Today’s episode felt less like an interview and more like dropping into a conversation with someone who speaks the same language—about writing, about truth, about why any of this matters.
We were joined by Rachel Kramer Bussel, founder of Open Secrets Magazine, which has quietly become one of the most compelling homes for personal essays right now. What started as a “let’s see if this works” idea is now a full editorial ecosystem—hundreds of writers, multiple essays a week, a live conference, and a deeply engaged community.
And that word—community—kept coming up.
Rachel talked about what she looks for in a piece: not polish, not performance, but something that actually feels like a secret. Something vulnerable. Something that risks being seen. It’s why the writing lands—and why readers don’t just consume it, they respond to it, extend it, recognize themselves inside it.
We also got into the tension every editor is dealing with right now: the flood of AI-generated submissions. The “technically fine, spiritually empty” essays that all sound the same once you’ve read a few. And how, paradoxically, that’s making real voice more valuable, not less. You can feel when a human being is behind the words. You just can.
The conversation kept circling back to something I think about all the time: storytelling isn’t separate from culture. It is culture. It’s how people make meaning, how they connect, how ideas take hold. Whether you’re writing memoir, editing a magazine, or hosting a daily show—what you’re really doing is shaping narrative.
And maybe my favorite part was the shared reality underneath all of it: the writing doesn’t happen in some pristine, protected space. It happens in the margins. Late at night, early in the morning, in between everything else. And still—we keep doing it.
That’s the work.
Thank you Nick Paro, LeftieProf, Jai C. Porter🇨🇦, Laura Tompkins, Ms.Yuse, and many others for tuning in, and to Karen Marie Shelton and Yanni Hamburger for moderating like total pros.
We love you all! Mean it!
