Rachel Vorona Cote
@rvoronacote.bsky.social
Author of Too Much: How Victorian Constraints Still Bind Women Today. Freelance book critic all over the place. Get in touch: [email protected]. @RVoronaCote on Instagram. She / Her.
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Guest column | Words aren’t enough to describe grief, but they can still be a refuge
For all its agonies and loneliness, grief continually asserts itself as a creative force.
wapo.st
My latest piece for @washingtonpost.com's Book World is an essay on grief literature, drawing significantly on Lauren Markham's Immemorial (a beautiful book), with some forays into Roland Barthes, and a bit about a tree that I think might remember my late mother.
Here's a gift link: wapo.st/4cqRvrD
Here's a gift link: wapo.st/4cqRvrD
Impossible not to feel depressed after hearing this much about people so devoid of human compassion or basic morality. Miserable people determined to fuck over the world, so that the rest of us suffer too.
November 27, 2025 at 12:29 AM
Impossible not to feel depressed after hearing this much about people so devoid of human compassion or basic morality. Miserable people determined to fuck over the world, so that the rest of us suffer too.
Reposted by Rachel Vorona Cote
People will die, and are currently dying, because RFK was granted one of the most powerful megaphones in the country. Two people who could have thrown barriers in front of his climb decided not to; there's a sex scandal here but it is not the biggest scandal.
November 26, 2025 at 11:30 PM
People will die, and are currently dying, because RFK was granted one of the most powerful megaphones in the country. Two people who could have thrown barriers in front of his climb decided not to; there's a sex scandal here but it is not the biggest scandal.
November 26, 2025 at 3:56 PM
HUMANS WILL LITERALLY PROJECT THEIR DESIRES/INSECURITIES/YEARNING FOR INTERPERSONAL CONNECTION ONTO AN ENVIRONMENTALLY ANNIHILATING BOX OF BINARY CODE INSTEAD OF GOING TO THERAPY
November 25, 2025 at 10:48 PM
HUMANS WILL LITERALLY PROJECT THEIR DESIRES/INSECURITIES/YEARNING FOR INTERPERSONAL CONNECTION ONTO AN ENVIRONMENTALLY ANNIHILATING BOX OF BINARY CODE INSTEAD OF GOING TO THERAPY
Currently rereading the novel (stay tuned), and I think this poster suits both tone and scope pretty well. It's giving "these two people are obsessed with each other, and they've made it the entire world's problem."
Marketing department definitely went, "We gotta strike while the horny FRANKENSTEIN iron is hot. Throw some throbbing hard lightning bolts on that fucker."
November 23, 2025 at 11:37 PM
Currently rereading the novel (stay tuned), and I think this poster suits both tone and scope pretty well. It's giving "these two people are obsessed with each other, and they've made it the entire world's problem."
What I PERSONALLY consider “golden” is when the aircraft reliably stays in the sky. That puts me in a good mood. But maybe I’m just a kook, who knows.
Duffy: "Trump talks about the golden age of transportation. But the golden age in transportation truly begins with you ... People dress up like they're going to bed when they fly ... so we want to push people as we come into a really busy travel season: Help people out, be in a good mood, dress up"
November 23, 2025 at 4:07 PM
What I PERSONALLY consider “golden” is when the aircraft reliably stays in the sky. That puts me in a good mood. But maybe I’m just a kook, who knows.
Reposted by Rachel Vorona Cote
Reposted by Rachel Vorona Cote
i promise i don’t mean to high horse this but if you’re thinking about giving lizza ten bucks there are a lot of good independent journalists whose work you could subscribe to for a month instead
November 22, 2025 at 7:34 AM
i promise i don’t mean to high horse this but if you’re thinking about giving lizza ten bucks there are a lot of good independent journalists whose work you could subscribe to for a month instead
Imagine the loathsome, rizz-less jokers swarming Trump all day, everyday. Meeting Zohran Mamdani must have felt like a mother’s embrace on the first day of spring.
November 22, 2025 at 12:58 AM
Imagine the loathsome, rizz-less jokers swarming Trump all day, everyday. Meeting Zohran Mamdani must have felt like a mother’s embrace on the first day of spring.
So many sentences I never expected to utter/type before becoming a parent, i.e. “Fuckkkkkkkk they’re out of Yoshi!!”
November 21, 2025 at 4:28 PM
So many sentences I never expected to utter/type before becoming a parent, i.e. “Fuckkkkkkkk they’re out of Yoshi!!”
get 'em outta here!!
Breaking news: A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to halt its National Guard deployment to Washington while a lawsuit over the matter plays out in court.
The order won’t take effect for 21 days so that the government can appeal.
The order won’t take effect for 21 days so that the government can appeal.
Trump administration ordered to halt ‘unlawful’ Guard deployment in D.C.
A judge granted an injunction in D.C.’s lawsuit against Trump’s National Guard deployment, but it won’t take effect for 21 days so that the government can appeal.
wapo.st
November 20, 2025 at 9:20 PM
get 'em outta here!!
