Rachel Vorona Cote
@rvoronacote.bsky.social
Author of Too Much: How Victorian Constraints Still Bind Women Today. Freelance book critic all over the place. Get in touch: rachelvorona@gmail.com. @RVoronaCote on Instagram. She / Her.
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Guest column | Words aren’t enough to describe grief, but they can still be a refuge
For all its agonies and loneliness, grief continually asserts itself as a creative force.
wapo.st
My latest piece for @washingtonpost.com's Book World is an essay on grief literature, drawing significantly on Lauren Markham's Immemorial (a beautiful book), with some forays into Roland Barthes, and a bit about a tree that I think might remember my late mother.
Here's a gift link: wapo.st/4cqRvrD
Here's a gift link: wapo.st/4cqRvrD
Robyn Announces First New Song in Seven Years
“Dopamine” arrives this Wednesday, November 12
pitchfork.com
November 11, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Soon I won't even be able to drown my political sorrows in gnocchi I stg
Italy’s biggest pasta exporters say import and antidumping duties totaling 107% on their pasta brands will make doing business in the U.S. too costly.
Italian Pasta Is Poised to Disappear From American Grocery Shelves
The Trump administration is set to impose duties of 107% on Italian pasta imports, among most punitive of the tariffs it has levied.
on.wsj.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Soon I won't even be able to drown my political sorrows in gnocchi I stg
Called my senators; please call yours.
At the risk of sounding like a scold for posting about this too much: your call to a senator right now could be a key factor at a crucial moment. Please read this thread & call if you haven't.
Following up on this. This remains a ‘cave is minutes or hours away’ situation. If you want to impact how this plays out you need to contact senators literally now. I want to add additional points of context. What I’m relaying is what I’ve picked up from highly reliable sources.
November 9, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Called my senators; please call yours.
I had a college English prof who used to explain the limits of interpretation as follows: “Beowulf is not about the plight of the Eskimo.”
Everything is not potentially about everything else! TS, who I generally wish well, is not the millennial Plath. There’s simply no textual evidence for this.
Everything is not potentially about everything else! TS, who I generally wish well, is not the millennial Plath. There’s simply no textual evidence for this.
‘Ambition is a punishing sphere for women’: author Maggie Nelson on why Taylor Swift is the Sylvia Plath of her generation
‘Ambition is a punishing sphere for women’: author Maggie Nelson on why Taylor Swift is the Sylvia Plath of her generation
What do Swift and Plath have in common, and should Kamala Harris have spoken out about her political ambitions? The Argonauts author turns her lens on poetry, pop and patriarchy
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:14 PM
I had a college English prof who used to explain the limits of interpretation as follows: “Beowulf is not about the plight of the Eskimo.”
Everything is not potentially about everything else! TS, who I generally wish well, is not the millennial Plath. There’s simply no textual evidence for this.
Everything is not potentially about everything else! TS, who I generally wish well, is not the millennial Plath. There’s simply no textual evidence for this.
Hello, mom in Montgomery County here. I appreciate raising my son in this area because the parents are mostly rad and lowkey and share my views regarding bigots. :)
November 7, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Hello, mom in Montgomery County here. I appreciate raising my son in this area because the parents are mostly rad and lowkey and share my views regarding bigots. :)
Reposted by Rachel Vorona Cote
Fellow writer/media types: I'm writing a Wuthering Heights essay pegged to the forthcoming Emerald Fennell adaptation and need a Warner Brothers contact so that I can either procure a screener or attend a press screening. Can someone help me? Signal boosts appreciated!
November 6, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Fellow writer/media types: I'm writing a Wuthering Heights essay pegged to the forthcoming Emerald Fennell adaptation and need a Warner Brothers contact so that I can either procure a screener or attend a press screening. Can someone help me? Signal boosts appreciated!
Fellow writer/media types: I'm writing a Wuthering Heights essay pegged to the forthcoming Emerald Fennell adaptation and need a Warner Brothers contact so that I can either procure a screener or attend a press screening. Can someone help me? Signal boosts appreciated!
