Emily Segal

Emily Segal is in the business of predicting the future. And she’s very, very good at it. First as a member of the trend forecasting collective K-HOLE (of “normcore” fame) and currently as co-founder of the think tank Nemesis Global, she serves up prescient, wide-ranging cultural insights to big name clients like Prada, Uniqlo and Target. She’s also lent her prognosticating talents to the Yale School of Art (where she was a visiting critic) and the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council. Naturally given her line of work, Segal has some opinions about the internet. Read on, below.

"Commonplace: Conversations with Poets and (Other People)"

"I am not a massive consumer of podcasts, but this one changed my life. Poet Rachel Zucker has led more than 70 wide-ranging conversations with poets, writers and other people (as the title suggests), with a focus on craft, the life of a writer, and the political exigencies of both. It is not trite in any way (a feat). Some say it’s like an alternative poetry MFA for those who can’t or won’t do one in real life."

Poetry Field School

"Speaking of poetry, I just enrolled in an independent, online poetry workshop with the poet Elaine Kahn, conducted over Zoom, and I’m so excited/nervous I had a dream about doing the first assignment."

Are.na

"Founded by my dear friends including Cab Broskoski (who did a list of his own), I’ve been lucky to be a part of this online social network / platform for research since the very beginning. I use it (in private mode) for aggregating research for my writing projects, commercial mood boards, or general collaborative inquiries (with my business partner Martti Kalliala). I also love the public channels for gathering unusual, smart ephemera or for the insane humor of certain users."

@hfconfess

"This Instagram is kind of like 'Gossip Girl' for the commercial modeling industry; utterly addictive and occasionally offensive. As they put it in the bio: 'If you can't handle other people's opinions, unfollow.'"

Calibre

"Essential free software for converting the formats of e-books (so you can send something from the public domain, or pirated, straight to your Kindle, duh!)."

Dolls Kill

"Transcendently slutty and/or countercultural fashion, accessories, lingerie and more. This has some of the most imaginative and affordable gear on the internet (and their LA store is like a demented club)."

@Malefragility

"Hannah’s memes are trenchant...though she would probably be annoyed with me for saying so. Everyone should check out her cult memoir Trans Girl Suicide Museum, which came out last year on Hesse press."

Onym.co

"Compendium of free online resources for naming like thesauruses, word generators, etc., intended for commercial purposes but full of thought-provoking options for any textual enterprise. I have a soft spot for the anagram generators."