Just One Thing with Lucy Zhang

Lucy Zhang’s story “Any Respectable Distance” gives us mythical birds, fated pairings, tea, and what it means to take care of another being. Here she shares just one thing about the piece:

“Originally when I wrote this, I wasn't at all thinking of framing it in the context of dealing with layoffs. Since finishing the initial story on January 13, 2023 and revisiting the piece to make edits for Split Lip, I've been seeing the wave of tech layoffs in full force. I know engineers who've been laid off, and almost all the candidates I've interviewed for my own team were laid off by other big tech companies. Separately, I was also thinking about the toxic Silicon Valley Bay Area culture that I've physically distanced myself from by moving to San Diego. Everyone was always talking about compensation, housing prices, or stock over there. It both fuels people and demoralizes them.”