Tangentially... with Molly Hurley

The Rest of Us is a series about, well, the rest of us. It’s where we celebrate the community of writers and creators who make up Inkstick, especially the sides of us that wouldn’t normally make it into our stories.

Tangentially is where we give — even more — liberty to our creators to let us glimpse the magical marginalia of their processes; something like a collage of the tangential fragments of research and reporting that end up on the cutting room floor.

This week, we highlight our beloved Molly Hurley. She is a nuclear expert with an MFA from MICA, a columnist at Inkstick, and the recent author of a series of profiles of our Creative Capsule Residents.

Hi there! I’m Molly. Some of you may know me from the column I co-run with Lovely Umayam, The Mixed-Up Files of Inkstick Media. Basically, it’s been my way of justifying overconsuming online media. And while I’ve referenced TikTok on many occasions in the articles, I thought this could be a nice opportunity to show off just how truly bad my social media consumption is (and test how bad your overconsumption might be, based on how many of these online trends you recognize!)

I’ve been dipping my toes into TikTok videos, but perhaps I lack the commitment required to post regularly enough for the algorithm and audiences to favor my content. The recommended posting schedule by many social media managers and analysts is about 4-5 times per day, every day. If capitalism has taught me anything though, it’s that being a consumer >>> being consumed.

Here I connect the Detective Ken Waks drama to national security…

Here I spitball what coffee table poetry — like Rupi Kaur — might have to do with nuclear weapons…

And below is a partial screenshot of my running list of ideas for article topics based on what I see online that fascinates me most.

Check out some of Molly’s favorite Inkstick pieces:

And keep up with Molly on X and TikTok.