For a few months this year, I was writing a column for Playboy.com that was called “Philosophy of Pleasure.” I wrote about cigars, wine, whiskey, and had plans to do a lot more. But the world of media is a fickle beast and the column has been axed along with all of Playboy’s editorial staff. It’s a terrible, terrible industry.
As far as the column goes, I’d like to keep the idea going. My thinking was always to write about “lifestyle” topics in a way I see done rarely (though certainly not never), which is to say thinking about these things not as niche hobbies and interests, but rather connected to the world that gives them meaning. In those Playboy columns, the point is less to recommend different brands of cigars or wine or whiskey, but to think about why I was drawn to them, what they said about who I want to be or how I want to be seen, and how all of that is tied to the tension of wanting to both redefine and abolish masculinity.
But to be completely frank, it’s largely an excuse to write publicly about the things I find pleasurable. The completion of my most recent book, Stakes Is High, wiped me out emotionally. It was heavy, as most of my career has been, writing into the death machine that is white supremacist heteropatriachal capitalism, and I wanted a slight break. I was happy for Playboy to be into the column idea, as well for LitHub to support my podcast, Open Form, that’s focused on discussing movies with authors (you can subscribe to that here). The ideas that have animated my work for the past decade are never far from where I am, but I always want to spend more of my time thinking about the things I find in this life that make the struggle worth it.
Which brings me to Substack. I’m not looking to make a living from this—I’m not so naive as to believe I can hop into the game at this late hour, as the bubble seems ready to burst, and expect to find hundreds or thousands of paying subscribers who will pay my bills and support my growing whiskey collection. My only hope is to write and think out loud about the things I like seeing, doing, consuming, and have a thoughtful conversation about them—everything I’d hope for in A Smoke Filled Lounge, but have yet to find.
If you’re down, great. Subscribe. Let’s have some fun. I’ll grab us a bundle of cigars (you’re only getting the good stuff if you chip in), my smoking hoodie, and we’ll talk into the wee hours of the morning about finding joy.
In the meantime, tell your friends!