Matt Gross

These things are all TERRIBLE: mattgrossistrying.com/p/these-thin...

It's been a long while since I spent some time actively, joyously hating on things in Trying!, so today's is all about the unbearable awfulness of the Avatar movies, cryptocurrency, and Travel + Leisure — and about how loathing, truly and deeply expressed, is not much different from love.

People hear what they want to hear, not what you say, so it's time to adapt to that reality: mattgrossistrying.com/p/and-anothe...

And so we should therefore stop using them completely, and try to keep our language specific and concrete, so we can actually discuss the things that matter.

Zionism? Anti-Zionism? From the river to the sea? These phrases get reinterpreted by anyone and everyone to mean anything and everything — they are now meaningless and useless.

Maybe the children would like a cheese sandwich? mattgrossistrying.com/p/a-cheese-s...

Children are truly terrible, but if you're only opposed to what Israel is doing in Gaza because kids are starving, well, have I got an essay for you!

In other words: How do you catastrophize? mattgrossistrying.com/p/how-do-you...

Yes, the world is ending. But no, I'm not going to rant and rave about it anymore. Instead, I'm going to live my life, enjoy the collapse of human civilization as much as anyone can, and be psychologically prepared to flee when the end is truly nigh.

What are you going to do?

"If I had a gun": mattgrossistrying.com/p/if-i-had-a...

Is it appropriate to put such things out there after public tragedies? Is it a bad idea? I don't know. Read it and get angry or don't get angry and tell me or don't tell me.

After the shooting in NYC yesterday, I wasn't sure I wanted to publish this essay about guns, which I'd mostly written before that news broke. It's called "If I had a gun," and it's a bit of a weird meditation on my own relationship to firearms.

From "Bred Any Good Rooks Lately?" to "Seen One Taj, Seen Mahal": mattgrossistrying.com/p/seen-one-t...

I'm not a polyglot—not even really bilingual—but I live a multilingual life, one that shades from English into Chinese, French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Vietnamese and more. And it all began with a truly terrible book of puns.

Expect cheese: mattgrossistrying.com/p/memories-o...

There's a lot of Condé Nast nostalgia in the air, so I figured I'd indulge with a memoir of my time at @bonappetit.bsky.social, back in 2012–2014. What was it really like there?

Why I wear women's clothing: mattgrossistrying.com/p/why-i-wear...

What's the difference between AI slop and AI sludge? And which one will make your life worse?

mattgrossistrying.com/p/ai-sludge-...

An argument in favor of the most uncomfortable feeling: mattgrossistrying.com/p/down-with-...

I've always had an issue with the concept of pride—not only does it court the wrath of the gods, it's too showy, too one-note, too boring. Me, I prefer shame, the most delicious and interesting of emotions, the one that makes us truly human.

Today, I'm taking a look at Tom Colicchio's Craft: mattgrossistrying.com/p/craft-the-...

Twenty-five years ago I went to a restaurant that totally changed—or maybe clarified—my culinary philosophy, changing how I cook and eat.

I know why the blue jay screams: mattgrossistrying.com/p/i-know-why...

A few months ago, my dad asked me to write a Trying! essay in the mode of a naturalist, so this is what I came up with: a piece that talks about birds, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, and what it means to pay attention to the world around us.

For you, they say, it’s off the table.

But it’s not.

Violence is always an option: mattgrossistrying.com/p/violence-i...

In other words, they take everything—your status, money, networks, voice, citizenship, your moral standing, your high-minded ideals—leaving you with nothing but your own capacity for action: for violence, the one tool the authorities have convinced everyone is theirs alone.

The authorities push the myth of nonviolence as the only legitimate form of resistance, even as they use violence to punish the nonviolent.

I can solve the Cuomo problem Just give me 5 minutes with the former governor.

Here's how and why my plan will work: mattgrossistrying.com/p/i-can-solv...

Give me 5–10 minutes alone with the guy, and I can persuade him to drop out of the race. Don't believe me? I did it to Bill de Blasio back in 2022, and I can do it again today. Who among you can make the introduction?

Look, we all know there's no reason Andrew Cuomo should be running for NYC mayor—nor that he should be doing as well as he has been. And while it may seem like there's nothing we can do to stop him, I have actually found a solution: The solution is me.