Subscriber Writing, June 2024

Hello friends! Here’s our bimonthly roundup of writing by paid subscribers to this newsletter. Please click around and find something that you like. People work hard on this stuff, and every time there’s a lot of gems. Guys, I can’t take late submissions! If you’d like your own work featured here, cross my hand with $5 a month/$50 a year, which if you’re unaware is the same price it’s been for more than three years and Substack’s minimum fee. In the spirit of this exercise, I’m also going to take this opportunity to share my piece in New York magazine from yesterday, “The Case for Forcing the Mentally Ill Into Treatment.” Check it out. And now on with the show - this edition significantly exceeded Gmail’s length limit, so please click through to the website to read the rest!

Luke T. Harrington, I was a girly boy

Some highly personal thoughts on the Cass Report.

Yazmin Siddique, Content Marketing

The comparison between local methods of advertisement and modern metbods of advertisement.

Meghan Bell, The Lost Girls and Boys

Children are growing up too quickly, and then not growing up at all.

Britta Slade, Trad Widow -

A trad wife influencer experiences a personal and professional identity crisis after her husband is killed in the comedic murder mystery "Trad Widow".

Hal Johnson, The first occurrences of various events…

When was the first recorded wedgie in history? The first case of swapping urine to defeat a drug test? All those firsts legitimate history has forgotten, revealed!

Peter James, Can You Maintain Self Esteem While Pursuing Self Improvement?

How can you be happy with where you are if it’s not where you want to be?

Gamourtian, Title, Headline, Eater of Meaning

Title, Headline, Enantiodromia. Title, Headline, Eater of Stars. What is meaning anyway? What is the sum of nebulaic sound?

Exmultitude, The Blind Earthworm in the Labyrinth (Review)

A review of Thai novelist Veeraporn Nitiprapha's dreamy family saga set in 80s and 90s Thailand interspersed with reflections on the shifting tides of the Bangkok bookshop scene.

Nigel Bowen, All things must pass, including my beloved industry. And maybe yours, too

Advice to the soon-to-be-disrupted from a disrupted print journalist

Brian Howard, That Time We Buried Two Bodies in the Woods

How someone who grew up in the city handles country problems

Madeleine Dore, The repetition of things

A month-long experiment making loops of the same park and asking: if you are what you repeatedly do, can changing the things I repeat change me?

Russ Mann, Who's Got a Knife? An opinion piece on pocket knives

When did pocket knives become demonized?

Piers Eccleston, The Love Gap

Inviting men and women to see each other with greater generosity and understanding

Christian Näthler, Why Do I Care About What's Happening on the Other Side of the World?

My “special responsibility” as a German citizen in the face of Israel's genocidal campaign in Palestine.

Integrity Talk, I Will Probably Never Date Taylor Swift

A reflection on uncertainty and love.

Colin Sweeney, Eclipse Country

A search for cosmic meaning in the two recent solar eclipses to cross North America.

Amod Sandhya Lele, Embrace culture, not race

African-Americans can and should have pride in their heritage without relying on race.

Peter Hillson & Mark Winfield, Understanding the political durability of Doug
Ford’s market populism

A political economic and discourse analysis of Ontario's ruling Progressive Conservative Party.

Tamar Adler, aka The Kitchen Shrink

A culinary advice column with an existential bent

John McMillian, A Black Conservative Reflects on His Past, Shocking Behavior and All

Complimentary review of Glenn Loury's “Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative”

Willie Davis, I Can Outdance Jesus

A short story collection about hysteria and songwriting in the Appalachian Mountains

Spencer Brooks, Salmon and Potato Chips

Sour Cream and Onion potato chips, preferably. This recipe comes together in minutes and I assure you it's more elegant than you're imagining right now.

Jarrod Baniqued, The Flaws of the Inflation Reduction Act

A basic essay on the IRA’s shortfalls re: direct spending and asset management, unionizing, and aid to the Global South

Triangulation, Two Notions of Ideology

If we think of “ideology” as a set of principles that governs people’s actions, then we are forced to conclude that either most people are not “ideological,” or that we operate with a wrong notion of “ideology”. Ideology, properly understood, is more like a narrative that follows actions, rather than a set of principles that precede them.

Luke Allen, Last of a Dying Breed

On the retirement of a beloved pastor and the gradual loss of a generation of leaders

Nicky Shapiro, Age is a Waterfall

Examining our obsession with age

Mari the Happy Wanderer, My Most Controversial Opinion

Trevor Noah, a rigorous water-safety course from my Minnesota childhood, some Czech declension charts, and a swank party to celebrate Taiwan National Day all help me to argue that we should not require American high school and college students to take foreign language classes.

Joe Mayall, Israel Does Not Have A Right To Exist

A refutation of the common Zionist argument.

