Merry Christmas!

And a look back on 2023

Dec 25, 2023

Merry Christmas! My every-other-Monday publication schedule would have a visual essay coming out today, but I’m no Scrooge working through the holiday. I will put out a piece next week for New Years, though, and it will be An Ode To Martinis (my drink of choice, with which I will be toasting our transition to 2024).

So this is my last post for 2023, since launching Fashionably Late Takes at the end of August. Thank you to everyone who has subscribed to receive my visual essays in their inbox every other week. If you missed any, here is the first (partial) year in review:

When Curiosity Kills The Cat

Megan Gafford

August 28, 2023

The mad scientist’s stench, a rich formaldehyde perfume carrying hints of latex gloves and undercurrents of ammonia, cannot be showered off “the lab leak theory.” Attempts at understanding the genesis of COVID-19 are shrouded in circumstantial evidence, and the laboratory origin hypothesis to explain it is controversial...

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On Jennifer Senior's “What Bobby McIlvaine Left Behind”

Megan Gafford

September 11, 2023

On Jennifer Senior's “What Bobby McIlvaine Left Behind”

This visual essay is a tribute to Jennifer Senior. It’s part of an ongoing series called Ideas Worth Drawing For, in which I make hand-drawn images to honor the excellence of essayists I admire. As my daughter touched the bronze inscription of Bobby McIlvaine’s name in the 9/11 Memorial, I asked myself if it would be so bad to...

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On Sarah Haider's "On Effective Activism and Intellectual Honesty"

Megan Gafford

September 25, 2023

On Sarah Haider's "On Effective Activism and Intellectual Honesty"

This visual essay is a tribute to Sarah Haider. It’s part of an ongoing series called Ideas Worth Drawing For, in which I make hand-drawn images to honor the excellence of essayists I admire. Why did Claudette Colvin fade into the background of Rosa Parks’ image?...

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Pushing Daisies

Megan Gafford

October 9, 2023

This visual essay was first published in the Tilt West Journal, Volume 4: Art and Science in October 2022, and I encourage you to check out the entire journal here. If we want to know the truth, we must try to break our ideas. This was Karl Popper’s philosophy of science, and I think it wise because it feels arduous to doubt ideas that we love...

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Episode 1: The Search for the Origin of COVID-19

Megan Gafford

October 23, 2023

Episode 1: The Search for the Origin of COVID-19

Welcome to the first episode of Fashionably Late Talks. When I launched Fashionably Late Takes a couple months ago, I didn’t plan on producing a podcast to go along with it. But then I got the opportunity to interview Matt Ridley, a science writer who I have admired for quite some time...

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On Jonah Goldberg’s “Threat Level Midnight Forever”

Megan Gafford

November 6, 2023

On Jonah Goldberg’s “Threat Level Midnight Forever”

This visual essay is a tribute to Jonah Goldberg. It’s part of an ongoing series called Ideas Worth Drawing For, in which I make hand-drawn images to honor the excellence of essayists I admire. Humanity has coped with mortality by making memento mori...

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Art in a Ghost Town

Megan Gafford

November 27, 2023

In an abandoned Wyoming settlement called Shirley Basin, a small painting of voluptuous clouds has been weathering away for a few months. Sun and snow take turns trying to rub oil off the canvas, and someday the real sky will reclaim its rectangular patch on the landscape. Nineteen artists installed their creations in that site back in August...

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The Siren Song of Dresden

Megan Gafford

December 11, 2023

There is gruesome footage of Hamas slaughtering Israelis on October 7th. Yet, one of the most distressing videos I watched was just a boy trying to rub tears away with the back of his wrist, though he didn't quite make contact with his eyes, as if his hand was too heavy...

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Thank you for reading Fashionably Late Takes. Please share this 2023 recap with anyone who might enjoy these visual essays!

Merry Christmas!

And a look back on 2023

When Curiosity Kills The Cat

On Jennifer Senior's “What Bobby McIlvaine Left Behind”

On Sarah Haider's "On Effective Activism and Intellectual Honesty"

Pushing Daisies

Episode 1: The Search for the Origin of COVID-19

On Jonah Goldberg’s “Threat Level Midnight Forever”

Art in a Ghost Town

The Siren Song of Dresden

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