In Pursuit Winners And Losers
The Best and Worst of 2025
Every year, I look forward to reviewing what hit with readers and what . . . didn’t. Much of the data feels unsurprising given the theme of this newsletter and my ever-evolving knowledge of what you all want from this newsletter. But there are always a few surprises. So let’s get into it!
The most shared, liked, and read posts from 2025 in no particular order:
I almost didn’t write this piece about the bizarre intersection of Lee from America’s book promotion, past performance of self, and current performance of self. I read the book, thinking Tilghman might be a good interview subject, but felt immediately weird afterwards. Weird about the book, but also about whether or not Tilghman would be a reliable narrator in an interview, particularly after I listened to Kate Kennedy’s interview on her wonderful podcast, Be There In Five. I wasn’t familiar with Tilghman before reading the book, but maybe a lot of you were? Regardless, I was totally engrossed in researching this one, so I’m really glad it landed. Performance of self is never NOT interesting, right?
This is ANOTHER piece inspired by a book, and another piece I was fully absorbed by. As a huge Little House head, it was such a pleasure to learn more about the reality of Wilder’s life, and so eye-opening to see how the mythos of America her books helped create is still influencing American culture (and policy!!!) today, even if that mythos reflects a story of American individualism that never really existed.
Another book inspired piece! But this one is an interview with the brilliant Emily Van Duyne, the author of Loving Sylvia Plath, which is required reading for anyone remotely interested in Plath, intrigued by Plath’s legacy, or interested in how the stories we tell about individual women are written and who they ultimately serve.
Ahhhhhhhh! This Instagram post, as is true with many of Brooke Raybould’s Instagram posts, fucking broke my brain. Her general life philosophy of do more and do it harder and bigger is always diametrically opposed to my own, which I guess is do as much as you need to do, do it softer, and do it more joyfully? This essay is a good summation of why Raybould and I would never survive a shipwreck together.
It was a banner year for MAHA mamas. One big shift I’ve noted in the trad-o-sphere is the movement from soft and implicit political messaging to direct and unabashed defenses of anti-vax sentiments, wild theories about what public health means, and an unholy obsession with raw milk. MAHA moms aren’t always trad, but they often rely on a similar misremembering of the past AND a similar misunderstanding of the present to make a case for individualism at all costs.
I guess Rudy Jude isn’t hardcore MAHA in that she’s not (I don’t think) working directly with RFK Jr. to dismantle vaccine mandates in public schools (for example!) but she WAS photographed marching in a RFK Jr. parade. This piece is about the unique power of Rudy Jude over some of us, but it’s also about how the power of aesthetics can make so many ideologies look innocuous.
The Newsletters That Fell the Flattest
Listen, I had fun writing this silly piece about bone broth hot chocolate and the overt Christian sentimentalism sold by BF this holiday season, but it’s relative unpopularity makes me think you guys are suffering from Ballerina Farm fatigue? Let me know in the comments!
One of the best things that ever happened to me was Evie magazine releasing the Raw Milkmaid Dress, and I found this tradwife argument against the dress a fascinating example of the differences between Erika Kirk-style conservatism, Ballerina Farm conservatism, and modest Christian housewife conservatism. BUT I CAN ADMIT that perhaps not everyone is an enamored with the Rawest of all Raw Milkmaid Dresses. Sometimes when you write about your niche obsessions, you realize they’re not actually super niche, but maybe this one was lol.
Honestly Ballerina Farm got me here and dissecting her branding and entire family has me fascinated and no one does it better than you !!! Those last two were some of my faves - don’t ever change!
I don't know why Merry Christmas Ballerina Farm!!! fell flat - I can only guess something nefarious afoot with the algorithm... or could it be that my pre-Christmas feed was full of online shopping garbage it completely elbowed out Substack? I totally missed it before the hols, but it was just the thing I needed this morning. I can only speak for myself, but I will NEVER tire of BF content. Just sayin'... the possibilities are so maddeningly endless.