Subscriber Writing, November 2023

Here’s a set of links to subscriber writing for the month of November 2023. It’s not Thursday! Sorry. But here it is, writing by people who subscribe to this newsletter. Please check out their work and let them know if you like what you read. Guys, I can’t take late submissions! When putting this post together I filter by the email address that I asked you to submit to, so if you sent your email to my other address, I didn’t see it. Also, I asked that you not submit by replying to the email with the call, but because I am a benevolent leader I have rescued those links anyway. As always, people who used the required format are the real MVPs. Please pick around here and find something you might like. People work hard on this stuff.

Every time, I miss somebody in the process of copy-and-pasting. I apologize in advance and will move your submission to the top of the list next time if you email me to let me know.

Thomas Reilly, The powerful and the damned

Administering ketamine to unconscious patients didn’t cure their depression...but was it a drug failure, or study failure?

Mark Newheiser, Detective Manse and the Paperclip Maximizer

A genre-bending short story across time and space, featuring a rogue AI trying to turn the world into Paperclips.

Mari, the Happy Wanderer, The Replication Crisis Claims Another Victim: How to Think about the Growth Mindset

Meta-analyses have demonstrated that we can't improve student performance by teaching the growth mindset; this post offers several ideas for what to do instead, as well as a Michael Jordan commercial, a Handel aria, and a photo of a cow parade.

Spencer Brooks, Whipped Lardo and Bread

A case for eating more pork fat, plus a recipe that brings it to new heights. 

Philippe Boutros, Today We Die A Little

A race recap: 100-ish miles through the mountains of central Idaho, in my first running of the IMTUF 100.

Luke T. Harrington, Yes, “Go woke, go broke” is a real thing, sort of

“Woke” movies are dying off for the same reason “Christian” movies died off: moral certitude makes for really boring stories.

Vesna Manojlovic, AI is Ecocode

A short article about ecocidal impact that Artificial Intelligence

Nigel Bernard, Brunch in July

This is my first, humble attempt at fiction writing -- urban millennial gay angst and all that portends.  

David Gottlieb, Review of Dina Nayeri’s Who Gets Believed?

A book about the experience of an Iranian immigrant's perspective on authenticity and authority in the West, and her struggle to trust and believe in others.

Benjamin J. Smith, Deckard in Juárez

Toward a unified theory of Roberto Bolaño and Philip K. Dick, two writers with an interest in the malleability of reality.

Jimmy Nicholls, Luxury foreignness

Only some people get to claim foreign heritage without downsides

T Scott, Foxes

Hanging with the spirit animals in a Frank Lloyd Wright house

Thaddeus Haas, And Then I Grew Up: The Real Power of "Not Caring"

Frustrated by the "toddleresque" quality of interaction in society, I suggest we all "grow up" a bit and explain what such a thing could look like. 

Damian Penny, Is "resistance" bound by any rules at all?

A response to, and question for, academics who insist all Israelis or “settlers” are combatants by nature.

Paul Bali, rabbits

An autofictional Apocalypse, with rhymes & pics.

Alex Olshonsky, Hamas Killed My Wokeness

I’ve found a home on the progressive left for years, even after I noticed a common blind spot around Jewish issues—but the reaction to the murderous attacks on Israeli civilians was the final straw. 

Graham Cunningham, The Less Desired

The men and women that the Unfairness/Victimhood Industry forgets.

Barrett Hathcock, Author Profiles are Bunk

In which I annotate the recent New York Times profile of novelist Lauren Groff

Hal Johnson, Notes towards an Understanding of Daniel Clowes’s Monica

An attempt at a thorough analysis of Clowes's new comic book masterpiece. 

Ana Siljak, The Golden Calf

On artificial intelligence, and how Ludwig Feuerbach and Karl Marx help us to see the dehumanization of making God in our own image.

