Gerwig’s Narnia, Sports Betting, and Iced Lattes in Job Interviews

Generations are divided over bringing iced coffee to job interviews, new details about Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Narnia are making some fans uncomfortable, and sports betting is being called “the new opioid crisis.” But first: 

Meme of the Week: Verity

If you guessed that this meme would be about the controversial movie adaptation coming out next week, good guess, you are wrong. To understand the meme “verity,” you first have to understand a particular Minecraft subculture, which involves installing “horror mods” to add additional scary elements to the game. A YouTube series by ThatMob depicts (strong language) the installation of a mod called Verity™ into Minecraft, which is represented as an AI-powered smiley face in the game who helps you find useful items—only to eventually transform into a horrifying monster. The series led to the creation of an annoyingly catchy song, and is why your 13-year-old might now be calling all smiley faces “verity” and/or adding -ity as a suffix onto a wide variety of words.

And now for our three conversations..

1. To Latté, or Not to Latté

What it is: Gen Z job seekers are bringing iced coffees to their job interviews—and some people think they shouldn’t. 

Why the debate: Corporate recruiter Caitlin Wehniainen discouraged her Gen Z clients from bringing iced coffees into their job interviews, arguing that it makes them look unprofessional. Millennials then weighed into the conversation, with most of them echoing the sentiment of Gen Xers and Baby Boomers and pointing out that bringing an iced latté is distracting. As more Gen Zers seek entry-level positions and more managers are millennials, expectations around professionalism continue to evolve. (Gone are the days when having a tattoo was supposed to make it difficult to get a job.) Throw in a pandemic that moved people from working in the office to their living rooms and a shaky job market, and the definition of “professional norms” feels murkier than ever.

Continue the conversation: What is one professional rule you think is silly?

2. Gerwig’s Narnia

What it is: New details about Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew, set for release early next year, are making some Christians nervous. 

Why it’s happening: In advance of their “November 2026” issue (which in magazine logic means it hit newsstands yesterday), Empire says about Aslan that “…he’s voiced by the one and only Meryl Streep.” If this is right, Aslan has not been changed into a female lion—but given a female voice actor. In this way, Aslan would join a long-ish list of animated male characters voiced by women, including Bart from The Simpsons, Bobby from King of the Hill, Goku from Dragon Ball Z, and Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece. Still, many mistrust Gerwig’s motivation. As one commentator put it: “To cast Meryl Streep as Aslan in Greta Gerwig’s Narnia is a slap in the face to the genius of Lewis, but also a deliberate mockery of Christianity.” Perhaps it is. Or perhaps, for this feminist director, it is one of the greatest compliments she could think to pay.

Continue the conversation: Are you looking forward to the new Narnia movie? Why or why not? 

3. Chasing Losses

What it is: Former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams is calling sports betting “the new opioid crisis.” In a post on X, Adams pointed out that gambling is the addiction most likely to lead to thoughts of self-harm—a claim supported by at least one study. 

Why everybody’s talking about sports gambling: It’s been eight years since the Supreme Court struck down a federal ban on sports betting. Now, the impacts of that legislation on young adolescents are becoming clearer—and professionals are grappling with how to help young people who have a gambling addiction. One college student told ESPN that he started gambling by playing dorm-room poker as a freshman, only for things to spiral out of control. He dropped out of school and attended a 28-day inpatient rehab for gambling addicts after repeated attempts to stop betting. That student told his story on the condition that no sports betting ads would run alongside it—some who live with gambling addiction worry that seeing ads could trigger a relapse.

Let’s translate this one further…

I’m writing to you from 2:15 pm, EST, from a coffee shop, on a Wednesday. I’ve been awake since 6:30 am. And so far today, I’ve counted no less than four ads received for various betting apps through my social media browsing and podcast listening. 

Maybe that wouldn’t be that weird. Except that I’m a middle-aged woman with three kids under 13. I spend my “disposable” income on lattés and books, and I have never placed a sports bet in my life. I’m about as far from these apps’ target audience as one could get—and still, I can’t escape. 

The worst part is, the ads are starting to work. I’m regretting my latté right now, and not because I’m at a job interview, but because it tastes pretty mid. Maybe it would’ve been a better investment to bet on the Orioles beating the Blue Jays this afternoon. 

Then again, I guess I’m getting off easy with just four ads. A study from last year’s Stanley Cup finals revealed that gambling ads appeared 3.5 times a minute. Reporting from the Washington Post estimated that 27% of broadcast minutes of professional sports include at least one betting ad. 

And more and more research shows that the more ads you see for sports betting, the more likely you are to feel positive towards gambling. FanDuel and DraftKings spent a combined $2.7 billion on marketing last year. If you’re wondering how sports gambling got normalized so quickly, there’s your answer. 

But the addictive nature of sports betting didn’t go away, even if the stigma did. Some people can engage safely with sports betting as a hobby, but plenty of others can’t. And you don’t know which type you are until you’re not having fun anymore. 

I don’t know what the endless gamification of information will mean for my sons and my daughter. The calls to double down on ROI in every second of their life are everywhere. 

But I’m definitely not going to teach them that gambling is inevitable—just something they’ll see and may have a taste for one day. They have agency in what messages they choose to obey —whether they’re hearing four betting app ads a day, or four a minute. 

If you want to learn more about sports betting—what to look out for and how to talk to your kids about it—check out our brand new Parent Guide to Sports Betting and our newest episode of The Conversation Starter. 

For more context and nuance, check out our Roundtable podcast on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you listen to podcasts. In the meantime, here are three questions to help you continue the conversation with your teens: 

Parenting together,

Kate Watson and the Axis Team

In Other News…

1. Taylor Swift released four new songs today as part of her The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore album, including a song called “Cleveland!” 
2. CNN, MS NOW, and Politico are suing the Trump administration on First Amendment grounds to regain White House access. President Trump said the ban was due to “negative coverage.”
3. After 23 weeks, Ella Langley’s song “Choosin’ Texas” has been crowned the longest-running No. 1 U.S. hit of all time. 
4. A new app called ScrollEd is turning textbooks into TikTok-inspired FYP feeds full of summaries and micro-quizzes. 
5. Purple, plaid, and zebra print are in for fall, according to InStyle. Skinny jeans are also back. We’re sorry. 

PS: Know someone who could use our conversation starters with their teens? Share the CT with a friend!