Previously: an introduction.
There is a doc — a Google doc — that you have never seen, covered in page after page of truly terrible possible blog names that Nicole and I created back in the heady, champagne-fueled days of late May. They’re as bad as you can imagine, and then some. Someday, perhaps, we will allow you to see the names this website almost had. But that day is not today; all you need to know is that we settled on The Toast.
“It’s convivial without being twee,” Mallory said. “Everyone likes toast. And clinking glasses. This is a truly universal concept. Let us become The Toast, and become inordinately wealthy, and spend our declining years ordering men about.” And it was so. And the next step, we found, was buying a domain name, so that we existed in more than name only.
“Sure,” we said blithely to ourselves, “let’s buy TheToast.com for our new venture. This isn’t 1999. No one’s making millions of dollars selling Pizza.com to some idiot who thinks owning “food noun.com” is the fastest ticket to success. TheToast.com! We’ll buy it this afternoon. Then we’ll have a website, somehow.”
So we look around at domain-hosting sites and we find TheToast.com, and the suggested asking price (we asked GoDaddy, because apparently viral marketing works, even when you hate it) is $300 to $700. Which seems reasonable, inasmuch as our ability to conceive of something intangible having actual monetary value is fairly limited. “Sure,” Mallory says to Nicole, “$700 seems like a reasonable amount if we get to own the word Toast at the end of it.”
So we made an offer of $700.
Dear Nicole Cliffe,
The current registrant of the domain THETOAST.COM has indicated that they may be willing to sell the domain, however, they declined your maximum offer and are asking USD$90,000.
Please respond to let us know if you would like to accept this counter amount, increase your maximum bid to continue negotiations or that your current maximum is all you are willing to offer at this time. We look forward to your response and will proceed accordingly.
And we said HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
…and despaired. The Toast was such a great name, coming as it did at the end of a string of not-quite-right, clever-at-first-but-increasingly-less-so possibilities. “Maybe–” Mallory suggested.
“No,” Nicole said firmly.
“I just think if we talked to him and tried to bargain him down–”
“I am not spending any amount of money that ends in “ousands of dollars” for INTANGIBLE RIGHTS TO THE CONCEPT OF TOAST.COM,” Nicole said.
“Right-ho,” Mallory said.
And we wound up buying the janky-looking domain you know and love today. Bless you all for putting that hyphen in there.
It’s going pretty well so far! We like all the stuff we’ve published, and we have lots more in the tank. It seems a little weird not to have short posts during the day, just features, but not too weird, not yet, so we’ll keep on keepin’ on. We’re thinking we might have one post a day, though, where Mallory and Nicole just talk about what stories we’re following and you can discuss them too, although you might grow weary of Nicole’s unflagging appetite for more information about the impeding Royal Birth (Will it be a changeling? If so, will it be William or Kate who takes the risky journey under the Iron Hill to battle the Unseelie Court for their stolen child?). We’ll see. What do you think? It’s summer, so we know you’re mostly just hot and quiet.
We’d also love to know a bit about you few, you tidy few, you winsome and rule-abiding few. What brings you here? What kind of topics would you like to see us cover in the future? Are there writers or books or people we should be talking about that we haven’t gotten to yet? Does your boss know how much time you spend reading us? When you visit us, do you pretend you’re eating toast or drinking champagne? Do you think we’re attractive, or have good personalities? Because when someone is not that attractive, they’re always described as having a good personality. Do you think we’re not attractive? Or just because we happened to mention that we might have good personalities, we could be either: attractive with a good personality, or not attractive with a good personality? Be specific.
We’re going to be kicking off our advice column next week, and we’re not going to pretend ours is so different from all the other advice columns in the world. You’re going to send your questions to [email protected] with the word “Advice” in the subject line, and you can specify “Nicole,” or “Mallory,” (Mallory’s answers will almost always involve a paean to Kristen Stewart) or “Mallory and Nicole” or “A Dead Poet,” in which case we will provide advice to you in the form of a quotation from a dead, ideally public-domain poet (Not Sylvia Plath. Never Sylvia Plath. Surely you don’t want to hear more about Sylvia Plath). Okay? Otherwise, it’s just us, and our boundless wisdom.
Tags: advice, did you spot the when harry met sally quote, domains, meta, nicole and mallory, status reports, the toast
Excuse you, I ALWAYS want to hear more about Sylvia Plath. (It’s true. She’s my imaginary Disaster Friend now that I’ve gotten rid of my real Disaster Friends.)
