The Bouncer Doesn’t Pick the Music

Impulse. Instinct. Survival.

A good bouncer can read a line from forty feet away. He has one job: keeping trouble out of the room. Nobody asks him to pick the music.

October's letter starts in Mexico City, on the night I saw Dua Lipa with sixty-five thousand other people, a night I could easily have talked myself out of. It's about three voices that can sound alike, impulse, instinct and survival, and what happens when the one watching for danger starts deciding what we're allowed to want. Recovery scores, skincare that sells prevention to women in their twenties, and my unlaced combat boots all make an appearance.

Originally published on UNCAGED, October 14, 2026.

Read the full letter on UNCAGED →