everyone got their Nice Face on??

Crying At The Playboy Office is an essay by Ling Ma that was published last year on BuzzFeed, but we were rereading it over the weekend because A) we just devoured Ma’s novel, Severance, and are capital “O” obsessed, and also because B) it’s a devastating reflection of all the weird, terrifying power dynamics that young people (especially women and people of color) have to navigate in the workplace, especially in an industry as still as codependent with ~tradition~ as media. A lil taste:

The proper HR channels had been swum, records had been made, but nothing had really been done. You were just expected to suffer in silence, absorbing the blows and aggressions of others. You walk around seething, trying to appear like the agreeable, credible employee you have always been, wearing Nice Face. When Nice Face dissolves, it is terrifying to yourself and terrifying to others.

In other words...happy Monday??

(In less depressing news: our second run of Deez Links tote bags are completely sold out — together, you guys raised $240 for the Committee to Protect Journalists!!! NICE.)

(also h/t Brandon for the link!)