Oh, but surely we can all agree there is no shortage of Sylvia Plath on this here Ladies’ Internet.
Internette
Psst… Hey you, yeah you… Over here… *pulls you into alleyway, opens trench coat*… I’ve got yer Plath content right here on this poetry blog… It’ll be our little secret.
I, for one, would welcome all changeling-related news. Changelings in history. What to do when you give birth to a changeling. So you want to be a changeling. Etc.
Weirdly enough, “history of changelings” is actually on my To Write list. But I probably won’t get to it until the fall, at which point the royal baby will have been revealed as a changeling and everyone will know everything about changelings anyway.
yeah there’ll be, like, a fuckyeahchangelings.tumblr.com
When you visit us, do you pretend you’re eating toast or drinking champagne?
Yes.
I am actually eating dry white toast right now.
Dry white wine toast?
I have had a craving for toast pretty much since the site launched, but didn’t actually manage to purchase bread until last night.
I had toast with PB and bacon for lunch today and it was AWESOME and reminded me of eating same at 8 years old on rainy Saturdays.
I do that anyway 🙁
I think a daily news roundup is a great idea, and you should call it either Crumbs or Toast Points – pretty sure both of these have been suggested by other Toasters/Toasties (did we reach a consensus on that yet? our reader name?)
I think you’re both gorgeous inside and out, but especially whichever one is more important to you.
And I love everything… except the book posts, because I haven’t read any of the books, because I tend to read books with curly writing and cartoony girls on the cover. Oh, Marian Keyes is good if you do go that route though.
Also super excited about the advice column because those are my favorite, (and if you ever want me to write one… just sayin’)
Crumbs! Love this.
I could see the Daily News Roundup (Toast Points? I love Toast Points, the name, the concept, the foodstuff) becoming a sort of open thread too, which I would really enjoy!
I would be really great with Toast Points as long as we can have pimento cheese with them. (Or the blog equivalent thereof? What is that? Maybe feminist comics? Or pictures of bears!)
MARIAN KEYES!!
YES Marian Keyes because she goes BEYOND the fluff. There’s always some serious stuff in there that just completely catches you off guard.
Yeah, I love the weekly ‘what is Nicole reading’ post and it would be great if we could actually discuss the books in more depth but that would require a critical mass of people who have already read them.
I also think it would be cool if the readership could use those posts to talk about what we are all reading at the moment, or if there were another space for that.
Didn’t Nicole say in the first post that that’s the idea? For us to comment about what we’re reading that week, too?
Or did I imagine that?
croutons? melba toast? toast soldiers? beans on toast? eggs in a basket? poor knights???
ok that went from mini-toast type foods to just whatever weird toast-related terms or foods I could find on wikipedia real fast.
TOAST SOLDIERS. right Mallory?
I love Toast Points as the daily roundup name, even if it does make me crave creme fraiche and cheap caviar.
I do hope any answers from Emily Dickinson will come in iambic tetrameter/triameter.
No, but seriously, I am enjoying this tremendously even if every single one of my comments keeps getting sent to moderation. (I think it’s because I use the WP login with my display name as Nomie elsewhere but anachronistique here? Who knows.)
Loving “the-toast” so far – particularly the literature coverage. Mostly here for that, after being a follower of lazybookreviews. Maybe some lazymovie old reviews? I feel like tv is pretty over covered everywhere else, right?
One thing: I read Barbara Pym for the first time a few years ago and felt like all the lights turned on. Everyone read Barbara Pym!
I’m on a Barbara Pym kick too! I’m reading No Fond Return of Love right now.
YES. Excellent Women is now my LIFE and also endlessly quotable.
Ah, I just have to chime in and say that I LOVE the book posts. I love their rambling style (and the convenient list format at the end). I recently moved and really miss having book chats with friends and those posts remind me of them. Please keep them coming!
I love Nicole’s books columns, so I would love to see more of that all of the time. It’s weirdly difficult to find good book blogs/stories/conversations on the internet that aren’t either wildly pretentious or aimed at teens. But Nicole’s are perfect!
I miss Classic Trash. Nicole, could we have some more Classic Trash? No one ever wants to talk about SCARLETT with me. 🙁
Um, hi. I will talk about Scarlett with you until the cows come home. The shipwreck, the cave sex, the tree house, the “No you fool, not a cat… she’s your daughter.”
oh my goodness, nothing about that book is actually good, or true to the spirit of the original, but I treasure it. It’s so batshit.