Anneke van Ammelrooy, Don’t be just cynical

German philosopher Peter Sloterwijk on why being cynical is not good enough and why you should avoid problem-junkies

Amod Lele, Of races and other castes

Caste in India functions comparably to race in the US, so understanding caste can help us understand race. 

Gabriel Kokoszka, I Can't Stop Thinking About Domesticated Foxes

I offer you an assurance that life isn't just the same dull thing, forever.

Adam Nathan, Even the Vile

On providing a filament of hope for the men and women in the horror of long-term solitary confinement.

Polymathic Being - The Genius Myth

Exploring the myth of genius to discover where true innovation comes from.

Matt Lutz, Book Review: Going Infinite

Michael Lewis writes a hagiography for a psychopath

Mazin Saleem, Yeah Cheers for London Fields

On what makes a funny novel funny, and why the late Martin Amis wrote one of the best

Josh off the Press, Josh off the Press - “About Page”

plus my brief takes on the November 2023 Election

Brian Howard, Wacky Races European Edition - Driving in Greece

If you believe in things like the rule of law and the sanctity of human life, for the love of God don't drive in Greece.

John McMillian, Selective Retelling

Review of Vigilante, Leon Neyfakh's podcast on the subway shooter Bernhard Goetz. 

Chris Jesu Lee, Literary Cooties

Too many cool girls in literature, not enough cool boys

Katerina Grishakova, the Hermit

A riveting debut novel about the slow unraveling of an aging finance bro—a successful New York bond trader and man about town—who grows disenchanted with his daily hustle and is forced to confront the nameless discontent that haunts the Masters of the Universe

Todd Pierce, Confessions of a Flack

What happens backstage at the embassy, from an ex-press attaché

Peter Robbins, “Getting Zeb Vance’s Context Just Right”

A letter to the editor discussing the futility of liberal attempts to  “contextualize” monuments honoring racists in the Southern past.

Erica Etelson, Why I'm no longer woke: A left critique of social justice orthodoxies

When I realized that living and working in Wokelandia made me miserable and contradicted my political and ethical values, I left it.

R.B. Griggs Our Coordination Paradox

Everyone agrees we must get better at coordination, so why aren't we doing anything about it? From Tech For Life, a substack about getting better at technology.

Thomas Parker, The Sorcerer and the Novelist: W. Somerset Maugham’s The Magician

Fictional versions of the notorious satanist and self-proclaimed prophet Aleister Crowley abound, but one of the most interesting can be found in W. Somerset Maugham's 1907 novel, The Magician.

Strange Earth Dispatches, Saeculum, or: The Sun Can’t Shine Everyday

Etruscans and really old trees connecting our puny lives to a larger context and the sense of wonder induced.

Christopher J Feola, Innocents afloat on the USS Kayfaybe; How the Establishment coopts and neuters grassroots movements

Freddie deBoer is an excellent writer, a fascinating thinker, and an avowed Marxist. He’s also an innocent. In his new book, “How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement,” he writes “As a radical anti-capitalist, I’m used to losing; my political movement has done little else but lose for my entire lifetime.”

Jenny Poyer Ackerman, Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria and its Discontents

An essay describing the newest and fastest growing transgender cohort; and what it means to a family living with ROGD

Nigel Bowen, The Redheaded weirdo, his regal acquaintance, a couple of ex-PMs and the Bad Orange Man

What went down when an Australian plutocrat made a man like Donald Trump look ridiculous

J.D. Haltigan, The Abolition of Mental Health Stigma: Unbridled Individual Mental Illness Destigmatization as Cultural Normalization

An essay outlining how utopian anti-psychiatry ideology drives individual suffering, civic degradation, & social anomie.

Skyler Schain, Egghead Manifesto 

A response to Marc Andreessen's bizarre, vapid "techno-optimist" manifest from the perspective of a tech worker.

