Alix Earle’s reality show focuses on her family, Polymarket bettors made money off the Lindsay Clancy mistrial, and an immersive history project is about to recap 9/11 for an audience who can’t remember it. But first:
Slang of the Week: “We’ll Drive A Funky Ehh”
Earlier this summer, Fortnite troll and YouTuber Cloudxxs uploaded a video of a kid singing a song lyric incorrectly, and teens still haven’t recovered. During a game of Fortnite, Cloudxxs begins trolling a kid after he tries to sing a remixed version of the Janet Jackson hit, “Someone to Call My Lover” (which he wrongly attributes to the musician Oliver Tree). He sings, “Maybe we’ll meet at a bar, we’ll drive a funky ehh,” and then the player proceeds to play the remix in which “car” is replaced with a groaning noise. According to Mr. Lindsay, a teacher who makes videos on teen slang, kids are repeating the phrase “funky ehh” over and over again in his classroom.
And now for our three conversations..
1. Earle Meets World
What it is: Popular TikTok influencer Alix Earle’s reality show Earle Meets World reveals that even when life is glamorous, family is complicated.
Why it’s trending high on Netflix: The TV-MA series gives Earle’s audience a behind-the-scenes look into what it’s like to go to Paris Fashion Week, Coachella, and the Palm Tree Festival as an influencer. But in between her jet-setting, viewers get a front-row seat for the complicated family dynamics of the Earle family. Alix is open about how navigating divorced parents and step-parents can be difficult—viewers see plenty of spats, expletives included—but she also calls her siblings and parents her “best friends.” Throughout the show, they regularly make an effort to take trips together and share meals. Reviews are split, with some demanding another season, while Variety compared the show to watching paint dry.
Continue the conversation: How real do you think reality TV is?
2. Unconvinced
What it is: Last Friday, Lindsay Clancy’s first criminal trial ended in a mistrial when the jury was unable to unanimously agree on whether she should be found guilty of murdering her three children.
A few conversations worth having: Influencer and podcaster Amanda Hirsch received a lot of blowback for posting Polymarket-sponsored content about the court’s non-verdict. (Polymarket allows users to bet on the outcomes of future events, including 500 active markets for legal questions in progress). In an apology, Hirsch said that she “became so consumed by the trial that [she] completely lost perspective.” One question worth discussing: why do you think people had such a strong reaction to her posting a Polymarket ad about the case? Is the way so many people consumed this case like a Netflix scripted series, even without betting on it, really so different? Other questions worth considering: What do you think the online discourse about this case says about where we are as a society? At what point do someone’s mental health issues mean they should no longer be held responsible for their actions? And even for those who disagree with the lone juror who held out against the other 11: what do you think it takes to hold on to your perspective in the midst of profound pressure to change it?
3. Past is Present
What it is: An account on X called @25yearsagolive is live-posting through September 11, 2026, as if it were September 11, 2001.
Why it’s more than clout-maxxing: @25yearsagolive, also known as Ohio native Manny Marotta, won’t be posting on 9/11 as a one-off publicity stunt. He’s a 27-year-old history buff, and today will be part of a much bigger project, which he calls “a giant LARP” (language). He reenacts various significant events on other accounts he runs, including @100yearsagolive and @50yearsagolive, all with the same “livestreaming the past” gimmick. Marotta plans to post over 400 times, and he says he watched 40 documentaries and read three books to research September 11, 2001—a research process that completely changed how he saw those events.
Let’s translate this one further…
September 11, 2001, isn’t just a tragic day—it’s become a generational dividing line. We might remember what the day was like. But our teens can only understand what happened afterwards.
According to YouGov polling from 2023, 95% of 45-to 66-year-olds and 82% of 30-to 44-year-olds remember where they were when the attacks happened. But for anyone under the age of 25, 9/11 isn’t a memory. It’s history.
“For my generation, the 25th anniversary isn’t about remembering where we were that morning. We weren’t there. It is about deciding what we inherit from it. I hope we inherit courage. The courage to begin again in the face of tragedy and overwhelming odds,” Sean Cleary, an MBA student at New York University, told the Wall Street Journal.
After actually researching 9/11 for his posts, Manny Marotta expressed something like conviction to depict what really happened—the deaths, the terror, the disbelief. He’s posting so much, he says, because “I want people to see.” And young people, for the most part, are open to seeing—and to finding something powerful to take away.
We won’t always be able to dictate the lessons our teens take away from historical events. And our kids can never understand, on a visceral level, the emotions that people felt in response to 9/11. But we can tell them the truth about what we saw happen. We can be honest that some tragedies never make sense. And maybe, by allowing ourselves to see the past through their eyes, we can learn something, too.
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:
- Where do you get your information about history?
- What’s the most significant historical event you have lived through?
- What’s something you’ve heard about September 11, 2001, that stands out to you?
Parenting together,
Kate Watson and the Axis Team
In Other News…
- Teens are reading plenty of texts, but maybe not the kind of texts we’d wish for. A new assessment found that reading slumped to its very lowest levels this century, with a surge in screen time linked to the decline. Goodbye Shakespeare.
- A recent article in The Guardian made the case that the podcast “Girls Gone Bible” is basically the conservative Christian version of Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” podcast.
- Olivia Rodrigo has officially entered her LEGO era. She is the first musician to have multiple LEGO sets based around her music, with 5 builds inspired by her albums and some of her most iconic tour moments. We wouldn’t be surprised if these start showing up on Christmas lists!
- Apple is making foldable iPhones now. Grab one on October 23 for the low, low price of $1,999.
- When asked his favorite book in an interview with his wife Hailey, Justin Bieber said, “The Bible.” Same.
PS: Know someone who could use our conversation starters with their teens? Share the CT with a friend!