Non Sequitur Alert: speaking of the British Royals, does anyone else imagine that Kate is singing to William whenever Lorde’s Royals comes on the radio? I imagine her singing it as an ironic and seductive thing, and then I start wondering what the hell is wrong with me that I imagine any of this at all..
th3t0a~st.biz is still available!
Speaking of different domain names, has everyone seen that .nyc is now a legit ending, according to ICANN?
As per Iceberg’s long overdue mention of Marian Keyes above, I would love to see some more commercial fiction stuff. Not remotely as an alternative to the poetry/Emily books/Nicole bookery, but in addition! Only Toasters (I have made my choice) could look at the Toast and think “Nice, but could use a little more book coverage”, but hey, we’ll do us, right?
I agree. More commercial fiction, more about books in general
I’d like to hear nore from writers, publishers and agents.
I’d also like more history-featuring-unusual-women stuff.
Last of all I’d like to write for youm but I’ll never subit work because I don’t think I’m good enough amd also I don’t write essays and my short stories are all horror stories and aren’t my main *thing* plus my long work is pretty exclusively adventure fantasy.\
Send a horror story!
Well, I am editing this weird little thing about a dog statue… maybe when it’s done. Hey, what’s one more rejection?
(I get a lot of ‘this was GREAT but not for us please submit again’ which is nice, but a yes would be nicer)
I’d love to read horror but if I am going to be scared of my dog (I’m looking at you, Cujo) I might have to avoid.
It’s OK! It probably won’t make you afraid of your dog.
It might stop you from decorating your home with dog statues though,
Ok, currently free and clear of any dog statues – carry on.
I will submit when I think it is acceptable.
Does your/anyone’s interest in publishing extend beyond the writer-editor-agent relationships? Because editing is the part that I tiptoed quietly but quickly away from as a day job, but I work in other parts of publishing.
I am *very* interested and would listen eagerly to anything you have to say. In fact, I’ve been trying to dig up info on the history of the publishing industry over the last couple hundred years; any good suggestions?
Oh gosh. There aren’t a lot of history books that I know of, and I’m blanking on the one that was a history of book publishing and production in America, going back to just before Franklin and his press. I think it was just called The Book in America?? That’s the most historical one I remember, but I can’t find it now.
More on the industry recently, one of my friends read The Business of Books and recommended it highly.
And then because this is my love, there are a billion beautiful books I would recommend about book design. Penguin by Design is amazing, giving a pretty good overview of the history of Penguin Books while also showing you pretty things. And By Its Cover is about American design. They’re both less reading intensive, because design, but give good context for what you’re looking at.
Except for Penguin, which includes the UK history of the company, the rest of these are pretty US-centric, fyi.
THANK YOU for all this; my list is ever-growing. Very helpful!
I’m trying to get further into editing and would be interested in hearing your quiet-but-quick tiptoeing-away story, and also about your experiences in production and design. Might you be available for a quick email chat out of the comments thread?
(Postscript: apologizes for the delayed reply; I was traveling.)
Oh sure! It’s not terribly exciting but it’s a different perspective. You can email me at gmail, where I am rea dot corbin, but the dot is the punctuation rather than spelled out.
Is it still necessary to do all those contortions around email addresses to avoid spambots?
It absolutely does! I always like learning about the more obscure, specialised parts of any business.
cool! I’ll have to think a bit. I do print and digital, production and design, at a very small niche publisher. Must be something in that.
I know Nicole and Mallory want to publish fiction, not just essays, so you should submit it!
Personally, I’m finding the abortion coverage (coverage? Ahhh let’s go with it) especially righteous, & cementing my feelings of love and devotion for this Internet place. I wouldn’t hate some mom/kids shit either, because Nicole writes so perfectly about it.
Oh yeah I am fully expecting and wanting much mom/kids stuff!!!
Iceberg, I fully think you should do an advice column with non-bullshit parenting advice! I, for one, am entering the stage in which I *begin* to think about becoming a parent, and there are so. many. questions.
well, I AM much better at advice than at doing the best thing myself 😉
I would love that, but also the Ask the Bergy Bits column, maybe in the same article. Berg advice followed by Bergy Bit advice.
$90,000!? I hope that guy could hear you laughing. From however many miles away you were laughing.
