Razorback reverie

I'm writing this post from my hotel room in Rogers, Arkansas, where I've spent so much time staring out my window at a trio of enormous crosses - they're at least three stories high. I also let my gaze drift to a desultory little gully of running water, the lone piece of nature in an exurban sprawl that spreads to the horizon.

I'm here for an agriculture conference, but this isn't just a random place to me. In 2017 I spent almost a week here to report on a fascinating story. See, Walmart's corporate headquarters are here, which means they are forever trying to convince talented workers from the professional/managerial cohort to relocate. My story was about the insane amounts of money they've pumped into this area to make it more enticing to young people.

Very shrewdly, the Waltons directly invest in things like yoga studios and kombucherias and boutique hotels and a killer art museum. The goal is simply to make it tolerable for new college grads to move here instead of like, New York or Chicago. For my story I interviewed loads of young people, went to live shows, drank bougie cocktails, and realized the gambit was working quite well. They have literally paid chefs and CSA farmers and concert promoters to move here, creating this simulacrum of monied hipness in Northwest Arkansas. A friend said it's like the Epcot version of Brooklyn — I kind of love it but it sketches me out.

Oh, that story never ran because the outlet that assigned it ran out of money before it could publish; I always regretted never pitching it somewhere else.

*

I took two hot yoga classes in a row this morning, which I never do. Was chasing a high that I never quite reached.

xo, (ON REPEAT)

Jesse

Bubly is a top-tier brand, in my estimation, so this foul flavor is befuddling. It's really quite gross. Some well-intentioned naïf brought this into the office last week and I sent them this link. How insufferable I can be!

We have blazed through upwards of 100 containers of these in 2025. I don't know why they have one million strawberries from the Walmart store brand but at $1 a pop we've been going ham. They mostly end up in Abby's daily smoothies but there have also been a spate of berry baked goods.

At some point I started taking home iffy ones, with visible mold or goopification. I found Nde one day weeding through the containers, polishing the hopeful berries and discarding the stinkers.

I don't like bubble tea but it's a big part of my office culture so I bought this as a gift to my colleagues. I suspect it was a miscalculation, though, as people who are bubble tea fans probably won't be enticed by a cheap, possibly expired kit with a dubious flavor profile. These people literally work in NYC, where all fine foods are within grasp.

Do you know this brand? It's a whole thing, let me tell you. You have to get a membership to access their products and everything is aesthetically faux-basic but you don't have to spend forever deciding between brands and it's a relatively ok deal, assuming you buy enough to justify your membership fee.

ANYway I adore that, like stuff from Costco and MGM casinos, the surplus grocer regularly procures items that are not available for typical retail purchase.

I don't know who Billy Manzo is but it seems like he might be divorced/sad/trying too hard. Sorry!

Y'all know halloumi cheese, right? It's super interesting because it doesn't melt like regular cheese but grills up like a champ. It's originally from Cyprus so I think this Greek brand is going for some stolen valor but whatever. Abby sent me a picture of a small package of halloumi at Whole Foods - $23 bucks!

This one is hilarious. We recognized it as Stok brand iced coffee, a household favorite, but without a label there could be some dastardly outcomes - sweetened, or pumpkin spice flavor, or DECAF. I bought one bottle as a tester and we were in luck, so I came back and immediately bought the other 3 bottles on hand.