ordering iced coffee at a new café is always a dice roll, i.e. is it just hot coffee they put in the fridge or hopsital

love it when little pink petals waft lazily down from flowering trees. I get why that’s in every anime intro ever

ChatGPT can pry the em dash from my cold, dead hands

Perfect for playing Aaron Copland's El Scallión Mexico

For years conservatives and some liberals complained incessantly about ‘cancel culture’ and the lack of ‘free speech’ on campuses. None of that stuff comes even close to what the right is now doing in power, in terms of the open bullying and pressuring of colleges and censoring of curricula.

sleepy morning bub

I hate generative AI for lots of reasons, and one of those reasons is that it makes me have a veneer of distrust on every image I see, every new piece of music I hear

[Waiting for the host to start meeting.] The host:

in all seriousness: one of the most important philosophical questions of our time

the redbuds are blooming around here, and that always makes me really, really happy 🌸

wheeler's coney island, drive-in, route 10, deposit, new york, 1987

being an indie bookseller in the helltimes has felt both very stable and very stabilizing, and part of me wishes everyone could be on my side of the counter for a little while, because I think it would help some of you be a little less cynical and doomy right now. so here is my VERY anecdotal data:

everything about the current political environment has such a severe midlife crisis energy to it

I’m partnering with PLOMAX for their 30-day PLOMAX challenge. Episode sponsored by KLASTR, America’s #1 military-industrial sports betting app. Link in bio for a 30-day free trial of BYOFØRK, an AI-powered meal replacement service. Comment “HONCH” below to be entered to win a year’s supply of HONCH.

2020: attacks on “BLM” 2022: attacks on “CRT” 2024: attacks on “woke” 2025: attacks on “DEI” BLACK. THEY MEAN BLACK.

BREAKING: In response to our lawsuit, the National Endowment for the Arts will no longer force grant applicants to certify that they won't promote "gender ideology." This is a big step toward defeating the NEA's unconstitutional censorship.

a bassoon twelve-tet named Roomful of Geese

it'll do motel office, jonesborough, tennessee, 1987

now is not the time for art or theater to back down now is the standard time to have art that is a “scathing allegory” of something

I genuinely do not understand why it would be difficult for anyone to stop using Amazon I keep seeing well-meaning people posting things like “it’s okay if you cut back even a little bit!” like, what absolute necessities are folks getting from Amazon that they absolutely can’t get elsewhere?

ME: I don’t know how anyone is getting sucked into these conspiracy theories ALSO ME: I mean listen I don’t like, 𝟏𝟎𝟎% trust microwaves

a while ago on Twitter, there was a thread that was like “what isn’t racist but feels racist” my answer then was barn stars my answer now is barn stars and mass-produced highland cow wall art

snow day buddy

trying to be on social media way less, which means that my brain latches onto opening any other app which means that I sometimes am just sitting on the toilet opening my bank app (which is just as depressing as opening social media, honestly)

does anyone remember Pomplamoose getting into hot water for scamming their fans into helping recoup your costs that were fabricated? I remember as clear as day, but I cannot for the life of me find any digital trace of it

A federal judge has blocked Elon Musk’s DOGE from accessing sensitive US Treasury Department material

I recently got a new metronome that uses a big dial instead of buttons to change tempi and it’s so satisfying because every time I turn the dial up one notch faster I feel like the person turning up the heat on the frog in boiling water (the frog in the situation is also me)

if we go full-tilt third r**ch, it will be not only horrifying, but embarrassing Germans got duped into fascism after decades of severe economic hardship we will have been swayed into fascism by [checks notes] having one (1) Black president and trying to maybe give everyone opportunities

Just realised that "Gene Hackman" is the exact name that Hideo Kojima would give a biochemist

if we’re landing in the neo-Medieval warring nation states version of the future, can I at least be the court composer for some pissy little Baron or Duchess or whatever

from last week’s workshop of Phenomenal Cage (new opera!) at Vanderbilt — can’t wait to get this bad boy up on its feet officially ♥️

paul bunyan statue, route 23, oscoda, michigan, 1988

hard for me to feel 100% down when I have a job where I get to see students hungry for—seeking out, basking in—knowledge and art every day they are scared—we are scared—but what a blessing to still be seeking, to still be growing, to still be becoming

favorite electroacoustic pieces?

this is just to say: sometimes, finding a little piece that makes you cry—seeking catharsis, especially when everything feels big and difficult to handle—is a stellar place to put your energy art and being moved to feel by it helps remind me why we should hold onto the world

one like = I say one piece of art that always makes me cry

remember stuff like this when they tell you that diversity means a lowering of standards

haircut

to my fellow paper sluts: I regret to inform you that Leuchtturm makes an absolutely gorgeous A4-sized staff paper notebook (!!!)

all of you posting your lists of dream projects: now do them ♥️

ME: I’m mostly a vocal composer ALSO ME: - writing a sax ensemble piece - premiering alto piece soon - also writing a soprano piece - about to release a recording of a tenor concerto - organizing two (!!!) other sax-related concerti - writing a (second) song cycle with sax involved UH OH

batman

in spite of it all, very glad to be back teaching—because I love it—I love seeing students learn and change and help one another, I love seeing them hungry for growth in spite of it all, that keeps me going

americans moving to rednote:

Holy shit I wanna live in the People’s Republic of the Great Lakes so badly

coming this year: a band piece (!!!) by me (!!!) led my pal, Nick Balla, Easy Tiger is about patience—mostly, that I’ve never ever ever been patient a tightly-wound piece that gradually relaxes into itself—that slowly recognizes that some things take time—and that that’s a feature, not a bug

the cheekiest cheeks

some people are too worried about the future, and some aren’t worried enough only I, the Chosen One, am the correct level of worried

holiday beasts