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A collection of 311 posts

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Giving: Here for It, #312

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! Look, I'm not pointing any fingers but it seems that Friendsgiving has been getting earlier and earlier every year. Online I started seeing people gathered at their friends' houses for an evening of bonding and Beaujolais as early as November 1st

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Robot: Here for It, #310

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! Okay, so I walk into this crowded Szechuan restaurant the other night and I see one of those little restaurant robots coming toward me. Do you know the kind I mean? They look like an air purifier with a face? So

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Typewriter: Here for It, #309

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! I am sitting at the gate in a North Carolina airport, eavesdropping on a group of seemingly well-heeled parents from Malvern, PA recapping their wild weekend of drinking and carrying on at Wake Forest and it’s like I’m listening

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Tourists: Here for It, #307

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! I load four full grocery bags into the back of an Uber picking me up from the Stop and Shop in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and climbed in the back seat. As we pulled away, the driver remarked that she didn't even know

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Stamps: Here for It, #305

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! THE NEW BOOK IS OUT!!! There's this hilarious--to me--thing that happens when you're sitting at a table in public, available to sign books but not the reason that people might be in the same space as you. If they've come into

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Aliens: Here for It, #304

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! Okay, I'm going to say something controversial. And, the truth is I probably shouldn't be out here logging on to AOL and saying controversial things because I have a book coming out in two days and I'm not trying to get

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Afternoon: Here for It, #303

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! It’s been a week since I got back from Scotland which means it’s been a week since I’ve said the words “it’s 2pm; should we have a spot of tea?” And frankly my life is falling apart.

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Television: Here for It, #299

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! I MET A PUPPET! That's the headline. This feels deeply important because most of my life is not puppet-adjacent so to be, as I mentioned, not only near a puppet but engaged in conversation with said puppet? Call it a veggie

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Relaxed: Here for It, #298

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! A couple weeks ago I went to LA for professional reasons. Well, were they professional reasons? It was mostly just to hang out, but I wanted to hang out in Hollywood, a place that I sometimes Zoom with, so I think

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Trial: Here for It, #297

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! Okay, so I think we can all agree that my first mistake was clicking on an Instagram ad. Every year, Instagram figures out enough about me to know that I want a chunky sweater with a bold pattern, but never figures

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Question: Here for It, #296

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! On Friday night I was in Williamston, Michigan, at the great Williamston Theater for a performance of my play Mrs. Harrison. Just before the start of the show, the executive director, Emily Sutton-Smith, bounded up on stage and launched into a

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Pageant: Here for It, #295

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! I don’t think we give enough credit to the pageantry of this time of year. I mean, there’s obviously the nature aspect of it--trees kitting themselves up in full drag of flowers and doing a dramatic reveal of leaves

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Lego: Here for It, #292

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! 💡(If this newsletter gets cut off in your inbox, click here to read it.) A few weeks ago I went to Charleston to visit one of my brothers, my sister-in-law, and their two kids. It had been years since I saw

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Soup: Here for It, #291

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! I have to tell you about the soup party! A night of intrigue, double crosses, and liquid danger! A few weeks ago, our friends Byron and Lawrence mentioned that they were having a soup party at their place. I was like

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Tickets: Here for It, #290

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! So, I’m on a plane right now and it’s Sunday night and the Super Bowl has just started between the Eagles and the Chiefs. The flight attendants asked who on-board was a Chiefs fan and three people raised their

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Impressed!: Here for It, #289

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! This week let's play Does It Impress Me?, a game I just made up which takes its theme from the Shania Twain's masterpiece and a seminal work of Brad Pitt right-sizing "That Don't Impress Me Much" from her 1997 album Come

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Hamburgle: Here for It, #288

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! Okay, hello, before we get down to business I need to let you know the very good news that I've written another book of essays and it has a cover and that cover is great and it comes out in August.

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Leftovers: Here for It, #285

I am making Thanksgiving stuffing again today because I am an adult and no one can stop me.

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Film: Here for It, #284

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! Yesterday I watched Margin Call, which is a movie from 2011 about a Goldman Sachs-like finance company that sees the writing on the wall at the beginning of the 2008 financial crisis. I love watching tense lil financial movies even though

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Double: Here for It, #283

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! When I went to go vote on Tuesday and told the poll worker my name, she looked me up and said “Robert Thomas? You already voted by mail.” But, reader, I did not vote by mail because mailing things stresses me

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Phans: Here for It, #282

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! Greetings from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where the citywide mood is whatever the spiritual opposite of a disaster movie is. Like, we have all the outward signs of a disaster movie--streets closed off by flashing police cars, hoards of people choking traffic, the

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Oh, Hello: Here for It, #278

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! Oh my goodness, hello! I've missed you! It's been so long! (In case you're legit like "Okay, who are you and how did you get into my house?" the long and short of it is this is my weekly newsletter where

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Kings of B'more is out now!

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! It's a Tuesday so you know that either means I'm late with the email or I have a book out. It turns out the answer is... both. Kings of B'more [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/669791/kings-of-bmore-by-r-eric-thomas/] , my new YA novel,

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Board: Here for It, #276

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! There's that moment in Mrs. Doubtfire where Daniel (Robin Williams) is dressed as Mrs. Doubtfire, interviewing for the job as nanny with Sally Field (I don't remember her character's name but all Sally Field characters are named Sally Field to me

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Scones: Here for It, #275

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet? Hi! I'm in Pittsburgh doing research for a project so this will be a short lil number today. I gotta say--I love Pittsburgh. The way the city has transformed some of the post-industrial spaces, the juxtaposition of the hills and the buildings