Catherine Baab-Muguira, freelancer

Get ready for some perfect hot takes on today’s episode of F***ing Shakepeare with freelancer Catherine Baab-Muguira. She looks behind the curtain at the self-appointed guardians of the world of culture, celebrates indulging a rabbit hole of eccentric ideas as a freelancer, and we all have a laugh about how her outstanding personal essay on her highlights helped propel her career.* Plus, we endlessly appreciate Cat for being real with us about writing, success, and mental illness as she crowns Poe, word for word, “the most likely self-help guru in history.”

Check out more of Cat’s work on her website, her Contently page, and her Twitter.

Cat’s essays that we discussed in the podcast:

• “Edgar Allan Poe Was a Broke-Ass Freelancer” in The Millions

• “Buy All Your Furniture at Target, For Tomorrow We Die” in The Billfold

• “I Spent $11,537 Becoming a Blonde” in The Cut

• “The Seductive Scamming of Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes” in shondaland

Suggested Reads & Honorable Mentions

• Tigers are Better-Looking by Jean Rhys

• “Like This or Die” by Christian Lorentzen in Harper’s Magazine (we discuss this article at 10:55)

• “The Literati of New York City” by Edgar Allan Poe

• “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe

• J.W. Ostrom’s works on Edgar Allan Poe’s letters

• Elizabeth Holmes’s net worth according to Forbes

*Please note, we went out of our way not to say “highlight of her career.” You’re welcome for the lack of bad puns.