I am super excited that there will be advice on The Toast! I will go ahead and be up front: I am addicted to advice columns. Prudie, Carolyn Hax, Captain Awkward, Any Other Columns I Come Across… something about reading an LW’s dilemma and someone’s usually reasoned response to said dilemma just gets me right in the “Yes I like this” parts.
Also, totally a changeling, if it comes out with red hair like Harry’s.
That’s so funny, I really flinch at advice columns (esp by untrained people) because I’m all “I don’t need anyone to tell me what to do!!” And then I have a problem and turn straight to the internet. FINE.
It seems like Emma axed the advice columns over at the HP, Polly’s still in effect but A Queer Chick is in need of a home! Do the humane thing, Mallory and Nicole.*
* I mean take AQC in. Please do not euthanize her
Oh, that’s unfortunate, did they make a statement about that somewhere? I’m sad! Hopefully AQC finds a home, whether it’s here or somewhere else or… AQC.com? Maybe?
If AQC is a free agent, The-Toast needs to nab her but quick. I thought they’d just dropped her down to once a month, maybe? But yes, if she’s floating around, we need to adopt her!
Personally I think that Kate would go under the hill to battle the Unseelie Court, and this would be the final test to her entrance into Nobility which she would, of course, pass with flying colors and slashing swords.
And suddenly I would like to read that story.
Is there any possibility of a book feature like the one Nicole did on the Pin with readers’ three books and then a recommendation? I looooved those, although I bet they are time-consuming.
There is a man that calls himself the “Biblioracle” who does something similar, with the last 5 books you’ve read. He is known to do a very good job. It is an interesting tactic, as it’s not about whether you liked the books, it’s just about what you’ve been reading lately. It is supposed to get a sense for your moods or whatever.
Here he is on Twitter: https://twitter.com/biblioracle
And here’s a good rundown: http://www.themorningnews.org/article/greetings-f…
His column is also featured in the Chicago Tribune.
Oh nice! Thanks for the tip.
I would also like to read that story.
In Seattle, our librarians do that for us with the Your Next Five feature (we LOVE to vote for library levies here). The form asks for a library card number but it isn’t required. Maybe your library does something similar, but if not, borrow mine!
This link just keeps bringing me back to this page? Confused and interested in what you’re talking about!
Ah! Maybe I copied the wrong tab’s URL? That’s pretty bush league of me, sorry about that. Try this. <3 librarians!
Oh, wonderful, thanks for sharing!
Signed,
A Future Librarian
I would also like to read that story.
Of course I spotted the When Harry Met Sally quote, is that even a question? Please use that tag generously.
This, yes!
I went back and found the When Harry Met Sally quote. Because it sounded familiar the first time but I couldn’t place it.
And I love the idea of a round-up. And I’m excited about an advice column. And I’m getting used to having only features too and so far it’s working out nicely. And the books! I don’t have specific ones to suggest right now, but I love the focus on books and I’m starting a reading list.
I followed you both here from The Hairpin. I’ve never been involved with a site before from the beginning. It’s exciting.
Yes! What a novel idea, being involved from the ground floor. It feels hipster-ish and exciting and cool.
Re: only features + the simple black on white design = my boss does not know how much I read the site, no, and it works out perfectly.
The only site I’ve been involved with from the start is the one I co-run and it’s a bit different, that.
I am liking this a great deal.
Although I respect that Nicole doesn’t want to make things too Mommy around here, a little more Mom stuff might be nice in the mix.
Maybe coverage of children’s books? Think of the children, Nicole!
Also, I’d hate for you guys to get sucked into feeling like you had to post links all day long to keep us here. We’re here. I’d be afraid, eventually, of you suffering from burnout; I imagine that trying to scrape up amusing links and saying something amusing about them is tiring.
I think that, for now at least, concentrating on longer reads is refreshing. I know that I appreciate more nuanced approaches to fewer ideas.
Overall, I think the site is really excellent and enjoyabale.
OOH OOH AND TRANS* ISSUE STUFF TOO, perhaps?? Like did you know the Indigo Girls said they won’t play the Michigan Women’s Music Festival again until they lose the womyn-born-womyn-only policy? Huge victory for so many activists trying for years to make it happen!
ETA: I don’t know what I’m suggesting here, except Ask an Indigo Girl About Trans-Inclusiveness, but you know.
I’d like to see Trans* writers both in and out of the activism / awareness context. Thomas Page McBee would be a good fit I think!
Random design comment:
I could be wrong about this, but I believe in the early days of the site (oh it’s so old now!), your “reputation” “point system” “pence” “who’s the best” number showed next to your username on every comment made, and now that seems to be gone. (It still appears on your profile/page but it is not in the comment threads.) If it was a conscious decision to remove that, I just wanted to say thanks! I like it better this way.
me too it ended up making me anxious.
I don’t like being judged by a little floating number
I found myself watching it and getting stressed if it went down
These days I just refresh my page obsessively to see if you like me
I do! I do!
Yay! I like you, too.
Me too. WHAT MAKES THE LITTLE NUMBER GO DOWN?!
I can’t understand it. Supposedly it somehow factors in time but idk it just boggles my brain.
I don’t know if this is rude to ask, but I was wondering where the Toast’s funding comes from? I know you’ve said it was important to you to be able to pay contributors, which I think is awesome, but it seems like monetization is so fraught for most blogs. It’s always interesting to me how different sites navigate that issue, so I’d love to see a piece on how you guys decided on your model.
I was wondering the same thing as I was reading this.
We put in our own money.
but how can we help you make some? is pageviews enough?
Honestly (and in keeping with the policies of various ad systems), the best thing you can do for us is just read naturally and browse the site and enjoy and comment as you always have.
man if you could make money just off getting comments I’d be your favorite 😉
also I would totally buy Toast merch, just throwin’ that out there
Oooooohhhh merch! There is a line somewhere on the site, I think, where NicMal are like don’t worry there won’t be tote bags, and I was like…but guys. Toast totes would be totes cute. TOAST TOTES FOR ALL YOUR BOOKS THAT YOU BUY THROUGH THE AMAZON LINKS ON NICOLE’S POSTS! Ahem.
“Toast totes would be totes cute” YES they would be.
Also: “NicMal”
basically this is my new favorite comment.
You can also donate, up there in the assorted link list! I contributed a little christening present
If spot the When Harry Met Sally quote is going to be a new game around here, I’m 100% on board. Also, NICOLE where is The Newsroom recap?? I sat and watched the whole first season to be caught up for the premier on Sunday just so I could finally understand what you were talking about when you did the recaps (since they were so enjoyable even if you didn’t watch the show). Please tell me that wasn’t all for naught.
Thank you for asking! I am currently in Canada looking after my mom as she recovers from a knee replacement, and we do not have a) HBO, b) enough internet for HBO Go.
I wish I could send you my internet and/or HBO. I hope you’re mom is doing well!
I want to register to comment so badly but my ‘Pin username is apparently taken on WordPress and nothankyou, I do not wish to add 375 to the end. Just waiting for inspiration to kick in.
Also, I love this site as much as the Doctor loves the TARDIS.
If you go to your profile settings, you can change your display name. That’s how I was able to get my Hairpin name to display instead of “greyhavens9,” which is the username I had to sign up with.
this is useful information! (goes to change things)
Thank you for this! I no longer need to be plural! That is great news.
hi guys I like your web site thanks for websiting it
This is a comment acknowledging your liking of the websiting.
Do you like websites? Yeah. I heard you like websites.
I just want to let everyone know that you can pre-register .pizza domain names so whoever got pizza.pizza is gonna be a millionaire.
HUZZAH THE TOAST. I imagine I am eating delicious buttery toast when I read it.
Things I would like to see include more of Mallory’s fantastical stories, such as Kate’s battle against the Unseelie Court (melis I hope you are writing that as we speak). Also if you are willing to continue the alternate history of Mitt and Paul and their d/s White House relationship, either here or elsewhere, um, yes, I would like that.
Food? Food is delicious. I always like food-y things and exciting new recipes or crafty things to try (This Is How You Shouldn’t Make Kale, The Crazy Things I Have Knitted For Pets).
You are both attractive and probably REALLY have totally horrible personalities but have created smart, funny, charming, wonderful online personas to cover for it. Good work! <3
Favorite things about the structure of The Toast: having the few features per day means it is easy and satisfying for me to catch up on what I missed during the work day, and it still feels like I can contribute comments, etc. even if I’m a day or two late to the party. I also love that the site is legible on my mobile device.
Other wishes: recommend nonfiction books that read like fiction, more Ladies of History, maybe the editors can visit major US/Canada cities to throw regional Toastie launch parties?
Oh it’s HORRIBLE on my HTC phone and the WordPress login doesn’t work, I think because java?
You’re right Berg. It’s def NOT good on all mobile devices and we are going to continue working toward a more functional The Toast. This has been a semi-official statement from amateur website putter together-er girl.
