Flaming Hydra
@flaminghydra.com
A collaborative of 60 writers and artists publishing a newsletter for you each weekday. Culture, opinions, criticism, news, comics, mayhem.
$3/month
https://flaminghydra.com
$3/month
https://flaminghydra.com
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Joe had the wildest sounding Superbowl half-time show experience of any I heard about. Mesmerizing tale
A *free post* from @flaminghydra.com
flaminghydra.com/isssue-499/
A *free post* from @flaminghydra.com
flaminghydra.com/isssue-499/
Veterans, various
Joe MacLeod watched the football game
flaminghydra.com
February 10, 2026 at 10:59 PM
Joe had the wildest sounding Superbowl half-time show experience of any I heard about. Mesmerizing tale
A *free post* from @flaminghydra.com
flaminghydra.com/isssue-499/
A *free post* from @flaminghydra.com
flaminghydra.com/isssue-499/
TODAY: @joemacleod666.bsky.social experiences a version of the Super Bowl. “I was sad about how much hate seemed to be in the room, but it wasn’t my room, and I was free to leave and never come back.” flaminghydra.com/halftime-in-...
Halftime in America
a fiery writer-owned cooperative
flaminghydra.com
February 10, 2026 at 11:11 PM
TODAY: @joemacleod666.bsky.social experiences a version of the Super Bowl. “I was sad about how much hate seemed to be in the room, but it wasn’t my room, and I was free to leave and never come back.” flaminghydra.com/halftime-in-...
Reposted by Flaming Hydra
Tropes like 'country kid off to the big city' impose real limitations on identity. @jidesalawu.bsky.social on how that works in postcolonial African literature. It's real good
And for dessert, @camoot.bsky.social's uh theories about the best/worst days of 2025
flaminghydra.com/p/c21dbf3d-6...
And for dessert, @camoot.bsky.social's uh theories about the best/worst days of 2025
flaminghydra.com/p/c21dbf3d-6...
Village people / Days of our lives
Jídé Salawu reflects on migration and African identities; Amy Chu does social science
flaminghydra.com
February 10, 2026 at 1:55 AM
Tropes like 'country kid off to the big city' impose real limitations on identity. @jidesalawu.bsky.social on how that works in postcolonial African literature. It's real good
And for dessert, @camoot.bsky.social's uh theories about the best/worst days of 2025
flaminghydra.com/p/c21dbf3d-6...
And for dessert, @camoot.bsky.social's uh theories about the best/worst days of 2025
flaminghydra.com/p/c21dbf3d-6...
ALSO TODAY: @camoot.bsky.social with a DEFINITIVE, qualitative, mathematical assessment of some days last year. flaminghydra.com/best-and-wor...
Best and Worst Days of 2025
A Quantitative Assessment into the Best and Worst Days of 2025
This study, “A Quantitative Assessment into the Best and Worst Day of 2025,” is the continuation of a previous study conducted by the Pr...
flaminghydra.com
February 10, 2026 at 1:32 AM
ALSO TODAY: @camoot.bsky.social with a DEFINITIVE, qualitative, mathematical assessment of some days last year. flaminghydra.com/best-and-wor...
TODAY: @jidesalawu.bsky.social considers rural Nigeria. “It goes without saying that many of the afflictions of postcolonial Africa today, whether social, political, or economic, affect rural populations even more deeply than they do those in the city.” flaminghydra.com/nigeria-and-...
Nigeria and the Rural Imagination
My mother’s economic life was sustained by the metropolis of Lagos. Every January, I would watch her leave my hometown, Shao, along with other migrant women heading to the city to hustle. Many of thes...
flaminghydra.com
February 10, 2026 at 1:31 AM
TODAY: @jidesalawu.bsky.social considers rural Nigeria. “It goes without saying that many of the afflictions of postcolonial Africa today, whether social, political, or economic, affect rural populations even more deeply than they do those in the city.” flaminghydra.com/nigeria-and-...
Reposted by Flaming Hydra
All the real ones are thinking about this. Exceptional essay in @flaminghydra.com on this exact subject from @supremenothing.myatproto.social ✊
Rock Solidarity
a fiery writer-owned cooperative
flaminghydra.com
February 7, 2026 at 5:14 PM
All the real ones are thinking about this. Exceptional essay in @flaminghydra.com on this exact subject from @supremenothing.myatproto.social ✊
Reposted by Flaming Hydra
Reposted by Flaming Hydra
essay i mentioned previously on how independent music gives you the basic tools for organizing even if you didn’t realize you were building those skills, and how great it’s been to watch people hit the ground running
TODAY: @supremenothing.myatproto.social shares the good news from indie music: "People from all over, regardless of scene or genre, are really showing up. This isn’t just a punk thing; this isn’t about protest songs, or music that’s always been explicitly political." flaminghydra.com/issue-497/?a...
