Looking Sideways: 10 Things
The payment debate (yet again), new Patrick Radden Keefe, and reactions to my Georgia piece.
1. I’ve had some really interesting responses to my piece on Georgia: not least from a travel writing friend and colleague of mine who basically said I was laying it on a bit thick, and the adventure writing industry is these days much more responsible than the picture I painted here. (He also gave me a great note on a shonky, hyperbolic line that didn’t help my argument, and which I’ve since edited; merci Tristan!)
Having reflected on it though, I stand by the points in this story. I know anecdotes don’t equal data, but having visited Ahangama and Courchevel recently, I think it’s hard to argue we have made much progress, beyond the odd pocket or responsibility-minded company (admittedly, they are out there). And that’s before we look at the impact of influencer culture closer to home.
Plus, in writing the piece I was just trying to reflect a pretty specific trope of surf and snow culture, as well as a moment in time for this particular valley. I’m not trying to dissuade people from visiting these places. But locals trying to influence how things develop has to be a good thing. As does gently asking travelling surfers and snowboarders to think about the impact of their actions.
Anyway, here’s the piece again - let me know what you think.
10 Things will always be free, but it takes a lot of effort, love and curiosity to pull this thing together each week.
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2. As a) a journalist who’s been pitching magazines like Sidetracked for 30 years and b) the owner of a PR/creative comms agency, I am so intrigued by the points raised in this article, and the very fair questions being asked in the comments.
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3. For years now I’ve been making the same point whenever a debate around the ethics of paying somebody fairly comes up: anybody who says they can’t pay people properly for their work either has a problem with their business model, or is being disingenuous.
So thank you to Terri White for basically saying the same thing with such righteous fury in response to the Plum-Sykes-doesn’t-pay-her-interns brouhaha (and here is the original Substack post that kicked the whole thing off.)
4. Patrick Radden Keefe part 1 - his latest for the New Yorker.
5. Patrick Radden Keefe part 2 - interviewed in the New York Times about his new book London Falling.
6. This Sidetracked conversation with Alice Sainsbury is a good companion to our episode 258 conversation.
7. My pal CJ Mirra has a new soundtrack out, and this piece has made my week a better place.
8. A Substack piece about the manosphere that nailed the feeling I had while watching the Louis Theroux thing but couldn’t quite articulate - it’s a ponzi scheme and they’re all essentially salesmen praying on the credulous.
9. Nike’s Parkrun blunder (LI).
10. Helen De Witt’s (lengthy) account of why she turned down the $175,000 Windham-Campbell fiction prize (spoiler alert: it meant she had to do a load of promo)
Which of these stories did you enjoy this week? Let me know ✌️