If you’re looking for more feedback on mobile stuff, things look great on an ipad (basically the same as a normal computer browser) but the comments section on an iPhone becomes completely unreadable. The article text on the iPhone is readable, but doesn’t use the full width of the page. (ipad 2, iphone 5, chrome for iOS on both)
That said, I love that time is being taken out to make the mobile experience better! Much appreciation!
Yes more nonfiction please! I’ve been debating offering my services in the nonfiction/science department, but have yet to come up with a pitch I like.
Ooooh, more science coverage would be lovely! I can’t get enough of weird science and outer space stuff.
another vote for science coverage! I feel like I ought to pitch something about the things I know about, but I am not confident in my ability to be witty rather than pedantic.
Ladies of History! Yes.
What is your mobile device, if you don’t mind me asking?
I’m on a Samsung Galaxy III – I have to pinch/zoom to see clearly, and it took me a little bit of time to login to comment the first time, but it works way better for me than Hairpin’s mobile site.
Please please PLEASE more coverage of the lives of women of color! I know that’s something you all have stated is important to you, so I am really excited about it. To me that looks like not only having writers of color, but having them write about issues specific to women of color, or engaging with issues that affect communities of color. Also, if there’s going to be more children’s book coverage (and book coverage in general, which YAY), books that are not all by and about white women/children.
yes all of this
I too would really like to see some coverage of racial issues in general, and especially as they apply to women.
Absolutely. We’ve been able to feature the writing of several brilliant women of color already (Linette, have you been able to see Roxane Gay’s exploration of race in the Fast and the Furious franchise? That was a great essay) and we have a few pieces scheduled for the next couple of weeks that deal more explicitly with race and racism.
We’re also working with a couple of women who are writing about living with disabilities, and we’re really interested in exploring the ways that mainstream feminism ignores and often works against women with multiple identities (women of color, women of non-Christian faith, women with physical disabilities, trans*women and genderqueer folks, and so on).
ALSO we would love, absolutely love, to hear from any of you if you’re interested in writing about some of these issues yourself, or just want to give us feedback.
I did see that essay, and it was amazing. The launch of the Toast has unfortunately correlated with a huge influx of work over here, so I’m not commenting as much as I’d like, but I did read it and enjoyed it thoroughly, particularly because I saw the first F&F and was shocked at what a good time I had. (I got dragged there by a boyfriend, was pleasantly surprised.)
I’ll think about what I might pitch. I’m actually a non-faithful able-bodied straight white woman, so I gots NOTHING when it comes to personal lifelong experiences with combo identities, but I am really, really interested in the topic, in part because learning more about feminism has made me more sensitive to ways I am not pulling my weight as a human being in realms of racism/homophobia/prejudice in all the ways, and maybe there’s something can be made out of that.
Yes thank you! More inclusiveness, please. Fewer assumptions. Excellent.
YES news roundup YES advice column(s). Orange is the New Black open thread???
I always google people I admire to know what they look like so I know if they are attractive IN ADDITION to having a good personality.
I mean, if we don’t get at least ONE post about Dune from Nicole, I’m going to be a little disappointed.
cosigned.
Loving things around here a lot so far. LOVE all the bookishness, love the unexpected historical stuff (the dictaphone piece! the dictaphone piece), love how features-heavy it is, but would be into a daily news roundup comment thread, love the poetry and the weird humour and the feminism. Would love to see more non-US/Canada/UK content, and am excited to see advice from dead poets.
Also, I mentioned this in the book post from Monday but wasn’t sure if you’d see it–is there any way for those of us not in the US to order from amazon in a way that supports y’all, or does the click-through funding only work through the American website?
Are listicles still cool? I want to submit a listicle.
Ooh, and what about serial fiction? Maybe that’s a little too much, but reading a longer work a chapter at a time all together would be pretty rad.
Ooh, I love this. I tried to use DailyLit a while back to encourage me to read classics I’d never read. I probably would have stuck with it better if it were DailyLit PLUS excellent discussions online.
Edit: It could even be a book of short stories or essays! Emily Books got me to read bunches of No More Nice Girls by Ellen Willis. That way you could drop out for a week and come back, and not have much catching up to do. I’m thinking too much about this.
YES to a serial.
I would jockey to get paid by the word!
