What is this?
It’s FOSTERTALK, the critically-acclaimed and rarely published newsletter and blog by Foster Kamer.
What’s in it?
So much. God, where to begin? It’s a newsletter. It’s about everything and anything in my head lately. It’s about culture, and media, and 30something ennui, and the struggle to balance trying to feel the rapture of being alive versus living life as a normal person who doesn’t think about things like “the rapture of being alive,” whatever that means. And it’s also about trying to resist your most cynical impulses, like apologizing for caring about “the rapture of being alive.” It’s about the struggle to write an About Page that neatly sums up your gestalt, because identity is such a weird thing that fights stasis the second you try to put a pulse on it.
This includes but isn’t limited to: Art, love, a weird, too-insidery codex on media, from a media reporter who cut his teeth talking that talk at Gawker, The Village Voice, The New York Observer (post-Kaplan, pre-Kurson), and a bunch of other places that once existed and a few that still do. And also someone who’s written for: The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Gossamer, Interview, and some others.
But, look: The media stuff is just a vector for me to sneak in the things I actually find interesting. I’ve written for everyone and their mother, and I’ve been working full-time in the business of writing for 15 years. I ocassionally know my shit; I also, occasionally, get it comically wrong, so enjoy that. But yeah, this is about media, and the Writing Industrial Complex, and music, art, fashion, our anxieties, the things we don’t laugh at enough, the things we’re secretly terrified of, the things we don’t say out loud, and as often as I can, the things we can be kinder about. It’ll get weird. Just stay with me here, alright? I think, at some point, we’ll be on the same page.
Who reads it?
Look, this was supposed to be a ‘bored in the quar’ thing for me and my friends. But after just four issues, it’s: A Pulitzer winner or three, Emmy winners, Grammy winners, at least one CFDA winner, a handful of New York Times bestselling authors, and an absolute grip of star columnists, regular contributors, staffers, editors, and even brass (!) from Bloomberg, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, The New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, and The Atlantic, the Daily Beast, Quartz, CJR, BuzzFeed, NPR, Saturday Night Live, n+1, The New Yorker, Politico, Slate, the Boston Globe, Departures, T, Pitchfork, NBC News, Page Six, Wired, The Ringer, Garden & Gun, Spike Mag, VICE, ArtInfo, Vogue, and so many more.
IYKYN. Or even better, IYRTTRT: If you read them, they read this.
What’re they saying?
Sure:
“lol i loved this” - Edith Zimmerman, Drawing Links
“A ripping read!” - Ryan Kearney, Executive Editor, The New Republic
“I just subscribed to FOSTERTALK.” - Cat Marnell, How To Murder Your Life
“Christ man” - Matt Taylor, National Editor, The Daily Beast
“right
into
my
veins” - Jason Linkins, The New Republic
“hooray!!!!” - Maura Johnston, Boston Globe, Idolator founding editor
“So good!” - Mangesh Hattikudur, Co-founder, Mental_Floss + Part-Time Genius
“Substack is bad because it has given @weareyourfek a regular forum. But subscribe anyway.” - Jack Shafer, Politico
Even more:
“Reads like a stick of dynamite.”
“The closest I've seen us come to early Gawker….bitchy.”
“The only Substack post I’ve ever read from beginning to end.”
“A wild ride of euphoria and slight nausea.”
“Should have been an OnlyFans.”
“Infantile. Striving for false artistry.”
Tips?
Not money, not cash, not Venmo or PayPal — I just wanna know what you know. Tell me here. It’ll always stay confidential.