November 6, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Fellow writer/media types: I'm writing a Wuthering Heights essay pegged to the forthcoming Emerald Fennell adaptation and need a Warner Brothers contact so that I can either procure a screener or attend a press screening. Can someone help me? Signal boosts appreciated!
I'm loling. Our main man Ross, just asking questions. Embarking on un petit inquiry. Pursuing knowledge.
Douthat has basically become the ambassador to the NYT for Breitbart nation. Only a matter of time before we get a regular show from him about Black crime and race & IQ studies.
November 6, 2025 at 4:25 PM
I'm loling. Our main man Ross, just asking questions. Embarking on un petit inquiry. Pursuing knowledge.
Really appreciate this fortifying analysis from fellow Virginia Beach public schools graduate @jamellebouie.net, whose clarity has been helping me to retain my sanity.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/o...
Opinion | Make No Mistake: Trump Is an Albatross
www.nytimes.com
November 5, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Really appreciate this fortifying analysis from fellow Virginia Beach public schools graduate @jamellebouie.net, whose clarity has been helping me to retain my sanity.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/o...
Establishment Democrats are complicit in this country’s descent into hell. Primary them all. Get ‘em out of there.
November 5, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Establishment Democrats are complicit in this country’s descent into hell. Primary them all. Get ‘em out of there.
Reposted by Rachel Vorona Cote
Allston/Brighton are getting targeted by ICE. For anyone in the Boston area looking for ways to help, go here:
November 5, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Allston/Brighton are getting targeted by ICE. For anyone in the Boston area looking for ways to help, go here:
Reposted by Rachel Vorona Cote
For years, but especially for the past year, Democrats have been in thrall to the idea that they need to chase an imagined median voter, and adopt that voter’s positions. Mamdani’s victory shows another way: hold principles, and persuade people to share them.
I wrote about Zohran’s victory. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Mamdani’s victory is a rebuke to the failed strategies of the Democratic party | Moira Donegan
The Democratic party appears listless and unprincipled, unwilling to fight because they do not believe in anything. Zohran Mamdani is the opposite of this
www.theguardian.com
November 5, 2025 at 6:13 AM
For years, but especially for the past year, Democrats have been in thrall to the idea that they need to chase an imagined median voter, and adopt that voter’s positions. Mamdani’s victory shows another way: hold principles, and persuade people to share them.
Parasocial relationship with NYC politics currently plateaued at obscene level of intensity
November 5, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Parasocial relationship with NYC politics currently plateaued at obscene level of intensity
Brad Lander, please primary this loser.
Q: It's election day in NYC. Did you vote for Mamdani or Cuomo?
Schumer: "Look, I voted, and I look forward to working with the next mayor to help NYC."
Schumer: "Look, I voted, and I look forward to working with the next mayor to help NYC."
November 4, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Brad Lander, please primary this loser.
I love this. The world is so beautiful.
November 3, 2025 at 7:38 PM
I love this. The world is so beautiful.
Happy Halloween, my four-year-old is dressed as Shaun the Sheep today.
October 31, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Happy Halloween, my four-year-old is dressed as Shaun the Sheep today.
Zero adults in the room across the three branches of government right now. Completely unserious nation, wreaking havoc on scores of lives, both here and overseas.
October 31, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Zero adults in the room across the three branches of government right now. Completely unserious nation, wreaking havoc on scores of lives, both here and overseas.
Reposted by Rachel Vorona Cote
Strains at the weed store
October 30, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Strains at the weed store
Reposted by Rachel Vorona Cote
people are saying now is the time to donate to your local food bank, and that’s absolutely true, but in addition to that, now’s the time to, if you can afford it, find one or more people you know who rely on these benefits and simply cover their grocery bills
US Department of Agriculture says no food aid benefits will be issued next month reut.rs/3WohHMk
US Department of Agriculture says no food aid benefits will be issued next month
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Saturday that food benefits under one of the country's biggest social assistance programs will not be issued next month amid the ongoing federal government shutdown.
reut.rs
October 26, 2025 at 7:31 PM
people are saying now is the time to donate to your local food bank, and that’s absolutely true, but in addition to that, now’s the time to, if you can afford it, find one or more people you know who rely on these benefits and simply cover their grocery bills
Awesome news. There's too much excellent children's literature being written and illustrated to deny it the rigorous consideration all great art deserves.
