Maru Coffee is the funniest place on earth.
"Expensive-yet-sloppy attire on a mix of people who either have no-schedule creative jobs and are rich living in Los Feliz, or striving to reach that status."
Hello everyone.
I woke up today and scrolled for a bit on the Substack app, and it appears that everyone is still talking about plagiarism on this platform.
To bring you up to speed: Last week, a writer named Maalvika wrote an essay about “compression culture” or how we are compressing all of our valuable content into summaries, blurbs, and hyperlinks —the essay was a success, and she was listed as the #1 new bestseller on Substack. A few hours after that ranking was given, Katie Jgln published a newsletter claiming that Maalvika plagiarized one of her essays last year (which was eventually taken down after Katie reported her to Substack).
I got statements from both of the women involved —
and .“It’s a shame that this kind of behaviour so often goes unchecked, and worse, even gets rewarded. But I hope the Substack team takes the necessary steps to make sure this plagiarist won’t be able to do this to anyone else. At least not on their platform.” -
Maalvika’s response was a bit longer.
“i can't comment on either of ur posts
i love katie’s writing & saved it in my notes over a year ago, planning to write something in a similar spirit later. i ended up using her exact words & phrasing which is completely wrong, and i deeply, deeply apologize to anyone who feels hurt by that. i totally understand being furious at me, i’d be too.
the post was taken down when she reached out a year ago. ofc i’ve sat with it since, & i’ve tried to be a million times more careful and intentional in everything i write. i know how much words matter. i care deeply about writing things that are honest, thoughtful, and mine. and i hate that this moment might make people question that.
what’s also been really hard is seeing how quickly people are now assuming everything i’ve written is fake, or ai-generated or stolen. it’s not. i’m not perfect, but i am a person who writes from the heart. i’ve been seeing a ton of false info and i can’t sift through it all but there is some blatant lying about my other writing. it is all mine. and i’m proud of my writing. if you have legitimate concerns about any other paragraphs in my work please let me know.
i’m grateful to those who’ve held me accountable & to those who’ve reminded me that one mistake doesn’t erase everything else. if you feel hurt or disappointed or want your money back from anything i’ve posted i completely understand, and i’ll make it right.
the hate is hard right now. i know you can argue that i deserve it, but that doesn’t change that im finding it hard to deal with. please try to find it in your heart to be gentle in your accountability with me while supporting katie.” -
I’m done talking about this specific conversation, and I’m going to get back to my work now.
Today’s letter includes: SKIMS launched a face-sculpting device, women invest better than men because of “patience, and openness to seeking investment advice”, I don’t like Quince, and I’m having a party on Thursday.
Los Angeles’s coolest coffee shop is opening in New York. As
reported this week, “Maru Coffee is opening its first NYC outpost in Williamsburg, next door to Sorbara’s vintage, and across from the playground where all the hipster parents bring their kids.”I’ve never been to Maru, but based on conversations I had with locals and what people are saying on X, it’s the see-and-be-seen mecca of Los Angeles. It’s impressive to me that the Korean-American coffee shop has garnered such a strong reputation in less than ten years.
I spoke to one highly opinionated friend who lives on the east side of Los Angeles and he broke down the vibe of Maru for me: