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...

FINAL SCORES DAY 1: Celine Dion 178, Silver Jews 83 Neutral Milk Hotel 164, Annie Lennox 61 Bush 158, Fiona Apple 77 Ani Difranco 153, Wallflowers 79 Congrats to the winners, and we salute the defeated. Shout out to Samuel Rafael Barber, @ronhogan.bsky.social, Drew Krewer, and Kimberly Nelson

Such a good essay about a song I liked at the time but that @thejasonthayer.bsky.social transforms into a bigger story about boyhood and sadness and society. Also, fuck that gym teacher. @marchxness.bsky.social

A great @marchxness.bsky.social pairing: both essays note a correlation between sadness and, um, coercive doctrinaire religiosity. Lots of good stuff here—I'm esp digging @thejasonthayer.bsky.social's "a song about instability, clearly written by a stable person" & Drew's use of Amos' "Mr. Zebra."

Bush was the baby thrown out with the post-grunge bathwater. Mid-late 90s alternative wasn't all bad! This was my favorite song of theirs as a kid, and Jason Thayer does it justice. "Gavin Rossdale’s moan is smooth pea gravel spread across the playground" marchxness.com#/1stround-bu...

only a few essays in and have already cried about 5 times…hell yeah

Don’t let the days go by without reading my @marchxness.bsky.social essay on life as a ‘90s sad boy, aching to be beautiful and charismatic Gavin Rossdale, crooning “Glycerine” shirtless in the rain as a sea of sweaty MTV Spring Breakers sing along to yr heartbreak. marchxness.com#/1stround-bu...

Oh. My. God. With the last pull.

Offering a 2027 Top 3 Protected @marchxness.bsky.social pick, a 2028 pick swap, and an unprotected 2029 pick for a 2026 March Sadness pick.

Just, basically, refreshing the @marchxness.bsky.social feed for the rest of the day.

"An eel-man follows me out of the sushi restaurant asking where I am delivering the oversized platter of unakyu rolls..." The holy trinity of betrayal, spite & shame bubble beneath slabs of unagi in @clinforth.bsky.social breathless & surreal breakup story. www.completesentencelit.com/post/eelfare