The Monday Media Diet with Daisy Alioto

Daisy Alioto (DA) was introduced to us by the great Sam Valenti IV. She’s running Dirt with friend of WITI Kyle Chayka. You should read if you don’t. Happy to have her on the page this week. -Colin (CJN)

Tell us about yourself.

I’m the cofounder and CEO of Dirt. Before starting a company I worked in audience development for media brands like Wallpaper* magazine, The New York Review of Books and Air Mail. My last job before Dirt was at HODINKEE. So I know a little about a lot of things. 

I’m also a writer. The concept of lifestyle runs through a lot of my work. I grew up in New England and now split my time between Peekskill and Brooklyn with my husband Ben, who is a playwright and copywriter. 

Describe your media diet. 

Startups are intense. I think about the business all of the time. Someone said about having a startup, ““running a startup is like being punched in the face repeatedly.” The rational response to that is who cares it was your choice, and I think that’s fair and correct. 

So a lot of what I read is directed by the needs of my business. What’s going on in the “market” (media and web3) a lot of which is conveyed on Twitter, Telegram chats, but also publications like Puck, The Information, Bankless, Axios Crypto and podcasts like PROOF and Overpriced JPEGS. I read a lot of advice about raising capital from people who I wouldn’t want to have a drink with and who wouldn’t want to have a drink with me. (I just read the book Never Split the Difference by a former FBI hostage negotiator which I am mainly going to apply to my volunteer role at National Writers Union helping writers recover money.)

I also like listening to NOTA BENE for art world news and gossip, How Long Gone for restaurant intel and Killing Time, for watch stuff. 

What’s the last great book you read?

I recently read a biography of poet Anna Akhmatova called Anna of All the Russias: A Life of Anna Akhmatova by Elaine Feinstein. I started the book not knowing many details of her life and found it totally transporting. You feel like you can go inside the smoky, pre-revolution clubs of Saint Petersburg and live out Akhmatova’s youth before she enters season after season of suffering. 

In 1942 Akhmatova wrote, “So I have come to it, the very landscape of autumn/ Which has terrified me all my life.” I didn’t know about her friendship with Modigliani and found that fascinating. Feinstein keeps a catalog of the objects around Akhmatova as she loses more of her freedom and comfort under Stalin. The image of a Modigliani drawing tacked to the wall of her sparse, probably freezing, room is touching: “I experienced great fame, I experienced great disgrace and I have come to the conclusion that, in essentials, it is all the same,” Akhmatova said.

What are you reading now?

I’m supposed to move on to a different Anna (Karenina) but I haven’t cracked it yet. It’s sitting next to my bed. 

What’s your reading strategy when you pick up a print copy of your favorite publication?

I’m a completist, so I generally go cover to cover. I’m afraid of missing something interesting! 

Who should everyone be reading that they’re not?

This is at odds with my previous answer, lol. I am trying to untrain myself from the idea we “should” read something whether it’s a social imperative (a friend’s book) or moral one (keeping up with the news in real time) or a status thing (canon). We should read more of the things we like to read or spend more time doing the things we like to do that aren’t scrolling. That being said, some things I enjoy that I would like more people to know about: Everything Is Personal (Laurie Stone’s newsletter), The Fence and Know Your Enemy. 

What is the best non-famous app you love on your phone? 

Hmm maybe Brian Eno’s Reflection. 

Plane or train?

Train, definitely. I love my thinking time on Metro-North–preferably with a coffee and bagel from Zaro's on hand. 

What is one place everyone should visit? 

Two of my favorite places I have visited: Essaouira, Morocco and Tbilisi, Georgia. Closer to home: Monhegan Island. 

Tell us the story of a rabbit hole you fell deep into. 

Since summer 2020, I’ve been obsessed with the Jennifer Fergate mystery. I know every single detail about the case and have pages of notes about it. This led to side rabbit holes on Belgian politics, the Red Army Faction, NATO, and the Isdal Woman. I don’t recommend any of it, really. (DA)

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Thanks for reading,

Noah (NRB) & Colin (CJN) & Daisy (DA)

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