Wisdom of the crowd / Star power
jj skolnik on underground organizing; Laurie Woolever talks with culinary superstars in Mexico City
flaminghydra.com
February 6, 2026 at 11:31 PM
essay i mentioned previously on how independent music gives you the basic tools for organizing even if you didn’t realize you were building those skills, and how great it’s been to watch people hit the ground running
WHAT A WEEK. Please read these two heartening dispatches from the world of "maybe everything isn't ALL bad" and then go lie down! Okay! Thank you as always for your support of Flaming Hydra, we love you!
February 6, 2026 at 11:22 PM
WHAT A WEEK. Please read these two heartening dispatches from the world of "maybe everything isn't ALL bad" and then go lie down! Okay! Thank you as always for your support of Flaming Hydra, we love you!
Reposted by Flaming Hydra
Today at @flaminghydra.com the mighty @lauriewoolever.bsky.social talks with two leftists in Mexico City who were pretty surprised to receive a Michelin Star
Super absorbing great talk
flaminghydra.com/issue-497/#f...
Super absorbing great talk
flaminghydra.com/issue-497/#f...
February 6, 2026 at 11:20 PM
Today at @flaminghydra.com the mighty @lauriewoolever.bsky.social talks with two leftists in Mexico City who were pretty surprised to receive a Michelin Star
Super absorbing great talk
flaminghydra.com/issue-497/#f...
Super absorbing great talk
flaminghydra.com/issue-497/#f...
ALSO TODAY: @lauriewoolever.bsky.social with a married chef duo in Mexico City on how they're doing things very differently. "Our critique is of an industry. How does making good food erase being a bad person?" flaminghydra.com/food-and-love/
Food and Love
a fiery writer-owned cooperative
flaminghydra.com
February 6, 2026 at 11:21 PM
ALSO TODAY: @lauriewoolever.bsky.social with a married chef duo in Mexico City on how they're doing things very differently. "Our critique is of an industry. How does making good food erase being a bad person?" flaminghydra.com/food-and-love/
Reposted by Flaming Hydra
one of the things that ai art can’t do is replicate the joy of doing art with yr friends, in community with others. i wrote a bit about how flexing this muscle doesn’t just rule but also builds essential organizing skills in an essay that will be up today on @flaminghydra.com
February 6, 2026 at 7:31 PM
one of the things that ai art can’t do is replicate the joy of doing art with yr friends, in community with others. i wrote a bit about how flexing this muscle doesn’t just rule but also builds essential organizing skills in an essay that will be up today on @flaminghydra.com
TODAY: @supremenothing.myatproto.social shares the good news from indie music: "People from all over, regardless of scene or genre, are really showing up. This isn’t just a punk thing; this isn’t about protest songs, or music that’s always been explicitly political." flaminghydra.com/issue-497/?a...
Wisdom of the crowd / Star power
jj skolnik on underground organizing; Laurie Woolever talks with culinary superstars in Mexico City
flaminghydra.com
February 6, 2026 at 11:19 PM
TODAY: @supremenothing.myatproto.social shares the good news from indie music: "People from all over, regardless of scene or genre, are really showing up. This isn’t just a punk thing; this isn’t about protest songs, or music that’s always been explicitly political." flaminghydra.com/issue-497/?a...
Reposted by Flaming Hydra
We have about 70 contributors so far at @flaminghydra.com
Try some free posts at flaminghydra.com/free
If you love it, subscribe from $3/month!
Try some free posts at flaminghydra.com/free
If you love it, subscribe from $3/month!
Flaming Hydrant - Flaming Hydra
Share these stories freely, no paywall! If you love them, please subscribe to Flaming Hydra to receive more each weekday.
flaminghydra.com
February 6, 2026 at 3:03 PM
We have about 70 contributors so far at @flaminghydra.com
Try some free posts at flaminghydra.com/free
If you love it, subscribe from $3/month!
Try some free posts at flaminghydra.com/free
If you love it, subscribe from $3/month!
Reposted by Flaming Hydra
I've been really loving the Flaming Hydra subscription for this reason.
whoever figures out a way to bundle independent journalism subscriptions will be a hero
i know that this is an unpopular take, but everyone starting their own newsletter as a revenue stream is not a sustainable model for writing and reporting or for people who love and want to pay for media.
February 4, 2026 at 8:17 PM
I've been really loving the Flaming Hydra subscription for this reason.
