This Prompts Joy: Week of October 28th

The internet has long been accused of being a toxic, harmful place, full of conflict and anonymous trolls. It’s hard to deny that, in a general sense, but let us brag on ourselves a little bit. Because since our launch in September 2016, The Prompt has largely avoided that awful spirit, instead finding real personal connection through creative writing, good ideas, and good people. Honestly, it’s been quite a tonic to meet strangers on the internet that are so deeply earnest and good in their souls. 

To extend that positive vibe into your lives a bit more, we’re starting a new content segment called This Prompts Joy, in which we will each share something positive or worthwhile that got us through the week. Each week, we will publish a miniprompt of the things that filled our cold, bleak, post-apocalyptic hearts with happiness, pride, gratitude, peace, interest, amusement, and so on.

The Prompt Mag: Proof that the internet isn’t completely terrible™

Jillian Conochan

Greetings fellow Xennials, a term I previously rejected because what’s more Millennial than feeling too individualized to conform to a group of your peers, but after decades, realized that I technically am a Gen Xer, but my Millennial peers claim me as their own, so Xennial it is!

Sorry for that filibuster in the style of a female Vince Vaughn; I just finished watching Bad Monkey, which was indeed good, but not the topic I was puffing myself up to write about.

In my vain quest for neoteny, I have made an important discovery: Enjoying contemporary music is not impossible! Friends who grew up on Ed Lover, Dr. Dre, and Lisa G in the morning: there is life beyond 36 Chambers.

Tommy “Million Dollar Baby” Richman is 3i niiice. Not only is his second single “Devil is a Lie” better than the first—which was the 2024 song of the summer—but his album Coyote is a 2024 adaptation of soundtracks like Above the Rim, Boomerang, and Belly. So what if he’s an industry plant? I’m too old to care.

Mr. Met

Under the heading of “This Sparks Joy,” this Mets’ fan’s hope was buoyed when this breaking news dropped:

Meanwhile, in a developing story, the NY Mets have challenged whether the Dodgers actually scored more runs than the Mets did in the recently concluded National League Championship Series. The claim that some runs were counted twice and that some who crossed the plate were actually minor league players and thus ineligible to score seems to be supported by some dodgy FS1 videotape. Claims and counterclaims are being reviewed in an anxious Supreme Umpire Replay Room in Chelsea, trying to do the work in the shadow of a disgruntled mob of Queens-based Mets fans lobbing insults at Yankee fans eager to see the Dodgers installed as National League champs before their game on Friday. The Mets have submitted their own slate of run scorers. A decision is due by World Series time.