💘OPEN ME: I'M A VERY SPESH EDISH!!💘
Today marks one whole year of the newsy, and one whole year since we’ve been asking you to support the media you love!! Since it’s such a special day, we thought we’d give you a lil SYSCA sale!!
From now, and across the weekend, if you type in “ONEYEAR” at the checkout when you go to become an annual ✨SYSCA Supporter✨ you’ll get 15% off for the whole year (and this means access to our Saturday Culture Vulture newsletter, all our playlists, our book recommendations list and more 👀)
Become a ✨ SYSCA supporter✨ here!!
One thing about me? I'm gonna get sentimental about every little thing to do with this cool lil media company, so today you're getting a special edish where I get to reminisce on what a year of writing this baby has meant to me!!!!
So - as of today, this newsy has been in existence for ONE WHOLE YEAR!!! That’s one year of 5am starts, one year of typos, one year of slowly infiltrating your mornings with Harry Styles and one year of news that hopefully doesn’t make you feel depressed!
I for one have absolutely loved it (otherwise I wouldn't have done it every damn day!!!). It’s easily been SYSCA’s biggest and best year - and that is in HUGE part because of you 🥺
✨ Our SYSCA Supporters ✨
💰A SYSCA SALE💰
🚗A trip down memory lane 🚗
🧞♀️ Meet the characters in the SYSCA Universe🧛♂️
💘 I love you 💘
✨ Our SYSCA Supporters ✨
Back in April we launched our ✨SYSCA Supporters✨ programme because we knew that if we wanted to keep this thing going (and keep ourselves employed) we needed your help!!
Thankfully for us, you PULLED THROUGH!!! You all decided (if you could manage it) that you would support the media you loved (and the newsy writer you love) which means more to me, Rubes, and Liv than you will ever know! It's hard out there for the media - espesh when most of us have grown up having access to everything we could imagine at the touch of a button!! To have you all here understanding that providing cool/fun/trustworthy media costs money and takes energy is honestly everything to me. So, with that in mind...
💰A SYSCA SALE💰
We still need you more than ever, but we thought that since it’s a special day, we'd give you a little discount to come and be a SYSCA supporter for a whole year!!
From now until Sunday, if you type in “ONEYEAR” at the checkout when you go to become an annual member, you’ll get 15% off for the whole year!!!
USE OUR 'ONEYEAR' DISCOUNT CODE TO SUPPORT THE MEDIA YOU LOVE FOR A DISCOUNT!! WHY WOULDN'T YA??
🚗A trip down memory lane 🚗
On my sentimental bullshit again... I thought it would be fun to see what we were talking about a year ago today in the very first edish! I'm probably going to have to lean into the cringe of reading a very un-pracitsed Luce when it came to writing, but I'll do it for the sake of content.
A year ago today I was writing about:
Zooming in on our flaws
Oh, so you’re telling me that over a year of staring at myself on a camera has fucked with my self-image? No way? This great piece by Wired outlined something I really feared (and knew was going to be a by-product of this new remote-learning / working from home thing) Zoom Dysmorphia. All those hours spent on zoom have resulted in more than just the realisation that most meetings could be emails (don’t tell anyone), but an increase in interest in plastic surgeries or cosmetic procedures, as outlined in this study.
Of course we look different on Zoom. In ‘real life’ we have no idea how we look when we’re speaking, when we’re resting, when we’re (god forbid) having emotions. Actually, we’ve never truly seen what we look like… ever. We’ve only seen ourselves in photos, mirrors, front-facing cameras, all of which have distorted us in some way (lighting, angles, quality etc.)
BUT THAT IS TOO MUCH TO THINK ABOUT, YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL AND THAT’S ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW.
The US has completely withdrawn its troops from Afghanistan
After 20 years, about $2 trillion USD of war costs (that the US are in debt over), and more than 100,000 lives lost, Americas longest war is over (?) after the last American troops left Afghanistan on Tuesday.
AP broke down the impact of the war by the numbers, but here’s one that got me: “Percentage of Afghan teenage girls able to read today: 37.”