Reposted by Flaming Hydra
@parkermolloy.com wrote a truly excellent piece on the magic and mayhem of our glorious 2025 Chicago Bears
give it a read, and Flaming Hydra a sub :)
give it a read, and Flaming Hydra a sub :)
Dread and circuses
Parker Molloy, a fan of the Chicago Bears, suffers and rejoices
flaminghydra.com
February 6, 2026 at 12:36 AM
@parkermolloy.com wrote a truly excellent piece on the magic and mayhem of our glorious 2025 Chicago Bears
give it a read, and Flaming Hydra a sub :)
give it a read, and Flaming Hydra a sub :)
Reposted by Flaming Hydra
Even if you don't know sports at all @parkermolloy.com has valuable perspectives to help you rise above these chaotic times, plus reflections on the Chicago Bears
flaminghydra.com/issue-496/
flaminghydra.com/issue-496/
Dread and circuses
Parker Molloy, a fan of the Chicago Bears, suffers and rejoices
flaminghydra.com
February 6, 2026 at 12:10 AM
Even if you don't know sports at all @parkermolloy.com has valuable perspectives to help you rise above these chaotic times, plus reflections on the Chicago Bears
flaminghydra.com/issue-496/
flaminghydra.com/issue-496/
TODAY: @parkermolloy.com watches the Bears. “Every game required you to believe, against all available evidence, that the outcome you were watching unfold was somehow going to reverse itself in the final minutes.” flaminghydra.com/taking-what-...
Taking What Comes
The season was over. The Bears had come back from another deficit, forced overtime in the divisional playoff, and then lost 20-17 on a field goal. Elimination. That’s the kind of ending that’s suppose...
flaminghydra.com
February 6, 2026 at 12:01 AM
TODAY: @parkermolloy.com watches the Bears. “Every game required you to believe, against all available evidence, that the outcome you were watching unfold was somehow going to reverse itself in the final minutes.” flaminghydra.com/taking-what-...
Reposted by Flaming Hydra
My favourite Mourinho anecdote is when he said there’s no racism in football
TODAY: @zeets.bsky.social on legendary Benfica manager José Mourinho. "Only a handful of managers can compete with him in terms of trophies, and fewer still in terms of drama." flaminghydra.com/issue-495/#m...
Once more with feeling
Zito Madu on a life of showmanship in sports
flaminghydra.com
February 5, 2026 at 9:11 AM
My favourite Mourinho anecdote is when he said there’s no racism in football
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I was trying to buy happiness with the power of cold hard cash and just really getting my ass handed to me. A total bloodbath.
@flaminghydra.com
flaminghydra.com/what-it-has-...
@flaminghydra.com
flaminghydra.com/what-it-has-...
February 5, 2026 at 1:59 PM
I was trying to buy happiness with the power of cold hard cash and just really getting my ass handed to me. A total bloodbath.
@flaminghydra.com
flaminghydra.com/what-it-has-...
@flaminghydra.com
flaminghydra.com/what-it-has-...
Reposted by Flaming Hydra
Correct. Subscribe to @flaminghydra.com to support and strengthen this model.
It's working!! Slowly, but it's working. Just by sharing the subscription money, publishing good work, and attracting enough subscribers, eventually it will add up to a whole salary for each member.
It's working!! Slowly, but it's working. Just by sharing the subscription money, publishing good work, and attracting enough subscribers, eventually it will add up to a whole salary for each member.
"We just want to do good work and each make a decent living and keep the lights on" is still a radical idea in comparison to how everything has always worked but it's not fantastical.
February 4, 2026 at 7:20 PM
Correct. Subscribe to @flaminghydra.com to support and strengthen this model.
It's working!! Slowly, but it's working. Just by sharing the subscription money, publishing good work, and attracting enough subscribers, eventually it will add up to a whole salary for each member.
It's working!! Slowly, but it's working. Just by sharing the subscription money, publishing good work, and attracting enough subscribers, eventually it will add up to a whole salary for each member.
Reposted by Flaming Hydra
I have zero income and am happy to spend what I have on @flaminghydra.com and @defector.com along with The Paris Review and individual writers like @lukeoneil47.bsky.social and @lioneltrolling.bsky.social
Correct. Subscribe to @flaminghydra.com to support and strengthen this model.
It's working!! Slowly, but it's working. Just by sharing the subscription money, publishing good work, and attracting enough subscribers, eventually it will add up to a whole salary for each member.
It's working!! Slowly, but it's working. Just by sharing the subscription money, publishing good work, and attracting enough subscribers, eventually it will add up to a whole salary for each member.
"We just want to do good work and each make a decent living and keep the lights on" is still a radical idea in comparison to how everything has always worked but it's not fantastical.
February 4, 2026 at 7:28 PM
I have zero income and am happy to spend what I have on @flaminghydra.com and @defector.com along with The Paris Review and individual writers like @lukeoneil47.bsky.social and @lioneltrolling.bsky.social
I’m always saying this
As usual, I say subscribe to @flaminghydra.com
February 5, 2026 at 1:04 AM
I’m always saying this