i know we're all busy but i just overheard a plumber say "parlez-vous français ? non ? you motherfuckers don't even speak french, do you" to a pair of french bulldogs
Oh man—I already loved these books and now 10x.
all this is both foolish and unnecessary
What if none of these things is a distraction from the other things and instead they're all just horrible things
Personally I just really love reading.
But I also adore libraries so go to your library this new year. They have all the books, you can request books and they nearly all have a online service for e books these days. #Libraries2026
2025 Year in Review!
-falcon hearing worse than ever
-center losing 50 to 100% of holding capacity
-blood-dimmed tide containment failure
-the Worst with record high passionate intensity
Total monopoly.
Amazon really does deliver anything.
God bless this NYRB writer who describes the Smiths as “walk[ing] on the Wilde side.”
Twitter accounts are based in Russia. BlueSky accounts are based in homes with, frankly, too many books, plants, obsolete cables, and pieces of rustic pottery, that could do with a bit of a tidying up, to be honest.
"The Grift Bubble: A Political Theory of American Collapse"
"Those who work against the grifters... may be acting from love, or from law, because they know that these things are real. And so they should also know, in acting thus, that they are the patriots."
snyder.substack.com/p/the-grift-...
There goes 90+ day credit-card delinquencies. New cycle high.
(via Kev Gordon)
“For anyone out there struggling to write because you’re distracted, or tired, or sick, or scared—I’ve been there. Take care of yourself and your communities…. your book will be there when you get back.”
Thx to @nickcav.bsky.social for the wise advice
newsletter.manuscriptworks.com/posts/a-book...
those of you who are afraid of aging, please understand that one of the huge blessings of middle age is arriving at this exact station
The cultural conditions to revive this moment were there in 1996 but history had other plans.
Glad to know that checking the app would have in no way improved my similar experience.
Either universities are private businesses that get to set their own priorities or they’re public goods that are obligated to serve everyone. You can’t have it both ways.
History as tragedyfarce? Farcetragedy?
There are wonderful people in local government.
City gov Mt Vernon, OH after raid today: “The City remains steadfast in its commitment to supporting our citizens, upholding the rule of law, and, above all else, defending the Constitution of the United States and the principle of due process for all individuals.” www.cleveland.com/nation/2025/...
In reading both *Banal Nightmare* and *Jillian*, I was badly tempted to put each down, because the opening chapters are rough on the reader. But the claustrophobic feel of the early stuff makes the late-chapter brightness feel like a joyous revelation.
Writing is stunning too.
I really love Halle Butler’s books. She leads us into depression’s dark, self-violent, isolation, then signals a near-imperceptible shift, one conversation that cracks open the cell, leads the soul into a community where it can thrive.
All is not lost, tomorrow you wake up and probably get to eat oats. Perhaps an egg. The possibilities are endless.
“The challenge Arendt poses to us is to think of truth and meaning not from the perspective of the economist, financial analyst, data scientist, or sociologist, but of the historian, the kind who sees human events as a series of breaks, anomalies, & initiations”
www.nplusonemag.com/issue-51/pol...
“whatever rate limits may be in place appear to, at times, get completely ignored, and there doesn’t seem to be anything they can do to stop it.”
www.wheresyoured.at/the-case-aga...
Incredible. Apparently AI companies cannot control how much compute users burn (and thus how much users cost the companies).
“even the model developers have no real way of limiting user activity, likely due to the architecture of generative AI”
Book contract language for Brian Glavey's Relatability: Sharing and Oversharing with the New York School Poets
I'm over the moon that my book, Relatability: Sharing and Oversharing with the New York School Poets, will be published by the University of Chicago Press in the not too distant future.
Reminder that September is National library card month, so you should totally go get a library card! Yes, they have books, but many also have dvds, cds, video games, game systems, hot spots, streaming services, ebooks, audio books, park passes, museum passes, and more! Maybe it's time for a visit!
I appreciate and understand zero-tolerance re: generative AI in the classroom. I'm also disallowing it; we'll spend a lot of class time with pen and paper. But I like the ethic here to be positive: students deserve and should cultivate space to think away from the machines.
yalereview.org/article/cale...
