My son’s essay about why he doesn’t want to be on a farm.
06.03.2026 14:32
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My son’s essay about why he doesn’t want to be on a farm.
Just an FYI that today's matches should be live on the website at the usual time but the bsky links might be an hour or two late; one of us is at AWP & one of us has a busy morning!
"...if I listen to something on a loop long enough, dig through the lyrics intelligently enough...I will be granted permission by myself to see myself. The searching itself could be enough. It never is." I gotta vote GOO!
cc @marchxness.bsky.social @googoodollsmusic.bsky.social
The @marchxness.bsky.social match of the day: great songs, great essays. I’m leaning “Dying” based on a slight preference for the song & the fact that @aesb.bsky.social’s essay on the experience & aesthetics of sadness is extremely my shit. This one could go either way so get those votes IN, y’all.
I unironically LOVE Wasted Time. & @meganc.bsky.social's essay perfectly articulates the "stark & hopeless & specific sadness" of this "heartfelt & odd & angry" classic.
Still time to READ the essay, marvel at Sebastian Bach's "HOLY SHIT level vocal performance," & VOTE SKID ROW!!
Calling all forces of twee-ness, aid me now, sad cute Scots are in need of your votes
MARCH SADNESS 90S EDITION DAY 5 SCORES, 3 hours to go:
Lauryn Hill 73, Belle & Sebastian 71
Des’ree 133, Goo Goo Dolls 110
Ben Folds Five 112, Skid Row 52
Lisa Loeb 94, Lee Ann Womack 43
Some close ones and surprises this AM. Go read, listen, and vote by 9am AZ time 3/6 at marchxness.com
Digging @amygcb.bsky.social’s illustrated boyfriend-book take on “Little Rock,” a really good song w/ the misfortune of going up against “Stay,” a lightning-in-a-bottle masterpiece. @grossman.bsky.social’s essay is very funny & sneakily moving. Get those votes in!
"There are sad songs for every nuance of romantic heartbreak, but there aren’t so many about the ways friendship can break your heart" @meganc.bsky.social bringing it hard in her @marchxness.bsky.social on Skid Row. Give her great essay a read (& a vote?):
marchxness.com#/1stround-fo...
Cicily’s @marchxness.bsky.social essay on “Brick” & telling misinterpretations is also not to be missed; it’s extremely good on how living w/ a song can be as illuminating as reading it closely. Check it out! Get those votes in!
Looking grim for Skid Row! But the song—which I didn’t know—is QUITE something, & @meganc.bsky.social’s @marchxness.bsky.social essay on hair metal & cultural shifts (& not-shifts) is fantastic; don’t miss it.
i suspect its something to do with the music i love that so often the only things i see in comments are just people saying "this is when music real!". But today I saw a comment on a deicide video redone as a disney song and one comment read "this makes me want to eat salad" so there are moments..
“NOW you can pivot from Disney kid to sexpot, from harmless reality TV himbo to fascist political monster, from porn star to first lady. You can pivot and pivot until Words no longer mean Things.” I am so into @meganc.bsky.social ’s @marchxness.bsky.social on Skid Row. marchxness.com
Reminder to all of you in Baltimore that our Xness meetup is at 5ish tomorrow at The Pink Flamingo (300 W 30th) just up the street from the Xness event with @splitlippress.com at 6:30 at Greedy Reads REMINGTON
MARCH SADNESS 90S EDITION DAY 5 HALFTIME(ISH) SCORES
Belle & Sebastian 51, Lauryn Hill 50
Des’ree 99, Goo Goo Dolls 79
Ben Folds Five 77, Skid Row 29
Lisa Loeb 65, Lee Ann Womack 27
Vote by 9am AZ time 3/6 at marchxness.com
It is also very cool to read @marchxness.bsky.social frequent flyer @moirajo.bsky.social on her evolving experience of doing this thing: “I have written for this tournament six times, and nearly every single essay has, on some level, been about my fear of actually knowing myself.” Good stuff!
I’ve often heard @kathleenmrooney.bsky.social describe YouTube comments as a great underacknowledged literary form & it’s cool to see Emily’s adroit use of them for @marchxness.bsky.social purposes.
Des’ree is racking up votes & may upset Goo in this @marchxness.bsky.social round! Both essays are great: don’t miss @moirajo.bsky.social’s astute queer reading of “Iris” OR Emily’s smart look at “Kissing” in & out of R+J.
“‘Too bad we’re both too old for him now,’ I text back.”
I love everything about. Emily Podwoiski’s @marchxness.bsky.social essay about Des’ree’s “Kissing You,” including this sick burn of Leonardo DiCaprio.
marchxness.com#/1stround-go...
Inexplicably, I'm not the only Xness competitor whose essay features my hometown, "the Jersey Shore of the Oregon Coast."
Emily Podwoiski's essay on Des'ree's "I'm Kissing You" examine's love's beauty & brutality, its ability to levitate us, & to break us apart
marchxness.com#/1stround-go...
I figured the timeline didn’t square with Bullock’s tenure. (& I think he died not long after he left office?) Nostalgic for Bill Hobby tbh!
THE PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THIS
Folks are always on about Bush v Gore, & rightly so, but the influence of Bob Bullock on human history is grossly understated.
Some tight games here, y’all!
“pulsing mephitic energy emanating from the words ‘lieutenant governor’”
God I love language & writers.
“Bridge” is a Big Sad, obvs, & I was unfamiliar with Mineral, but Brittney’s essay has me reassessing my @marchxness.bsky.social assumptions. Get those votes in!
Very different but nicely paired @marchxness.bsky.social essays here: killer exegesis from @abigailmyers.bsky.social & Geocities cred from @brianoliu.bsky.social. Great music writing in both! I’m leaning “Mark”—sadder!—but your mileage may vary!
Also, much appreciation for @mlfaliveno.bsky.social’s attention to the Hammerstein Ballroom performance of “Round Here,” which really is as Counting Crows as Counting Crows ever got. Good stuff! Sad!
Well, somebody had to draw “Round Here” in @marchxness.bsky.social Round 1. Really great writing in both essays! Don’t miss M. L.’s piece on performances both theatrical & social, or @mlfaliveno.bsky.social’s on sadness deeply situated in time & place. Fantastic sentences here.
And for @marchxness.bsky.social fans who didn’t grow up in Texas, it’s very difficult to explain the pulsing mephitic energy emanating from the words “lieutenant governor” in @htownjenny.bsky.social’s essay. It’s a whole thing down there, y’all.
“The most indelible art has something wrong with it, and the best pure-pop songs are logically incoherent” is a line of @kjmoulton.bsky.social’s that we’ll reference throughout @marchxness.bsky.social. But also “addiction never belongs to someone else. It remakes reality. It swallows the world.”