David Roberts, She Was Popular, I Was A Nerd: My Improbable High School Romance

My first and only high school romance and how inept I was as a boyfriend

Rob Hutton, The Many Lives of Billy Milligan

A look at the many ways serial rapist and alleged multiple personality Billy Milligan's story has been told over the past four decades.

Sara Eckel, How to Become A Writer

On rejecting the ordinary and striving for specialness when you're a B+ kid.

Thomas Reilly, Psychedelics will not solve the mental health crisis

Stop pretending psychedelics will help people living with severe mental illness

Renee DiResta, Invisible Rulers

A book about influence, influencers, and the splintering of reality

Graham Cunningham, “Take Me to Your Experts”

How would the 21st c. West be had the Woke Road not been taken? I see something a bit like The Waltons!

Iain Carlos, Before the clearing: Inside the University of Chicago encampment

An inside look into University of Chicago students’ pro-Palestine encampment before it was shuttered last month.

William Schwartz, Superiority Complex\

A review of the new season of The Boys with a focus on the futility of messaging.

Dirk von der Horst, Jonathan's Loves, David's Laments

Uses music to expand queer interpretations of the biblical story of David and Jonathan

Mustard Clementine, Quality of Life Is the Core of Truly Sustainable Living

How extending urbanity beyond city limits can build a sustainable future for all

Liz Moyer Benferhat, Is the world better off than I think?

An essay series making sense of the world’s pain. Playing with narratives of progress and collapse to see what fits.

Thomas Parker, A Reckless and Unwarranted Speculation on the Origin of a Great Science Fiction Story

One of the bleakest science fiction stories ever written had its origin in an episode of one of the most upbeat television series ever aired. I think.

Jonathan Kissam, One foot in front of the other

An essay about running, hiking, content, works, and the differences between them.

Erica Etelson and Anthony Flaccavento, It's Not Too Late to Win Back Rural Voters

Rural America is working class country, and kitchen table populism is the way in.

Garrett Kamps, A Q&A About Death & God

Writer and Editor Tommy Craggs answers questions about faith, death, and related matters.

Christopher J Feola, Why AIs dream of gluing cheese to your pizza

Google uses Reddit for AI training; Meta trains LLaMA on Facebook and Instagram data. So why is anyone surprised when an LLM trains by straining sarcasm, meme lord postings and conspiracy theories for patterns, it then “hallucinates” answers comprised of sarcasm, memes and conspiracy theories?

Miriam Hyun, The champagne glass

What I found after looking into PTSD.

Geoff Rodkey, Tom Petty and the Heartbreak of Nostalgia

A modest proposal for recapturing your lost youth without having to spend 400 bucks on a concert ticket

Jerry Landry, The Cat Aunt

Beset with debilitating cat allergies, a North Carolina woman fights for her right to feline companionship.

Jimmy Nicholls, The Dora Gaitskell Rule is exactly wrong

It doesn’t matter if the wrong people are cheering.

Thomas Barrie, Taylor Swift should star in a fantasy movie

An argument in favour of a sideways career move for the world’s most famous person

Kody Cava, Liberal Politics is Just a Football Game

An examination of the lack of substance in modern liberal politics through the lens of a small southern Oregon community.

James Wang, Most AI Startups are Doomed

A rant about why AI startups big and small are already dead but don’t know it, and what might actually stick around.

Eva Sylwester, Weekend Entertainment Guide 5/17/24

Astrology and Clif High's web bots agree that dramatic energy seems to be gathering around July 15, 2024 — the day the Republican National Convention begins. Nikki Haley is potentially positioned to benefit.

Argo, You Own Nothing and Might Be Happy

I dig into the origins of the "You will own nothing and be happy" meme and find out that it's somehow even worse than we thought.

Naomi Kanakia, How To Simulate Literature

The book Black writers love to hate, Richard Wright's NATIVE SON, is actually really good,

Dana Van Ostrand, You Should Only Complain If You Lose

Action as a pre-requisite for complaining.

Danny Wardle, Socialism Sorites

I explore the fuzzy boundaries between capitalism and socialism. I argue that the capitalism-socialism distinction runs into the Sorites Paradox and discuss how we can make sense of that.

Valentina Petrova, Life Intelligence

Down-to-earth psychology for people who think deeply about life and relationships and want to live more, do more, love more, and matter!

Andrew Zaleski, This Feather Could Save Your Life

Meet the elite team of avian detectives who identify the remains of birds that collide with airplanes.

Mark Braund, Wealth Creation and Economic Stability

Keir Starmer's aims are admirable, but he won't succeed in kick starting the process of wealth creation without reflecting more deeply on the reasons behind the UK's economic stagnation.

