“That placing trust in a word like border had been a mistake, a trap. A slow unraveling of terms unrecognized until too late.” – Jeff VanderMeer, ‘Authority’ Learning never stops. […]
Friday Links: Lemme See The Weirdest Fishes Edition
“At night, mother smudges our foreheads with ginger and steam. Her song is a braid of witches who lift windows with a single, crooked finger to slip inside and feed.” […]
Albums I Should Have Listened To Already: ‘Let’s Get It On’ by Marvin Gaye
“I’ve been really trying” – Marvin Gaye, “Let’s Get It On” It’s just so easy to think you’ve got the gist of something. You see a few movies with a […]
Friday Links: Who Even Are You Edition
“I wouldn’t use the cliché that I was the captain of a sinking ship, that implying some kind of authority, but rather I was a diesel mechanic on a steamship, […]
I Have A Book Coming Out (Plus A Baby)
“You don’t have to read everyone’s book” – New York Magazine, discussing etiquette in the time of COVID It’s been announced on social media, it’s been announced in the River […]
Friday Links: Something Happening In Mississippi Edition
“They were like zebras, he thought—not one had stripes just like any other, but who could tell one zebra from another? He found it depressing, not that lynching could be […]
Clip Show Q3 2026
“It turns out that soil is teeming with life.” – Ashley Dawson, ‘Environmentalism From Below’ Sure I’m spoiling this Friday and next Friday’s books, but it’s okay! We read for […]
Friday Links: Wanna Get Lit And Make A Golem Outta Stolen Clay? Edition
“This is no slur upon his character. For every rabbi so magnificently pious or learned or original in his theory or prodigious in his writing that he he is remembered […]
20 Chicago Things I’ve Learned In 20 Years As A Chicagoan
“This might sound like I believe there is some vast conspiracy at work, which I don’t, but the situation we find ourselves in is effectively the same as if there […]
Friday Links: Every Book Title Could Be This Week’s Title Edition
“Everyone spoke underwater; I could only / hold my breath to listen for so long. / I did learn the water carries its own song.” – Michelle Peñaloza, “POST DIASPORA” […]