20. Wisconsin is the drunkest state
Viv K's original analysis of why will make your Wednesday better.
Today’s letter includes: Dillard's dropping $34M to buy an entire mall (because apparently that's a thing now), 40% of workers saying AI development is messing with their mental health, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's engagement news getting hijacked for brand collabs, wedding looks we actually want to see from Derry Girls' star, and more.
This week, it’s my pleasure to hand over the opening monologue to my scroller-in-residence, Viv K. Scrolling is her passion and when she scrolls she uncovers important things that must be investigated. Like, why is Wisconsin so drunk?
Viv went down the fascinating rabbit hole, so you don’t have to.
Some months ago, I was scrolling on Twitter - as I am wont to do - and stumbled across the following heatmap.
This really piqued my interest. The entire state of Wisconsin is bright red. It’s not even broadly regional - they’ve colored very crisply within state lines. Though the image is sourced from the likely less-than-reputable IntoxiStates.com, I figured this data was at least directionally meaningful.
Which begs the question: Why?
Now, maybe this is common knowledge and Midwesterners are laughing at my shock and naïveté. I mean, their baseball team is called the Brewers. But prior to this, my understanding of the Midwest had been extremely basic and limited to a few core points:
Cold
Boring
Weird pronunciation of vowels
If you disagree, don’t get mad at me. As I said, I don’t know much. Anyway, it follows from that third bullet that some kind of collective substance abuse problem would arise as a result of existential boredom. But why is it seemingly SO much worse in Wisconsin?
I started digging and was regaled with incredible anecdotes about Wisconsites[1][2] and their booze-fueled antics. Some highlights:
“I was in Mazatlan Mexico in 2008 and they wouldn’t let you compete in a drinking contest if you were from Wisconsin. The legend of our stories are [sic] sung far and wide.”
“House party in AZ had a surcharge for WI residents lol.”
“[The police] pulled over this 20 year old guy for a DUI. The guy had been drinking at home and decided to ‘take a drive around town for fun’. It was his 3rd DUI in two years! Apparently man’s hobby was drunk driving!”
“Growing up in La Crosse, WI in the 90’s, we would have a bar at our school spring music concerts at my Catholic elementary school.”
“I was in Vegas with a friend years ago and after a few drinks we were cut off by the bartender. We started joking around about how "back home in Wisconsin we'd just be getting started" and were going to leave but the bartender stopped us and asked to check our ID's, we showed her our Wisconsin drivers licenses and she laughed and apologized and said we were free to continue drinking.”
“Their current ad campaign to lure in visitors is called ‘Drink Wisconsibly.’”
These stories are deliciously unhinged. But still, none of them really answered my burning question as to why this is so state-specific. So after extensive research (read: scrolling), I came away with a few key explanations for this phenomenon that satisfied me enough to move onto something else…
Read the full investigation:
If you don’t, you’ll never know why Viv wrote the words: “Alexa, play ‘White Boy Wasted’ by Waka Flocka!”
A YouTuber just beat ChatGPT to become the #1 app in the App Store. Hank Green's "Focus Friend," a pomodoro timer featuring a cute knitting bean, is currently the top free app in the US. You get a virtual bean friend that knits socks while you focus on work. The longer you stay focused, the more socks your bean makes. You can trade socks to decorate your bean's home. It's simple, adorable, and apparently more appealing than AI right now. For context, Green is one half of the Vlogbrothers YouTube channel (alongside author John Green who wrote all of those YA novels that got turned into movies starring Shailene Woodley or people who look just like her). How many socks do you have? Drop a comment. :p
The U.S. just hit India with brutal 50% tariffs. New duties took effect Wednesday after trade negotiations completely fell apart, delivering a double punch: 25% for failed talks plus another 25% as punishment for buying Russian crude oil. The tariffs target thousands of Indian jobs across categories worth an estimated $30 billion, though pharmaceuticals and electronics get some exemptions. It's giving very much "we're mad you won't pick sides in our geopolitical drama" energy. India has been trying to maintain neutrality while buying discounted Russian oil (can't blame them for wanting a deal), but apparently that's not flying with the current administration's foreign policy approach of "you're either with us or against us."
Are malls still relevant? Dillards thinks so. Plot twist in the retail apocalypse: Instead of fleeing dying malls, some stores are just... buying them? Dillard's just dropped $34 million to co-purchase an entire Texas mall, joining Walmart and Home Depot in the "fine, we'll do it ourselves" approach to retail real estate. The strategy? Control your own destiny by preventing sketchy developers from turning your prime shopping location into a ghost town. It's like buying your apartment building so your landlord can't let it fall apart around you—except with much higher stakes and way more parking spaces.
40% say the rapid pace of AI development is affecting their wellbeing. Conversation about navigating these changes has spiked 111% on LinkedIn in the U.S. this year, with Gen Z workers feeling the most pressure as the workplace landscape shifts.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are engaged. American Eagle used the moment to announce its collab with Kelce’s clothing brand. Not sure if this can save them from the Sydney Sweeney snafu. Gap is still crushing it IMO and their fast follow with Katseye is no exception.
Gap’s collab with Katseye had 16.4M views in 24 hours on IG, with 16K comments and 95K reshares. On the other hand, American Eagle amassed only 10.2M views on the controversial Sydney Sweeney video, despite all the global coverage, with other posts hovering at around 2.3-2.6M views. Both brands have a comparable following.
Here is some wedding news I actually care about. Saoirse-Monica Jackson (Irish actress from Derry Girls) & Denis Sulta (Scottish DJ) slayed every look at their wedding, shared in British Vogue. I love the more traditional ceremony looks juxtaposed with the modern takes on Tartan. I also love Scotland generally, if you have a trip planned enjoy this travel guide.
Cracker Barrel successfully rage baited the whole internet. When Cracker Barrel quietly tested a new logo this month the internet lost its mind. Every person on LinkedIn was posting their opinion about it. Today, Cracker Barrel announced that it will revert back to its old logo. Fan backlash to the minimalist redesign sparked online ire and chipped tens of millions of dollars from Cracker Barrel's market value. Following the about-face, shares jumped more than 8% in after-hours trading. The somewhat irrelevant chain got more publicity in a few days than in years of ads.
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NYC Ferry socials go off.
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Dead at nyc ferry post lolll