Paper Trail

Hua Hsu to publish his memoir this fall; Vigils across Mexico mourn slain journalists


Hua Hsu. Photo: Karl Rabe/Vassar College

New Yorker writer Hua Hsu has announced a new memoir coming out in September called Stay True

This week, journalists throughout Mexico are holding vigils and protests, as three media workers have been killed this month. The Committee to Protect Journalists has said that Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries for reporters. At a vigil in Mexico City,  Oscar Luna said of the murders, “It’s infuriating, it’s enraging, because journalists always give our soul, our heart, our body. From one moment to the next, they take away that passion, that commitment, that love, that dedication.”   

For The Nation, Ryan Ruby writes about John Ashbery’s posthumous work

At the Maris Review Podcast, musician and novelist John Darnielle talks about his new novel, Devil House, and the crisis of conscience in True Crime.  

On the Substack blog, the newsletter company defends its policy to not intervene in posts that fall outside the scientific consensus about COVID-19 or are anti-vaccine, calling such moderation on its platform “censorship.” The post arguing for Substack’s hands-off policy talks about an “epidemic” of mistrust, but does not mention the fact that, according to the Center for Countering Digital Hate, the company makes millions of dollars on anti-vaccine newsletters. Instead, Substack takes a shot at rivals who do moderate content on their platforms: “To those who endorse such an approach, we can only ask: How is it going? Is it working yet?”