Tuesday, November 14, 2023

#IfYouReadOneThingToday - A TGI Fridays masterpiece

In 2014, Caity Weaver published a story on Gawker that struck a nerve and burrowed itself deep into my long-term memory.

The title - My 14-Hour Search for the End of TGI Friday's Endless Appetizers - is self-explanatory. The way she wrote the piece, however, was extraordinary, and has become a shining example of first-person longform journalism that reinforces why this genre is so precious.

It's a poignantly humorous piece, and as articles of this caliber often do, it worms its way to the surface every once in a while. And when it does, I'll follow the link home for a few minutes of literary joy. It's how I pause the planet on occasion.

I had one of those moments earlier today, except when I went to follow the link home, it was dead. Gawker shut down in February, and all of its content was summarily removed from the web.

Thankfully we have Archive.org, which snapshots digital resources before they disappear. If you're looking for a moment of literary joy, this is the article you'll want to start with. Here's the link.

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