LOVE, want.
none of the usernames i like/use are available on intensedebate, so i am perpetually a guest, is that cool? i don’t even know.
re: web addresses, while the hyphen may not be the coolest (are hypens cool now?) i literally never type in a web address anymore, i click rss links/twitter links/bookmark buttons, so it’s all cool.
i like the idea of a weekly round-up of what was on your radar – it’s what i miss most from the old version of google reader, sharing – seeing what everyone else was reading, paying attention to. it’s too easy to get caught in your own internet bubble.
Toasters in Chief: keep rocking it! Y’all are the best, and even though a stupid surgery has gotten in the way of me reading every single post so far, now that I’m recuperating I will have a delightful catch up period.
HI JASMINE I AM GLAD TO SEE YOUR INTERNET FACE
i also am glad you’re here, I wish you the fluffiest, coolest pillows and a speedy or at least pleasantly malingering recovery 😉
MALLORY. I know that deep down you want this site to be a platform where you can share your trashy-scifi-novel liveblogged reviews. I’m just here to say that some of us (maybe just me. possibly.) would really enjoy that. (Dooooo ittttttt)
I would be very happy to see YA fiction nostalgia-type pieces. Nicole does those beautifully. Maybe even the type where people submit details from books they vaguely remember, and we all work together to remember the title! Those are my favorite, even back in the old Jezebel days with Lizzie Skurnick. Shelf discovery? And this might be a little lowbrow (my middle name), but I love a good tv recap. Somehow reading another person’s opinion on what I’ve watched has become almost as fun as watching it myself.
Needs more evilmelis!
RIP melis / evilmelis
There is no melis, only Mallory
The Melis Is A Lie
I don’t have much to add other than this is awesome, keep up the great work, and I can’t wait for more.
I love The Toast. My only complaint is that I have a constant craving for toast now. Hot buttered toast with tea is what I want right now, last week it was French toast because there was a discussion in the comments about it.
I am so glad I’m not the only one
The pieces you post are all so interesting and diverse and reading this blog is the highlight of my workday so I guess there’s not much I would even want to suggest…. maybe more women doing cool things? Like living in a yurt on an organic farm, deep-sea fishers, MMA competitors, the lives of different rural people, I dunno. The more lives and experiences we can learn about, the better.
I really like that The Toast is currently features-only; I sometimes find the mix of longer and shorter pieces on The Hairpin and The Billfold to be a little jarring. A longer link round-up post is appealing.
I really like that it’s just a few features a day, this enables me to keep my job and also read everything.
I remember spending a long walk home trying to come up with ladyblog website names, I knew it had to be a “the something”, preferably 1-2 syllables, but couldn’t come up with anything nearly as good.
I was lobbying for “The Twerking” but was immediately told to leave the room by my female overlords.
The Misandrist
Nah that’s the name of my memoir.
Actually I am having complicated thoughts about misandry but this is not the place. (I mean, this site might be. But deep in the comments of a meta-housekeeping post is not the place.)
Friday thread? Or submit something!
I miss Nicole’s Monday morning Newsroom takedowns. Can we have those again?
You guysss you forgot the philology of the site slogan! I was promised a story 🙁
Check out the About page for a link to a Wikipedia article that explains it. Note to Nicole and Mallory: I would love to hear it in your own words, too!
My only suggestion about the site so far was gonna be “needs more When Harry Met Sally quotes,” but you’re all over that. Of course.
I am disabled and feel sorta left out sometimes, so it’d be great if you could find someone to write something occasionally (or multiple people) about what it’s like ‘n stuff.
I also am helluv girly and love BEAUTY posts.
And ADVICE! WOO!
We have a few things in the works that might interest you!
Apropos of nothing, “the-toast” brings left-coast highways / strange phrasal emphasis to my mind. Every time I see it, my inner monologue goes “the toast?”, “no, it’s THE toast”.
Reminds me of what a native Spanish speaker once told me about native English speakers saying “que hora es?” and pronouncing it with the wrong emphasis, like someone saying “what time is IT?”
I would love it if there could be some kind of library somewhere with opinions/reviews of the books mentioned on this site (even just, like, cut and pasting the reviews Nicole’s been doing would be awesome) with links so I can buy them when I have actual money. I am afraid I will forget about these books even though when I read the description I was like YES GIMME.
Maybe that could also be a way to make some money? Maybe? I have no idea how links to, say, Amazon work in terms of getting you monies, but if you put up a Toast library I would be perusing it/buying things from it all the damn time.
