Saudade — n.

an emotional state of melancholic or profoundly nostalgic longing for a beloved yet absent someone or something

Welcome to Saudade. A space for the thoughts that arrive sideways, for contradictions that don’t resolve, for the cultural moments that catch light in unexpected ways. I aim to put words to what others feel but haven’t yet said.

This is a newsletter about the aesthetics of modern life and the mess beneath them, intersected with my identity as a college student. Sometimes it’s about cigarettes. Sometimes it’s about intimacy, or the lie of control. Usually, it’s about what happens in the margins.

This is my Instagram. Email me (ethan.hsu@yale.edu) to get in touch!