The other day, I played "Golden" from KPop Demon Hunters for my 4 year old. I haven't seen the movie, but I thought the song was a cute bop, and that he'd like it. He did, but his real lasting impression is that it is MY favorite song in the world. He thinks that I am listening to it constantly.
November 19, 2025 at 11:37 PM
The other day, I played "Golden" from KPop Demon Hunters for my 4 year old. I haven't seen the movie, but I thought the song was a cute bop, and that he'd like it. He did, but his real lasting impression is that it is MY favorite song in the world. He thinks that I am listening to it constantly.
This should be a much bigger story, imho. Moreover, it’s dismaying that nobody defended this woman. Any person who takes themself seriously, especially right now, has got to accept the moral responsibility that accompanies moments of this kind of gravity.
When asked if there was anything "incriminating" in Epstein's emails, Trump pointed a finger in a female reporter's face and snapped. 'Quiet. Quiet, Piggy.'
people.com/donald-trump...
people.com/donald-trump...
Donald Trump Snaps at Female Reporter Who Asks About Epstein Files: 'Quiet Piggy'
Donald Trump Says 'Quiet Piggy' to Female Reporter Asking About Epstein Files
people.com
November 18, 2025 at 10:41 PM
This should be a much bigger story, imho. Moreover, it’s dismaying that nobody defended this woman. Any person who takes themself seriously, especially right now, has got to accept the moral responsibility that accompanies moments of this kind of gravity.
Love to let my pals know that I’m catching up on their recent posts by sending a flurry of “likes” their way. I imagine them as lil smooches: like 😘 like 😘 like 😘
November 17, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Love to let my pals know that I’m catching up on their recent posts by sending a flurry of “likes” their way. I imagine them as lil smooches: like 😘 like 😘 like 😘
It is 6:10 p.m. and as black as the grave. This is a big fuckin problem for me.
November 16, 2025 at 11:10 PM
It is 6:10 p.m. and as black as the grave. This is a big fuckin problem for me.
Several years back I had the privilege of being on a panel with Alice. Her warmth and wisdom were palpable then, just as it was in every other context. Her loss is tremendous, and I send love to everyone who worked closely with her, and loved her.
bringing this statement over from Alice’s Twitter. it appears the below was Alice’s last post before passing. I am heartbroken
November 15, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Several years back I had the privilege of being on a panel with Alice. Her warmth and wisdom were palpable then, just as it was in every other context. Her loss is tremendous, and I send love to everyone who worked closely with her, and loved her.
Imagine being so depraved that you perv out to a Willa Cather novel.
@sarahweinman.com sorry to blow up your mentions this morning but !!!
November 13, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Imagine being so depraved that you perv out to a Willa Cather novel.
Painful to fully absorb the fact that these evil, barely literate men have exerted all possible effort to accomplish two things: 1. Conceal and avoid any accountability for their depraved crimes and 2. Convince the electorate that the people we need to fear are immigrants and trans folks.
November 13, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Painful to fully absorb the fact that these evil, barely literate men have exerted all possible effort to accomplish two things: 1. Conceal and avoid any accountability for their depraved crimes and 2. Convince the electorate that the people we need to fear are immigrants and trans folks.
It is so shamefully dangerous to be a teenage girl in this country. It is so shamefully dangerous to be a child, period. I'm not sure there could be a vaster gulf between the right's worshipful posture towards the capital-C Child and their brutish disregard for actual, living children.
November 12, 2025 at 8:54 PM
It is so shamefully dangerous to be a teenage girl in this country. It is so shamefully dangerous to be a child, period. I'm not sure there could be a vaster gulf between the right's worshipful posture towards the capital-C Child and their brutish disregard for actual, living children.
Reposted by Rachel Vorona Cote
these epstein emails are pretty damning. i sure hope that we haven't spent the last couple years in a cultural backslide where men are seemingly allowed to openly and gleefully fantasize about dominating young women without any threat of reproach
November 12, 2025 at 8:20 PM
these epstein emails are pretty damning. i sure hope that we haven't spent the last couple years in a cultural backslide where men are seemingly allowed to openly and gleefully fantasize about dominating young women without any threat of reproach
Instagram, every hour: hey gurl ::shows me a photo of a neutral toned cardigan::
Me: ooh. ooooooh. ::bites lip, twirls hair::
Me: ooh. ooooooh. ::bites lip, twirls hair::
November 11, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Instagram, every hour: hey gurl ::shows me a photo of a neutral toned cardigan::
Me: ooh. ooooooh. ::bites lip, twirls hair::
Me: ooh. ooooooh. ::bites lip, twirls hair::
This is the mindset one adopts when Judith Butler writes an eviscerating pan of your book.
“Standards will be eliminated or severely cut back. Bari has told people that she wants to get rid of standards and is shocked that they have so much power. She asks ‘What’s the point of standards?’
November 11, 2025 at 4:24 PM
This is the mindset one adopts when Judith Butler writes an eviscerating pan of your book.