04 Feb 2025

Money dog / Ruddy schnoz

A.J Daulerio checks his spam, and Amy Kurzweil follows somebody else's nose

Today: A.J. Daulerio, founder and editor of The Small Bow; and Amy Kurzweil, New Yorker cartoonist and author of two graphic memoirs: Artificial: A Love Story and Flying Couch.

Issue No. 250

Self-Soothing Through the Apocalypse Via My Spam Account
A.J Daulerio

The Nose
Amy Kurzweil

Self-Soothing Through the Apocalypse Via My Spam Account

by A.J Daulerio

[Angry Face emoji] You zebra what do you want from me [Angry Face emoji, five Middle Finger emoji] ------64357805256379 [Spam label, Warning icon, adaulerio, 10:22AM.

This past Thanksgiving, I spelunked through the spam messages on my personal Gmail account in search of a one-time passcode sent from ESPN, which I hadn't received, so as requested I “checked my spam folder.” Have you ever checked the spam mail on a dormant account? It's like a dented time capsule. Mine is overflowing with 20-percent-off coupons from restaurants I made a reservation at a decade ago, my old Brooklyn dentist, my old Manhattan accountant, my old Ambler, Pa. Ford dealership—all of them are still actively soliciting my business or, on that day, wishing me, a valued customer, a Happy Thanksgiving.

Between those messages was a strange subject line: “I Am Your Neighbor, Shut Up” and two little orange steaming mad emojis. And this was the message: