Kelsey McKinney

Freelance Writer at Freelance

Features Writer at Defector

Founder and Writer at Written Out

Host at Normal Gossip

co-owner @defectormedia, author of YOU DIDNT HEAR THIS FROM ME and GOD SPARE THE GIRLS. former host of NORMAL GOSSIP.

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Articles

Saquon Barkley Lured Me To An Arena Where I Learned Passive Income Is Holy

3 days ago | defector.com | Kelsey McKinney

PHILADELPHIA — The Benham Brothers think they are very funny and very smart. They are 50-year-old tall, blonde, identical twins who have a series of scripted jokes that mostly amount to calling each other stupid and effeminate. They are not pastors, which is maybe why they are so bad at reading the Bible. I know because I watched them try this weekend. The Benham Brothers were the second speakers to go on stage this weekend at a Christian wealth conference called Life Surge.
Got A Reading Problem? Ask The Book Doctor!

1 week ago | defector.com | Kelsey McKinney

Welcome to Ask The Book Doctor, a new recurring series about books and reading them. My home is full of books. Because I am able to justify it as “supporting the local bookstore” and “keeping my own career afloat,” I am constantly buying books. I have four full bookshelves of fiction and three of non-fiction. There are two individual shelves of poetry and a shelf just for the collected works of Shakespeare.
Swole Woman Casey Johnston Has Written A Swole Book

3 weeks ago | defector.com | Kelsey McKinney

There is nothing I find more annoying than the fact that exercise makes your brain feel better. Every time I am grumpy and miserable and depressed but still drag my ass off the couch and to the gym, I am filled with annoyance after I'm done. Why does picking up a few heavy things and setting them back down make me feel so much better? Why can't I be rewarded for simply lying down on my couch and watching television? Why do brains work like this? What is the point in having a body?
What Is My Senator Good For?

3 weeks ago | defector.com | Kelsey McKinney

My gargantuan senator is throwing a hissy fit. According to reporting by the Associated Press, Pennsylvania Sen.
The Mess At Newark Airport Is Only The Beginning

1 month ago | defector.com | Kelsey McKinney

There is one feed—a remote line described as a "long extension cord"—that connects the radar for air traffic above Newark Airport to the air traffic controllers in Philadelphia, who make sure that planes take off and land safely. The line has gone down at least twice before, and last week, on Apr. 28, it went down again. “We use floppy disks. We use copper wires,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Friday.
*The Week in 15 Selections*

1 month ago | buttondown.com | Kelsey McKinney

As the dowager queen, it is my duty to alert you that NORMAL GOSSIP premiered its brand new season last week. I’m so excited to see what Rachelle & Se’era do with this season, and it is such a fuckin’ treat to actually get to listen to the episodes like everyone else!Last week, my own broken brain reminded me of Jo Ann Beard’s 1996 essay “The Fourth State of Matter” about her dog dying and a shooting she missed because of it.
Patrick McAfee You Are 37 Years Old

2 months ago | defector.com | Kelsey McKinney

In late February, I caught wind of a salacious rumor involving students at Ole Miss. Obviously, since I do not make a habit of keeping apprised of the sex lives of college students, it came to my attention because it had already garnered a lot of attention online. The rumor was spreading via a photo of a paragraph of text from someone’s Snapchat DMs that had gone viral on YikYak, a social media app primarily used by students.
I Should Have Been The One To Discover The Glass Brain

2 months ago | defector.com | Kelsey McKinney

In 2018, I went to Pompeii. I did not particularly want to go to Pompeii, but we were on vacation in Italy, and my partner wanted to go, and so I obliged. We could eat in Naples, I reasoned. Then even if I did not have fun in the hot sun amongst the rocks and ruins of an ancient town, I would still be happy. But I was wrong; I enjoyed it. How do you not fawn over a perfectly preserved mosaic floor laid carefully in the entryway to a opulent home almost two thousand years ago?
AIR MAIL Editor's Picks

2 months ago | airmail.news | Jim Kelly |Kelsey McKinney

Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300-1350 Edited by Joanna Cannon, with Caroline Campbell and Stephan Wolohojian Those who missed this remarkable exhibition at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art this past winter can still catch it at London’s National Gallery this spring. If you can’t make it there (and even if you can), this sumptuous book should be in your home since it amply illustrates the wonders of a city’s art that shaped European art for centuries to come.
There Should Be Consequences For Filming A Tesla Ad At The White House

2 months ago | defector.com | Kelsey McKinney

Yesterday, the President of the United States filmed an advertisement for Tesla on the driveway of the White House. They might as well have erected a ginormous flag and one of those balloon men that flop around, because the South Lawn is a car dealership now. Maybe they could have unfurled a sign that read "Deals Deals Deals!"Except there were no deals. Instead, there was a line of five Teslas looking like shiny garbage.