I was thinking of a way to clue each other in to events going on. Like, maybe a limited open thread, a windowed thread? A weekly real-world events round-up. The only problem is our geographic dispersion, which might expand and overlap with time, but would still risk alienating those not living in major cities.
I’m not going to lie, as a long time lazy reviewer fan I would love to read more Nicole’s horse and Nicole’s baby pieces. As a pregnant med student focusing on reproductive health (yay abortion rights coverage) I still read a lot for fun but my selections are almost always regency romance novels, mysteries, and young adult novels I’ve worn thin over the last 100 reads. So I echo the call for more coverage of, I guess, lowish brow delights.
The Toast is the best, and both of you should write about whatever you want, because you are incredibly talented writers who make everything you write touching and wonderful. But always more books stuff from Nicole and more and more exquisite rage humour from Mallory. Also more essay’s like Anne Helen Peterson’s heartbreaking Fourth of July piece. And more teenage nostalgia/female friendships pieces if I’m going to get greedy.
I love what you guys are doing so far. Love that you’re sticking with full-length articles, and shying away from posting quick links and videos. I mean, I like that stuff, too, but there’s a lot of it out there, and I like having something substantial to read. Especially when it’s directed toward an audience which feels like it includes me. This site doesn’t feel too young, or too old, or too hip, or too esoteric. Very real, relatable stuff for smart ladies of all ages, races, socioeconomic situations, etc.
MORE CAROLITA JOHNSON.
Maybe “Ask Carolita Johnson”?
Or “How to be Carolita Johnson”?
I’m loving the abortion coverage and am generally a great fan of your way of writing about news and politics. As a non-US reader (in fact I’m currently in the US, it’s actually my first time here, pretty crazy!) I’d love to see stories from the rest of the world – like, smart anecdote-filled essays from people who do interesting things in strange places. I may even pitch ideas some day but I’ll have to work up the nerve first.
I’m in favor of everything here and in the comments. If you write it, I’ll read it and probably say something about it later. So yes to everything.
(Also, ridiculous historical anecdotes are always welcome, as they give me things to go off on a tangent with when I’ve forgotten to actually write a lecture.)
(Oh! And art! Can we talk about amazing art projects and crazy artists?)
I’ve just created a profile so I can comment – yay! Like many others, I love the book posts, and would love more book discussion in the comments too. I’d also love to read about interesting women in history. And I’m waiting anxiously for the ranking of the Mitford sisters?
Not totally on point here, but as long as we’re airing our “I love this site so much AND…” statements, I would really love it if there were ‘Next’ and ‘Previous’ buttons below the article text. Because I want to read ALL THE THINGS. Thank you.
I love the features-only format; it feels more productive to me. I’m very excited for Nicole’s fitness coverage. I love all the book coverage (Nicole is my go-to person-I-don’t-actually-know source for excellent book recommendations). And I’d love to see some poetry coverage – because poetry is great but also seems to get pretty marginalized, and it shouldn’t be! I pretty much love everything here so yay for y’all and your writing! Keep on keeping on!
I love the features-only format; it feels more productive to me. I'm very excited for Nicole's fitness coverage. I love all the book coverage (Nicole is my go-to person-I-don't-actually-know source for excellent book recommendations). And I'd love to see some poetry coverage – because poetry is great but also seems to get pretty marginalized, and it shouldn't be! I pretty much love everything here so yay for y'all and your writing! Keep on keeping on!
OMG you guys! Jay Z totally removed the hyphen from his name out of mad respect. I’m sure of it. (http://pitchfork.com/news/51591-the-artist-formerly-known-as-jay-z-removes-hyphen-from-his-name/)
Here from the hairpin 🙂 this is actually my ‘anonymous’ name that I used when I didn’t want to use my name that I’ve done so much more under.
Love hearing about the summer stories because it’s winter in Australia (and while ‘winter’ where I live has the temperatures of other places’ ‘summer’, there’s still not much light and I have to wear too many clothes and hug the heater when my man-heater isn’t over). Good to read while eating my lunch at my desk, om nom nom.
I’m another one of those commenters who would love to submit some pieces for you but am way too scared to submit yet. Soooo I am just going to keep writing and draft my pitch and then I’ll, like, pluck up the courage and hit send…
THANK YOU for all this; my list is ever-growing. Very helpful!
I'm trying to get further into editing and would be interested in hearing your quiet-but-quick tiptoeing-away story, and also about your experiences in production and design. Might you be available for a quick email chat out of the comments thread?
(Postscript: apologizes for the delayed reply; I was traveling.)