A set of links to subscriber writing for August 2023.
Christian Lorentzen, A Fortuitous Deviation
A journey through the interior of Albania to the coastal village of Qeparo, with digressions
Mark Newheiser, The Seven Suitors
A story about an orphaned princess who must marry or lose everything, and risks losing it all to a murderer hiding among her prospective suitors
Joe Mayall, Dream Jobs For All.
Everyone can have a Dream Job. Just not under Capitalism
Barrett Hathcock, Thick in Orlando
I hang out in the Orlando International Airport
Michael Roberson, The Ghost
Why it's now ok to ignore someone
Chris Jesu Lee, Arc de Failure
My personal, and the culture, desire for narratives that aren't as depressing as they seem
Hal Johnson, Sudden Glory
A full-length paranoid postmodern humorous novel about mathematicians, prudes, Hittite conspiracies, filthy puns, and assassination
Thomas Reilly, Left-handedness in schizophrenia
Why is there an overrepresentation of left-handed people with schizophrenia?
Amod Lele, On AIs' creativity
What is it going to mean when large language models can write a paper that gets an A at Harvard?
Rob Moura, We Should Have Believed in You
I wrote a piece about Sinéad O’Connor and my proximity to the Catholic Church scandal of the early 2000s
T Scott, Damn Yankee
The ignorant racism of those who castigate the American South and would prefer to abandon it
Benjamin J. Smith, No Country for Old Books
The state of American literature by way of Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses, and the long-predicted death of the serious novel
Spencer Brooks, In Praise of Chicken Feet
The poor chicken foot sits in the freezer, waiting for its day in the kitchen. If only more home cooks knew its greatness
Christine Axsmith, Eileen Guggenheim Skates Unscathed
Credible accusations of procuring young artists for Jeffrey Epstein haven’t stopped her - the stink won’t stick to our beloved Eileen
Adam Nathan, Sweet Home Alabama
Why I was thrown out of a jazz band during a wedding
J D Rhodes, In Sekhmet's Shadow
When Sabra Kasembe's father is shot in a heist gone wrong, she must team up with a crippled ex-superhero, a goth-rock robot, and the very man who shot him
Luke T. Harrington, Mrs. Davis is the best thing on TV right now…but probably not for the reasons you think
In Mrs. Davis a nun goes after the Holy Grail at the behest of an evil A.I. algorithm, a glorified B-movie—but at its core something deeper: an intriguing take on religion
Thomas Parker, When Worse Comes to Worst: Black Hole and Saturn 3
In the wake of Star Wars, science fiction movies suffered from a debilitating case of Lucas Envy, here are two of the best examples of this malady
Arnold Kling, Marijuana Reconsidered
Libertarians call legalization a win. Maybe we should not jump for joy
Colm Prunty, You Were the Last One
Short mystery/horror story about a couple trying to conceive during lockdown, while being haunted by voices
David Roberts, In-Laws: Lessons learned from a family tale of betrayal and rift
One of my more popular posts as everyone likes a family fight about money and envy
Democracy for Dinner, Tik Tok Democracy (Part 1)
How changing media landscapes shape our democracy
Nick Coccoma, "Wages of Sin: The Justice of Affirmative Action."
Affirmative action was never supposed to be about diversity, but an attempt, all too inadequate, at economic reparations for America's theft of enslaved labor
Rep. Tristan Roberts, Defy AI
As we continue to orient our society around computerized tasks that AI can do, expect more of our experiences to become forgettable
Sasha Breger Bush, Unpopular Opinion No. 2
Crypto, the US dollar, and the open economy trilemma
Joe Steakley, His Eyes Shall Be Red with Wine, and His Teeth White with Milk
As part of my project to read and comment upon the 850-odd works and authors of the Western canon as enumerated by Harold Bloom, I've read the latter half of the Bible's First Book of Moses, called Genesis
Kevin Demler Why Moneyball is the Best Self-Help Book in Existence
An explanation of the numerous life lessons the 2002 Oakland Athletics and Billy Beane can teach us
Alex Small, Don't Feed the Physicists
A sci-fi story about programmers who create a universe and try to appease the physicists along the way
The Ivy Exile, Renegade Centrism
The left and right need one another, but bipartisanship tends to combine the worst of each - is there any chance principled outsiders on both sides can come together?
Nigel Bowen, Am I the only straight white male extant?
Some thoughts on why we’re all now so desperate for a piece of the ‘oppressed minority’ action
Zack Morris the Elder, I feel like there has to be alien life out there, right?
Do you know how big the universe is?
Matthew Corson-Finnerty, The Age of Disbelief
Will Steve Jobs play Steve Jobs in the next Steve Jobs movie?
