Photography by Poupay Jutharat

Andrea Long Chu

WRITER AND CRITIC

WHO DO YOU CALL THE MOST?

My therapist. I vastly prefer therapy over the phone—it recalls the old psychoanalytic model where you can’t see the analyst. It lets me go for a walk or do errands, which puts me off guard in a good way.

WHAT’S ONE BOOK, WORK OF ART, ALBUM, OR FILM THAT GOT YOU THROUGH AN IMPORTANT MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE?

The Velveteen Rabbit. Little intellectual gem. People think it’s this charming story about how love makes you real—it isn’t. It’s about how love destroys you, and the destruction prepares you to bring out the reality in yourself. Becoming real is a kind of grieving process. It saved my life during a very dark period.

WHAT IS YOUR CALLING CARD?

The devastating remark, or so I’m told.

““I’m very lucky to have one of those ‘aughts romcom’-style staff positions at a print magazine; they barely exist anymore.””

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?

Nice.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SEE MORE OF IN YOUR INDUSTRY?

Unionization. Freelancers getting paid more and on time. I’m very lucky to have one of those “aughts rom-com”-style staff positions at a print magazine; they barely exist anymore. Also, leadership having a fucking spine. The crackdown on writers and editors who oppose Israel’s genocide in Gaza has been a historic travesty.

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