Every Friday
riding the post marathon weekend wave
Halloween + NYC Marathon weekend (congrats wanny ‼️), left us in a spooky state.
Our formal receipt of the weekend:
1 temporarily lost wallet
A witnessed daytime bar fight
Korean bbq (floor 2) Karaoke (floor 7)
1 bingo win (congrats Benni ‼️)
A few lost voices from marathon cheering
The thing is, we don’t quit. The energy from the marathon has us riding a high and we’re headed back into the weekend. But first, another post for you to check into so you have something to bring up at today’s happy hour.
See you out there. Also, you should listen to the below album.
But often, in the world’s most crowded streets,
But often, in the din of strife,
There rises an unspeakable desire
After the knowledge of our buried life– Matthew Arnold
It’s a fine line between Saturday night and Sunday morning.
― Jimmy Buffett
Top of Mind
Thomas McGuane is the Last of His Kind (The Atlantic)
Something approaching ecological grief now surfaced in his work, a sense that Big Sky Country’s outdoor life—and with it, the folkways of people who beat the sun to rising and who know how to shoe a horse and gut and pack out an elk—was becoming gradually impossible, or at least unappreciated.
And when that war has reached a more advanced stage, when the wild is variously paved with hot asphalt or turned into Disneylands for the gawking rich, when few native trout are left in the freestone pools and the men who would throw dry flies at them are scarce, McGuane’s writing, if nothing else, will be left to remind us of what we’ve lost.
You’re forgiven if you aren’t familiar with the author Thomas McGuane. The peak of his literary career came and went in the ’70s and ’80s, but he’s niche-famous in the fly fishing world. He’s one of the last heirs to a long tradition of great American prose written primarily for men: Steinbeck, Ruark, Kerouac, Hemingway (Jack wrote a great piece earlier this week recommending Stoner by John Williams, whose work fits into that category too.)
McGuane is 85 and still ranching and fly fishing on his 2,000-acre spread in Montana. He’s the only person who can claim membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Fly Fishing Hall of Fame, and the National Cutting Horse Association Hall of Fame—and, for good measure, he’s Jimmy Buffett’s former brother-in-law.
It says something that this genre—man against nature, man against himself—is fading at the same time we’re seeing a growing gap between men and women in reading (shoutout ACOTAR), and a broader cultural conversation about the purpose crisis among young men.
In 2025, McGuane’s work offers a version of escapism for us office drones: imagining heading West and finding our fortune (or misfortune) if only to break up the flatness of modern life. Until then, we’ll settle for a handful of weekends a year fly fishing with old friends.
I’m Betting $100 Million on a New University, (The Free Press)
The evidence is stark: Student loan debt has reached $1.8 trillion while public confidence in college’s value has plummeted from 75 percent to 35 percent in 15 years. Nearly half of Gen Zers and millennials recently said their college degree was worthless.
Jeff Yass has pledged $100 million dollars towards the University of Austin. In turn, the university has announced that, in stark contrast to other universities, they will never charge tuition and never take government funding. A statement that we expect will resonate with the public after some of the dismal public imagery and sentiment seen from major universities in recent years.
Will a new plan like this really…work? It remains to be seen. After all, the University of Austin still does not have their first round of graduated students (they were founded in 2021). The system we’ve got either needs serious reform or a bold new alternative — because it’s starting to show some major, major cracks.
ICYMI: Happy Hour Edition
Our beloved Locust in Nashville had a big week this week. We already miss their patio season. If you’re ever fortunate enough to attend, get a Guinness.
Big news for the New Yorkers this week. See how different areas of the city voted. Pretty interesting data.
Best of Substack this Week
Lying on your deathbed and realizing you spent your whole life scrolling
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Everything’s Entertainment (Donald Trump Voice)
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This Week in Relay’s Shopping Cart
long sleeve thermal crew in faded black, (Jack)
Picked one of these up at the recent Imogene + Willie sale and must put you, dear readers, onto them. I wish I would’ve bought five and have hardly taken it off since. Great fall layer.
It’s Not That Deep, Randy
Thanks for reading—or for mega scrolling all the way down here.
The internet is an overwhelming mess of headlines, ads, and mid takes from the worst people you know. Big Tech owns our attention spans. Everything is content. Nothing makes sense.
We’re not here to “fix discourse” or “build a better internet.” Relay is just our attempt to riff on what we’re already talking about at happy hour without feeling like we’ve been hit by a content truck. Some analysis, some memes, call it a day.
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ummm 2 bingo wins!!
Kettlebell shade smh