A new prize will recognize excellent fiction written for readers between the ages of eight and 12.
The Booker Foundation is adding a children’s prize.
The Booker Prize Foundation is adding to its roster of rarefied literary recognitions. A new prize will recognize excellent fiction written for young readers—specifically, children ages eight to 12…
buff.ly
October 25, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Awesome news. There's too much excellent children's literature being written and illustrated to deny it the rigorous consideration all great art deserves.
I am not smarter than Erin, but you SHOULD come to our event tonight. We’re going to have such a blast.
If you live in DC, come out and see me read tomorrow with Rachel Vorona Cote and Natasha Joukovsky, two people who are smarter than me!!
Erin Somers - The Ten Year Affair — Solid State Books
Join us for an exciting night with Erin Somers , as she discusses The Ten Year Affair, with Rachel Vorona Cote & Natasha Joukovsky Tickets with, AND without a book are available here...
www.solidstatebooksdc.com
October 24, 2025 at 12:33 PM
I am not smarter than Erin, but you SHOULD come to our event tonight. We’re going to have such a blast.
Okay. Okay. This is good. Can we get some major media coverage going in the chat?
Sen. Jeff Merkley has been speaking on the Senate floor since 6:20pm last night — protesting Trump and warning that "tyranny has arrived."
"Trump is shredding our Constitution. Is it okay for masked federal agents to arrest people off the street because of their skin color … Not in a free America."
"Trump is shredding our Constitution. Is it okay for masked federal agents to arrest people off the street because of their skin color … Not in a free America."
October 22, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Okay. Okay. This is good. Can we get some major media coverage going in the chat?
Happy pub day to brilliant, **briefly noted** hottie, @somers.bsky.social !!
You MUST read this smart, poignant, sexy book. And DC — come out to @solidstatebooksdc.bsky.social on 10/24, where @joukovsky.bsky.social and I will be in conversation with her!
www.solidstatebooksdc.com/events/2025/...
You MUST read this smart, poignant, sexy book. And DC — come out to @solidstatebooksdc.bsky.social on 10/24, where @joukovsky.bsky.social and I will be in conversation with her!
www.solidstatebooksdc.com/events/2025/...
October 21, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Happy pub day to brilliant, **briefly noted** hottie, @somers.bsky.social !!
You MUST read this smart, poignant, sexy book. And DC — come out to @solidstatebooksdc.bsky.social on 10/24, where @joukovsky.bsky.social and I will be in conversation with her!
www.solidstatebooksdc.com/events/2025/...
You MUST read this smart, poignant, sexy book. And DC — come out to @solidstatebooksdc.bsky.social on 10/24, where @joukovsky.bsky.social and I will be in conversation with her!
www.solidstatebooksdc.com/events/2025/...
Like so many others, I've long been disabused of any notion that this house or the people in it possess any particular dignity or righteousness. Still, this is so brazen, so metaphorically on the nose. What a shameful mess.
Scoop: Trump has started demolishing the White House's East Wing facade to build his ballroom. The president had claimed construction of the $250 million building wouldn’t ‘interfere’ with the existing White House structure. /W @ddiamond.bsky.social wapo.st/4hqBNiU
White House begins demolishing East Wing facade to build Trump’s ballroom
The president had claimed construction of the $250 million ballroom wouldn’t ‘interfere’ with the existing White House structure.
wapo.st
October 20, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Like so many others, I've long been disabused of any notion that this house or the people in it possess any particular dignity or righteousness. Still, this is so brazen, so metaphorically on the nose. What a shameful mess.
Not sure what the move is if AWS is still down tomorrow, since my university relies upon it for its online course platform. Might be time to break out Voyage of the Mimi.
October 20, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Not sure what the move is if AWS is still down tomorrow, since my university relies upon it for its online course platform. Might be time to break out Voyage of the Mimi.