J.R. Leonard, Quiet Quitting and the Future of Labor Power
Some thoughts on our slide towards irrationality
Liam Smith, Forecasting the College Enrollment Gender Gap
Will male enrollment continue to decline?
Michael Woudenberg, Paradox: Book One of The Singularity Chronicles.
In the battle over Advanced AI will we lose our humanity or learn what truly makes us human?
Jake Seliger, I am dying of squamous cell carcinoma, and the treatments that might save me are just out of reach
The FDA’s slowness in the clinical process kills people like me
Timothy Beck Werth, How I learned to stop worrying about my gynecomastia and thrive with my man boobs
An essay about man boobs, a very important subject
Matt Lutz, The Hand That Feeds
Because conservatives have substantial control over funding and regulations of higher education, academia cannot afford to explicitly endorse progressive politics
Bill Sawalich, The Content Problem
The gig economy is coming for us all
Christopher J Feola, About that time I got blackmailed into teaching at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Without a degree.
(Dean) Konner sat back, raised a finger pensively to her lips, and said:
“I’m just trying…to picture…you…and Professor Ross…in the same classroom...“We’ll have to sedate the students”
Mari, the Happy Wanderer. This Is Not a Fairy Tale: Why There Is No Such Thing as a Microaggression
The 2007 film Enchanted, a Robin DiAngelo-style training, and a brief excursion into the linguistic reason why most people mispronounce names at first - and the case that we should see each other in three dimensions, instead of in a cartoon world fairy tale
Rene Walter, On Facebook’s polarization studies
Facebook’s polarization papers are no reason to downplay the political influence of Social Media
Mazin Saleem, Every dogsbody has its day
The humiliation of arts job interviews, let alone the jobs themselves
M. E. Rothwell, Write for The Books That Made Us Substack
A guest post opportunity for Substack writers to get their writing in front of over 1500 readers
Freya India, Cheating Isn't Empowering
A piece about the rise in female infidelity, how it's spun as empowerment and how social media teaches us to treat each other as disposable commodities
Eleanor Cummins and Andrew Zaleski, If Loneliness Is an Epidemic, How Do We Treat It?
For the Sunday New York Times, a guest essay on what medicine has to say to treat a growing epidemic of loneliness in America
Josh off the Press, Shout Out to My Very Favorite Substacks
This is a pretty self-explanatory post, where I'm featuring all my favorite Substack writers
Robert Lashley, The Price of the Society’s Child
What Since I Been Down, the social justice documentary that helped free Corey Pittman's killer, cost Black Tacoma
Tara Sahgal, By the River Itchen I Sat Down and Wrote.
The Mighty Gareth eats fire. Take a bow! Leave a tip; Such sweet delight, such endless night; Ducklings! Once a upon a time in Winchester came a stream of consciousness. Will you take the plunge?
Samantha Hedges, Teaching Objective Values in an Age of Gurus
As C.S. Lewis noted in ‘The Abolition of Man,’ moral relativism leaves young people particularly vulnerable to propaganda and manipulation
Ron Turley, Remembering Hilton Nye
A memoir about a friend whom my wife says was my soulmate
Meghan Boilard, Enter Hatman: Exploring the World of Benadryl-Induced Delirium
A little essay on the craziest drug sitting in most people's medicine closet
Coupedruler, Letterboxd Review of Barbie
After thinking about it for a day or so, I came to conclude that the gobbledygook feminism in this movie actually conveys a coherent, even elegant unpacking of where Barbie came from and what she means to women
BJ Campbell, Real Talk About Nicotine
A detailed look at the science behind nicotine, the government's misinformation campaign around it, and an estimate of how many people the government are killing per year by suppressing the truth
Micah, Toward a romantic decisiveness
A guide to becoming a more decisive, productive person without dulling your more romantic, grandiose impulses
Matt McFarlane, “The Waste Land” at 101
What was all the pomp and circumstance surrounding the 100th anniversary of T.S. Eliot's poem really about?
radicaledward, Where to Begin with Cormac McCarthy
A guide to readers interested in diving into the work of Cormac McCarthy
Trevor Jackson, The Unforgiven
The Supreme Court's decision to block student loan forgiveness is a reminder that the crimes of the rich are more readily forgiven than the debts of the poor
Alex Olshonsky, AI, or, Shifty Epistemics and Shaky Ontologies
A reflection on how AI fuels narcissism and the suss dudes behind the technology
The Delinquent Academic, The Responsibility of the Victim
A story of my struggle with Epilepsy, and the realisation I was hurting others because I wasn't taking responsibility for my condition
itsnotmyfault, The Thought I Shouldn't Say Aloud
Some musings about the more practical aspects of diversity in Elite
Josh Bloom, Zionism Died and No One Had a Funeral
Progressive and left-wing Jews need to better figure out how to make space for Zionists as we define a new vision for Jewish peoplehood beyond Zionism
Frederick R Prete, Can Females Rule the Hive?