Samantha Hedges, Kids Need to Witness How to Build a Life

Achieving financial stability before having kids has its drawbacks: the kids miss out on witnessing first-hand what it looks like to craft the thriving life you seem to effortlessly provide.

Luke Allen, Disappearing Neighborhoods

A reflection on the differing ways our communities are torn from us and the similar ways we react

The Memory Hole, Obscuring the Phoenix

An exploration of an infamous CIA program from the perspective of those on the ground and those in power.

Joe Steakley, As the Tender Grass Springing out of the Earth by Clear Shining after Rain

In my project to read and comment upon the 850-odd works and authors of the Western canon as enumerated by Harold Bloom, I discuss King David's detached, almost relativistic morality, and Bible's first hints of a dualistic soteriology, in the the Second Book of Samuel otherwise called, The Second Book of the Kings chapters 15-24.

The bffclub by e.n. loizis, Sparrow

A personal essay on failing as a mother

Stan Hister, Pretty pictures are bad for your eyes

A critical look at photography on Instagram.

Christian Naethler, What you're feeling is Weltschmerz

Have you felt it recently? That sensation of despair mixed with cynicism and powerlessness coursing through you? That’s Weltschmerz. 

The Ivy Exile, Show Business (Uptown Broadway)

Columbia Journalism School in crisis! The famed home of the Pulitzer Prizes turns to Hollywood in a desperate attempt to make up for financial shortfalls.

Grow Some Labia, How To Stop Being An Asshole, From An Expert

Step One: Get over yourself.

R. W. Richey, The 10 Books I Finished in October (Including Freddie's)

Reviews of the books I finished in October, which includes a comparison of Hanania's Origins of Woke, with deBoer's How Elites Ate...

Socratic Psychiatrist, Improving Inpatient Psychiatry: A Rant in Twelve Suggestions

Some proposals for making psychiatric hospitalization more effective and humane.

Daniel Kraft, On Exhibitions: Essays on Art and Atrocity

For the online journal On the Seawall, I reviewed poet Jehanne Dubrow's collection Exhibitions: Essays on Art and Atrocity.

A.J. Fezza, The Birth of Dream Pop Out of the Spirit of Music

An artistic defense of the musical genre "dream pop" (particularly the bands Beach House and Cigarettes After Sex), and an analysis of its relevance in the TikTok era

Stella Tsantekidou (The Human Carbohydrate), You Are Probably Not Obama

Most people can risk more exposure, more experimentation and more humiliation than they think.

Kody Cava, Dessa Has A New Album Out. Let's Review It.

A review of the indie hip-hop artist's new album, Bury The Lede, and how it fits into her whole body of work.

CrabbyGirl, Generations: The Real Differences Between GenZ, Millennials, GenX, Boomers and Silents - and What They Mean for America's Future by Jean Twenge

Skip the graphs and get a quick & dirty summation here. Plus bonus prediction.

Rick Powell, Me, Mom, and the UFO

The truth is out there, but I can't remember where I put it.

Sam Carlen and Iain Carlos, Leader at Anti-Iranian-Regime Media Outlet has U.S. Government Ties

An investigative news article revealing the U.S. ties of Iran International's general manager

Dia Becker, Slipping on God's Banana Peel

A lighthearted exploration of finding god in our most embarrassing moments.

The Expiration Date, A home for grief

The millionth piece about Palestine, but from an Australian Jew.

Alex Small, A potential CSU faculty strike for better pay reflects profound job dissatisfaction

I'm willing to go on strike because my university is completely dysfunctional and we need to tell the administration that enough is enough

Daniel Kraft, On Exhibitions: Essays on Art and Atrocity

For the online journal On the Seawall, I reviewed poet Jehanne Dubrow's collection Exhibitions: Essays on Art and Atrocity.

Thaddeus Squire, Our Crisis of Stewardship - Notes on Possession, Care, and Control

A post on the difference between ownership and stewardship and how the former has infected thinking and practice in the nonprofit sector, to the detriment of public good.