Fort-only at-nite (and only in the weekend)
Online video games are being heavily restricted in China to curb, as the authorities call it “youth video game addiction.” Here’s what that means:
Under 18’s will only be allowed on it for one hour
ONLY ON FRIDAYS, SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS (and holidays, coz they’re not entirely evil)
It will have to be between 8pm-9pm
This feels wild to me - but it’s not the first time the authorities have done something like this to their own tech sector. In 2018 regulators halted the issuance of video game licences for eight months, and in 2019 they banned kids from gaming after 10pm and for more than 90 minutes a day. More on all of that here!!
Aotearoa’s Covid-19 cases seem to be evening out... *touch wood*
[2022 Luce note: this did not age well]
As of right now, New Zealand has 612 cases in total, 597 of which are in Auckland and 15 are in Wellington. Tonight, all of Aotearoa south of Auckland will drop from Alert Level 4 to Level 3, and here’s exactly what that means.
🧞♀️ Meet the characters in the SYSCA Universe🧛♂️
Throughout the year I've also realised that I CAN’T DO THIS ALONE, so the SYSCA Universe has introduced a few new characters… let’s meet them again, shall we?
Rubes:
You know and love Rubes - the silent hero who keeps SYSCA above water!! She’s our commercial/ partnerships director, our podcast editor, our chief of keeping Luce and Liv in line, and the producer of literally my whole work and social life.
She also really loves animals (capybaras in particular) and will beat any of us in a wrestling match.
Liv:
As if Liv needs an intro! Liv is our creative director and co-host of our Culture Vulture podcast! She also writes the Saturday Culture Vulture newsy that goes out to all of our monthly or annual SYSCA supporters, and she’s soon to be a rockstar in our office’s upcoming battle of the bands competish!
She also once tried to drive from Auckland to Wellington but ended up in Napier after six hours of driving, and is the most INCREDIBLE artist you’ll ever meet.
Bel:
God, if I didn’t love Bel so much myself I would be jealous of how much YOU ALL DO! Bel ‘chimes’ in (do you get the pun?) every Thursday (I know, this week it was Wednesday, sue me) with just the most gorgeous, whimsical, borderline philosophical and incredibly relatable musings, and she is also the chicest person in every room.
She also dresses incredibly similar to me (we’re often matching), is a poet, resides in what she affectionately calls her ‘tree house,’ and has introduced many of our favourite terms here at SYSCA (phoenixing, pulling the clutch out, worn-out-women, the list goes on.)
Squish:
Squish is my older brother and he's just really annoying. Kidding!! You all love Squish - his real name is Nick - and he co-hosts The Shit Show with me, which is never short of fighting/ general sibling banter. Squish also writes lil bits and pieces for the newsy every now and again and has even had his own 'Squish Edish' before.
He also works by day in a winery, loves cycling and loves space.
Dunc:
Dunc is our biggest fanboy and also the official SYSCA mentor. He's a freak of the media industry and was actually the one who encouraged us to write a newsletter! He's read EVERY edish of this thing, and when we're lucky (and he finds a second to breathe) we get to jump on a podcast together, or he gives us some musings for the newsy. More of Dunc to come!!
He also loves Carly Rae-Jepson, reality TV, CrossFit, and Taylor Swift's All Too Well 10 Minute Version (though he won't let himself listen to it too much because he doesn't want to 'ruin it' for himself.)
Laura:
You'll meet our newest character in the SYSCA Universe tomorrow - you're gonna ADORE her. She's a ray of sunshine and will force you to do personality tests/ question your attachment style.
She's also just moved to London from Aotearoa and is romanticising all the things that have gone wrong (and there have been a few.) More tomorrow 👀
And me, Luce:
You know me!! I'm chaotic and an early riser and I use too many brackets (or are they parentheses?) and I love an emoji and I literally have '!!' tattooed onto my hand because I use!! them!! so!! much!! You know me! And you support me! And I love you!
NO OTHER THOUGHTS EXCEPT FOR THAT I LOVE YOU SO MUCH , THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE FOR A WHOLE YEAR, AND