Woke science isn't new. Several centuries ago, woke biologists of their time argued for monarchy, patriarchy, rigid gender roles, and the subjugation of women based on God's "perfect" society: the honey bee hive
Rebecca Eydeland, Everything I learned from a functional neurologist on how to rewire the brain
Here are 12 simple exercises I learned from going to the functional neurologist that can help anybody rebalance their nervous system and get out of fight or flight by rewiring their brain. Video demo by yours truly included
Heath Madom, On Matthew Desmond's, Poverty, By America
A review/critique of Matthew Desmond's book, Poverty, By America
Hadar Aviram, Israel Crisis Q&A for US Audiences
Information about the collapse of Israeli democracy for U.S. audiences, filing in gaps in foreign news reporting on Israel
Triangulation, The Myth of Trauma
I analyze the notion of trauma as a blank-slate analog of genes; a powerful tool our culture provides because it gives people meaning but also creates an alibi with the end result of a sense of entitlement
Yassine Meskhout, DJ at Law
An unemployed lawyer finds unexpected fulfillment as a disc jockey
Sarah N. & Emily K., Falconry
A collaborative translation of Rainer Maria Rilke's 1908 poem Falken-beize, with notes on language, history, Rilke's alleged lesbianism, and the ways in which translating a poem is like returning to the scene of a first date
Cathy Reisenwitz, Welcome to the neoliberal fold, AOC
If we want a better world we might get further, faster by supporting policies that have a chance of winning or a chance of working rather than shitting on each other for failing to support policies that have a snowball’s chance in hell of doing either
Christian Näthler, The Bread Artist Who Sent 1600 Sourdough Starters Around the World
During the pandemic’s first March, Lexie Smith posed a question to her roughly 40,000 Instagram followers: Who wants a sourdough starter? The response was shocking but not inexplicable
Joe Keysor, The truth shall set you free”? Whose truth? What truth? Your truth? My truth?
This piece examines conflicting approaches to truth, suggests some necessary principles for civilized co-existence, and highlights a known debater's failure to live up to those necessary principles
Jessica Nordell, "A White Teacher Asks His Former Students for Feedback"
Haunted by his years in the classroom, a former teacher at a "no excuses" charter school returns to Chicago to interview his students - and shelves both right and left ideology to uncover what students actually need
Wabi Sabi, The Third Arrow
If the first arrow is pain and the second is suffering, the third is how we respond to our suffering
ExMultitude, Was Robin Hood white?
Based on the theory of sociologist Stuart Hall, this article looks at how “antiracism,” in liberal and pessimist forms, reworks and maintains racial discourses
Michael Dean, Burn Down the Stage
Social media feels like a talent show because it emerged during the peak of American Idol
Click Repellent, #neverhutch: The Unprecedented Threat to Democracy Posed by Asa Hutchinson
With fascism on the rise in much of the world, we mustn't be so naive to think it could never happen here
Nicole Jones, Whose Name is Mine?
How personal desire complicates the choice of my new, married name
Jonathan Card, We Know Where the Partisanship Is Coming From
Hayek predicted our growth in modern partisanship in 1944 and we should take advantage of the understanding we have, if only we could get past the partisanship
Ethan D. Rodgers, The Heart Wants What It Shouldn't (The Laura Stone Files #4)
Detective Laura Stone looks into a home that's had every single thing stolen from it, leading her down an annoying and exhausting path.
Carina, Fast Car is not about lesbians
On the theory that Tracy Chapman's song is about a same-sex couple wishing to escape heteronormativity
Jonathan Kissam, Carry on, wayward son
A trip to the state capitol of my home state to see some art
Rfa, Why we care about the Titan tragedy
The Titan accident was a moment when the rules of order ceased, and we faced the unknown—upending our sense of security
Reed Schwartz, Barbie and The Se"Ken"ed Sex
Brief thoughts on the influence of Simone de Beauvoir on the Barbie movie and Ryan Gosling's career
CEBK, Why We Will Defund the Police & Abolish the Prisons
Twelve arguments that are each precisely five hundred words long, from a variety of perspectives
Education Realist, Larry Cuban: Understanding the Stability of American Schools
A book review and retrospective on one of the country's great education policy experts
Kristi Boyce, On physics: Gravity, vulnerability, and other strange phenomena
The emotional aftermath of my experience on the most recent season of Couples Therapy.
If you're wondering why I mangled your synopses, it's because this was the first one of these where the post grew too long for email and I had to work like hell to make it all fit.
"Cheating Isn't Empowering" was marvellous, subscribed immediately. The next time someone asks me why I don't call myself a feminist, I'm going to send them to that article.