This is easily one of my top three parenting purchases of the year, and might possibly be the best thing I got my kid in 2025. Before the summer, I was searching around for a good beginner camera for my son with two requirements: it had to be incredibly easy to use and its sole purpose was to take pictures. If you’ve looked at kid cameras before, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that they all do double duty as game consoles. And while I’m not an anti-screen purist by any stretch of the imagination (the right television shows and movies are great for kids, I swear), I draw the line at tablets. Giving my son the ability to play mindnumbing games on a tiny camera display is not a gateway drug I’m looking to bring into our lives. Moreover, the more bells and whistles in these cameras, the more confusing they get for a kid (and, honestly, for an adult). So when I came across the Camp Snap camera with its lack of screen and single button functionality, I was completely sold. It’s like an old disposable film camera, but can hold up to 2000 digital images and withstand the daily beating a child will accidentally—or even purposely—give it. It’s unquestionably a worse camera than the phone in your pocket. There’s no zoom, it’s lousy at night, and the lag time from click to shutter is significant. But it’s awesome. I bought two so that my son and I could be on the same footing, and for months now we’ve been taking our cameras out on weekends or to the park or restaurants and firing off some shots of whatever we see. The fact that there’s no screen also means that there’s a delayed gratification that’s increasingly hard for parents to teach their young kids in the instant age. When we get home, we upload the photos to my computer, choose our favorite ones, and file them away in a special folder. It’s simple, educational, and incredible fun. In fact, I like mine so much, I pre-ordered their new CS-Pro that’s a bit beefier and geared more toward adults. I really can’t recommend this camera enough if you’re a parent who wants to teach your kid the fundamentals of photography. And if you’re an adult who wants a nearly weightless toy to throw in a bag or your pocket when you go out, this is perfect for that, too.
-DW
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Last week, unfortunately just a day too late for me to get it into High Praise, twin sisters Katie and Allison Crutchfield dropped a new project and surprise album with MJ Lenderman and longtime Waxahatchee producer Brad Cook. It is, unsurprisingly for Crutchfield fans of any stripes out there, excellent. Snocaps (the name of both the supergroup and album) also announced six very limited tour dates across New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles in the first week of December. Tickets might already be sold out by the time you’re reading this, but my fingers are crossed on your behalf for a reasonably priced secondary market. (Bonus rec: this Oxford American profile of Waxahatchee from early spring, which I would have included earlier had I not totally missed it.)
-VvP
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Because it’s so fucking dark now.
-DW
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I have a real love-hate relationship with social media. I scroll it mindlessly, dread actually posting, feel professional guilt that I never do, and hate those weekly screentime alerts with every fiber of my being. Oh, I’m sorry, did you just fall asleep? Don’t worry, me too. I’m not here to tell you how I deleted TikTok or replaced Instagram with Facebook Marketplace. I am here to extoll the virtues of the purest platform I have ever experienced: Strava. Ostensibly a community-powered space for tracking runs, the so-called “social media app for athletes” traffics in “kudos” instead of likes, and feels—at least in its present state—downright incorruptible. Strava is the place where I share my almost 12-minute miles with pride and no expectation of engagement, and freely caption my midday jogs with references to the prescription anxiety medication they’re attempting to replace. Everyone knows exercise is good for you, but Strava might be the only social media app that is too. [Editor’s note: I’m reminded of one of my favorite “social media is dangerous” realizations of all time -David]
-VvP
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I know I’m not alone in loving videos of murmurations. Be it peaceful footage of shimmering starlings bouncing around the sky or timelapse videos of starlings cutting across sunsets like ink spilling across a page, I’m a sucker for this stuff. And that, my friends, is why I follow Dr. Kathryn Cooper on Instagram. A photographer with a doctorate in network science, “researching complex large-scale systems (those with many interacting parts),” Cooper was basically born to shoot the beauty and intricacies of flocks of birds. Her work brings brief moments of joy into my doomscrolls, and I’m grateful for that. You should add her to your life, too.
-DW
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A visually stunning coffee table book that reminds me of Volume Seven and features an interview with Reilly Opelka by seven-time Gossamer contributor Foster Kamer. It ships from Europe, so factor in a few extra weeks for delivery, especially if you want to ensure it arrives in time for the holidays.
-VvP
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