I embarked on this particular sequence of Google searches thanks to my days as an entertainment news writer. Whenever news of a death, relationship, or breakup began to bubble up on Twitter or gossip websites, we’d wait for People, ET, or TMZ to independently report the item before running with it ourselves. Those outlets work directly with celebrity publicists and other reputable sources, and rely on maintaining those relationships. If they’re reporting something, there’s a 99.9% chance that it’s true.”
And now on why she personally believes this to be true:
“I have Taylor Swift’s publicist in my contacts because we would be somewhat regularly in touch at my old entertainment job. She would respond to every email and request corrections to tiny errors in 300-word aggregated posts. She once gave me and a coworker Reputation tickets, and when we were trying to find the press area and worried we were too late to meet Taylor, she answered our call without as much a “hello” but simply, “You’re fine.” She already knew why we were calling. This news would not be news without the knowledge and, indeed, blessing, of a woman that powerful and competent. Or, sorry—a “source close to the pair” that powerful and competent.”
In typical Taylor Swift fashion, she may have given us a few hints that this was coming
In her latest Eras shows she swapped out her song ‘Invisible String’ (about the invisible string that ties her to Joe) for ‘The 1’ (about how “it would've been fun, if you would've been the one”
She also did a big speech before one of her songs (which I watched on TikTok and now cannot for the life of me find) about how we never know what anyone around us is going through (including her)
And she got super emo singing Champagne Problems at the part that goes: “she would've made such a lovely bride what a shame she’s fucked in the head!!!”
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
The fallout has been Swift
Naturally, some Swifties are… not taking this well:
Anyway, there’s certainly something going on in the Taylor Swift/ Sally Rooney/ Phoebe Bridgers universe and that thing is… none of my business.
Can’t wait to see the love hurtled towards Taylor at the next show on the Eras tour - it’s gonna be something!!!!
And now, speaking of break ups….
So you’ve been ghosted?
“We said goodbye at the airport and did the whole "I'll miss you, see you in 3 months! thing. Then they never spoke to me again, they went home and ghosted me. After 4 years. I thought they had died.”
You can’t talk about dating in 2023 without talking about the elephant (or should I say ‘ghost’?) in the room - the cruel phenomenon of ‘ghosting.’ This was by FAR the topic you sent in the MOST stories about, so this week on our breakup podcast we shared a BUNCH of your experiences (both from the ghoster and the ghostee) to try and make sense of why it’s so common to be ghosted.
You’ll get a lot more context and advice by listening to the episode, but I thought I’d list a few ways here to help you if you’ve been ghosted (or been the ghoster):
If you’ve been ghosted:
Remember that it isn’t about you!! It usually shows that the person who ghosted you doesn’t have the skills or courage to deal with the uncomfortable feelings that arise during a break-up OR that they don’t understand the emotional impact of their behaviour
Put energy into yourself and not them!!! They’re obviously not going to give you closure (or even a good-bye text) so focus on YOU and all the ways you slay
If you’ve ghosted someone before and feel guilty about it:
Recognise that even people you don’t want to be with deserve some consideration and closure
Realise there is nothing wrong with saying you are no longer interested!!
Maybe look a little deeper into why you’re not willing to have conversations like this, and then work on that!
Hope that wasn’t too self-helpy, I’m just trying to speak to the hundreds of stories we’ve been sent - this ghosting shit is soooo real!!!
Head to https://www.vice.com/en/topic/love-better for a bunch more resources on how to break-up better, and listen to this episode in our Culture Vulture feed, wherever you get your podcasts!
And the last (potential) relationship I’ll talk about today (because it’s cursed)
In fact, I won’t even talk about it - here are some pictures for you:
Me waking up and reading that on a random Thursday:
PS, this came from DeuxMoi, and if you read the Embedded newsy I linked, we do NOT blindly trust in individuals, so take from that what you will!
🗺Around the world🗺
USA
‘I’m Planning on Running’ for Re-election in 2024, Biden Says (The New York Times)
Joe Biden isn’t ready to ‘formally announce’ his campaign for Prez in 2024, but he told Al Roker (NBC) at the White House Easter Egg Roll (as someone from New Zealand, what the fuck is that???):
“I’m planning on running, Al,” Mr. Biden said. “But we’re not prepared to announce it yet.”
Russia/ Ukraine/ USA
Pentagon documents leak a risk to US national security, officials say (BBC)
Yeeeeesh. The US is currently investigating the leak of 100+ classified national security documents which “appear to include sensitive information regarding the war in Ukraine, as well as on China and US allies.”
“The documents - some of which officials believe have been altered - first appeared on online platforms such as Twitter, 4chan and Telegram, as well as on a Discord server for the video game "Minecraft".”
Because some of these documents appeared on a Discord server for Minecraft I have a slight smirk on my face picturing officials - some of whom don’t even understand wifi - wrapping their heads around this one.
India
The Dalai Lama apologizes for asking a young boy to suck his tongue (NPR)
Not a headline I thought I’d read this morning, but the headline I maybe deserved??? I can’t even really begin to explain this, but NPR can:
The Dalai Lama has apologized for kissing a young boy on the lips and asking him to "suck my tongue" after a video of the incident sparked outrage on social media.
The 87-year-old Buddhist priest "regrets the incident" and wishes to apologize to "the boy and his family, as well as his many friends across the world, for the hurt his words may have caused," according to a statement published by his office on Monday.
"His Holiness often teases people he meets in an innocent and playful way, even in public and before cameras," the statement adds.
Today’s mundane poll:
And before a million of u reply: I know we get taught to always have it out for safety reasons but that’s NOT what I’m asking!!
If you wanna:
become a Close Friend on instagram
Receive my Friday diary entry & a whole bunch of links and recommendations
AND get Bel’s Sunday morning newsy ‘No News Is Good News’
Please consider becoming a paying supporter 💌
the Embedded article..... I CAN'T DO THIS TODAY 😭 and now apparently I'm going to her first show post breakup announcement (Tampa on Thursday) -- can't believe I'm gonna be witnessing history
The White House Easter Egg Roll is like a huge event the WH puts on for kids every year (since 1878) where they have a bunch of like family activities, games, storytime, the Easter Bunny etc. and yes, kids literally roll eggs down a hill on the WH lawn. There's also apparently a tradition of the first lady being presented with a hand-painted "commemorative egg" by the American Egg Board. My parents took us one year when we were little kids and lived near DC and it's just as chaotic and surreal as it sounds lol