R.B. Griggs, Life is Special Enough

We don't need a “secret sauce" argument to forever set us apart from advanced technology. Life is special is enough.

Silver Rose, A Moderate's Case for Veganism

I detail some of the conditions endemic to modern animal agriculture and argue that they are driven by perverse incentives. I also address the potential of lab grown meat and argue against attempts to ban it.

Mike Gioia, AI Scams & Shams

A look at how AI enables people to scale low integrity ventures fast and with minimal help.

Shelby Kearns, A Partnership in Eldercare

An essay on men and women forming a united front to thwart anti-human responses to the eldercare crisis

T Scott, Boutch’s Harmonica

He said, “Don't ever stop playing music.” Then he was gone.

Samantha Hedges, Developing a Literary Canon for Children

An argument for curating a library for children and how to go about doing so.

Brian Graham, Mario World

Luigi discusses with his brother Mario the nature of their world.

CrabbyGirl, Beyond Magenta: Transgender and Nonbinary Teens Speak Out, by Susan Kuklin

Another opinionated book review. I read it, so you don't have to! (Pride Edition)

Michelle Federico, The End of History at the End of Modernism

Looking into the “end of history” as a symptom of political defeats and societal disillusionment, my post advocates for a promethean understanding of ourselves as historical agents that are capable of shaping a future that centers human flourishing.

Benjamin J. Smith, Ceci n'est pas un Proust

Notes on reading in time.

Patrizia DiLucchio, Odi et Amo It Is, Then

A poem haunts Gore Vidal.

Thaddeus Haas, Cookies, Cakes, and Ice Cream...A Hill Worth Dying On

No one on their death bed has ever said, "I wish I hadn't eaten that cookie." You know why? Because desserts are worth dying for.

David Berreby, Yes, Humans Will Have Robot Dogs

Not just because tech will get better at imitating nature, but because the definition of 'natural' will change

Education Realist, Filling in Blanks Left by Freddie and Matt -

A Marxist, a neoliberal, and a Trump voter walk into a bar...no, wait. Even stranger: They agree that US education does a pretty good job.

Tony, Not Literally You

The rise of “literally me” over-identification with fictional characters represents a worrying preference for narcissistic wish-fulfillment over genuine empathy for others.

Matt Diamond, The Look On Their Faces

A brief meditation on disenchantment and wonder in Christopher Nolan's The Prestige

The Ivy Exile, Heterodox and Loving It

Reporting from Chicago on the bustling Heterodox Academy Conference 2024 and the true prospects of salvaging higher education

Ethan Pack, The Humanism of Israel and Palestine

Reflections on Teaching about the Middle East... the view from campus.

A.J. Fezza, The Mid Midwest

An examination of the character and interminably flat landscape of the Midwest, from an East Coast visitor

Ryan Self, People are shocked by these publishing stats (but shouldn't be)

A wide disparity in book sales shouldn't be a bombshell if you think of writing books as a creative endeavor.

Christopher Pearce, What Does the Voight-Kampff Test Even Do, Anyways?

The Voight-Kampff test in Blade Runner clearly isn't measuring empathy - so what's it actually doing instead?

Michelle Corbesier, Jack Parsons

The explosive tale of a puer supreme as envisioned by the stars

James Sarsgard, Raised on a Fallen Cedar

A story of loss and grief mediated by the regenerative power of trees

Jonathan Waller - Dreaming the Life: Reawakening to the Tactile Universe

An archetypal inquiry into our relationship with the troubling complexities of the digital world

Robert Anderson, The Broken Bridge and the Dream

A surrealist take on American disillusionment, this piece tugs on the symbolic and astrological threads that connect Salvador Dali to the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

Abdul Abid, Navigating Masculinity in Pakistan

How two recent films shed light on differing aspects of Pakistani masculinity

Sean Smith, Steel Would Rather Be Rust

A dad stares into an abyss of football, a son stares into an abyss of anonymity, a cousin stares into an abyss of fame. Life is a pack of hot dog BUNS kid.

Burke Bindbeutel, Four Hundred Years of New Amsterdam

NYC's Dutch origins are only sort of recognizable

B.P.S., I Used to Believe in STEM

A case against STEM boosterism.

Mr. Present Punk, The Death of the Search Engine Is Not Progress

As the Google Search we know declines, the next era of searching for information looks to be regressive, not innovative.

Anuradha Pandey - Taking Back the Democratic Party

A meditation on the lesser-appreciated aspects of race and gender politics and arguments to help you defeat the illogical leftists you meet.

Anuradha Pandey, Taking Back the Democratic Party from the bullies

A meditation on the lesser appreciated aspects of the race and gender politics of the party and some arguments to help you fight back against the illogic.

Jon Busch, Who Wrecked Christianity?

A short defense of Jesus' good teachings against bad actors who claim to represent him.