why did i cry though

register register register!

Kodiak is really pumped about the @marchxness.bsky.social anthology!

It’s time! I am beyond honored my extracurricular essay on how grunge did NOT kill glam metal is included among such stellar work!

THE March Sadness National Championship: (6) Ben Folds Five's "Brick" & @cicilybennion.bsky.social against (1) Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" & @mfitejohnson.bsky.social! Listen to the songs! Read the essays! Which is the saddest? YOU DECIDE (by 9am AZ time 3/31): marchxness.com#/sadnesscham...

honestly, glad to see that we can all still take a little time to hate Duke

Collective Soul & I are down big at the half but hope still lingers on! We've been here before & have shown we're a 2nd half team--still plenty of time for a comeback! Still plenty of time to READ & VOTE "THE WORLD I KNOW" by Noon ET Wednesday! @marchxness.bsky.social marchxness.com/elite8-colle...

I know we keep talking about the decline of the iphone keyboard, but mine seriously just autocorrected "the weekend" to "The Weeknd"

and since we have been talking about music and cultural impact throughout March Sadness, this is just a tiny reminder that I wrote a novel inspired by the “baby groupie” era in 70s rock and its impact www.harpercollins.com/products/the...

Congrats to @erinkeane.bsky.social and GNR! It’s an honor to go out to a song whose lyrics I hung up on my wall in 10th grade and to such a great essay — as a conflicted GNR superfan, I loved it. And thanks to everyone who read about this song and my dad and got a country song to the Sweet 16! ❤️

you too can vote for the unquestionable sadness of “Go Rest High” marchxness.com#/sweet16-gnr...

C’mon now. “Go Rest High on the Mountain” is a sad song, and @mossyair.bsky.social ‘s essay is sad and beautiful. Plus, it makes me think poignantly of my late grandma, singing “In the Garden” in her hospice room, the uneasy way of feeling loved by a song that might not even align with who you are.

Let’s go team crows! We’re down at the half and need your help! 🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛

also I respect that more of our voting population has an emotional connection to GNR than Vince Gill but I do beg of you to watch the "Go Rest High" video and just gaze upon the sheer amount of 90s Ricky Skaggs brings to the proceedings marchxness.com/sweet16-gnrv...

is 12 votes insurmountable? probably! but you can still vote... I love the GNR-Vince Gill matchup because it is so fully my 90s -- going from country music to hard rock. and I love the contrast of restraint and excess in these songs. it's pure @marchxness.bsky.social! marchxness.com/sweet16-gnrv...

Dad, what were you like in the 90s? Read my essay on Round Here by @countingcrows.bsky.social to find out! It’s up today in the Sweet Sixteen of @marchxness.bsky.social, 90s Sadness edition (aka my entire personality) and we need your help! Read the essays and vote! marchxness.com#/sweet16-cro...

This is my 5th time writing for @marchxness.bsky.social and my 1st time in the Sweet 16! Vince and I face a formidable opponent in @erinkeane.bsky.social and GNR. Only you can determine the saddest, 90s-est song: marchxness.com/sweet16-gnrv...

"I am able to access some small piece of that now unrecognizable person I once was... I am able to acknowledge the bad and, in doing so, I get to embrace the good." @jamcharlesworth.bsky.social on Collective Soul for @marchxness.bsky.social continues to be a gift marchxness.com/sweet16-coll...

We do love it when our writers bring their cover chops to a game. This deserves a few extra votes in our view!

My Alanis @marchxness.bsky.social essay is going up against @jamcharlesworth.bsky.social's heartbreaking essay about Collective Soul in the Sweet 16 today. Both songs are arguably much sadder when taken with the essays. Which one will win? Only you can decide! marchxness.com#/sweet16-col...

hellooo @marchxness.bsky.social sweet 16! me & hootie are facing off against @cherylgraham.bsky.social's illuminating piece, inc this perfect Kate Bush quote: “I’m not talking about only pain or only ecstasy. The moments of pleasure couldn't exist without the sadness.” marchxness.com/sweet16-bush...

"My Heart Will Go On" is so sad and beautiful to me, and I love that @mfitejohnson.bsky.social's essay is just as sad and beautiful. Vote CELINE! marchxness.com#/sweet16-dio...

well, dog daycare went all out.

ROUND 2! Have Guns N' Roses and Neutral Milk Hotel ever gone head to head like this in any other context? Probably not! 🌧️🥕 Listen, read, VOTE! marchxness.com#/2ndround-gn...

thinking about that time my partner's friend thought I was a Disney adult instead of a really passionate fan of the band Cinderella

one of my favorites (both the song and the essay)

my phone reminded me that 8 years ago, I made March Shredness cupcakes for work to gain votes for my @marchxness.bsky.social essay (this remains the peak of my piping skills)

My debut novel, HIGHER MAGIC, came out last year. If you're nominating for the Hugos and you enjoyed my magic academia (emphasis on the academia) with its disability justice plot, narration skull, and romance, your consideration would mean so much to me!

an apt description of the @marchxness.bsky.social match b/t Blowfish & 'Berries! from poet Kien Lam: "LET IT LINGER vs LET HER BE. Why must sisters fight like this 😔" let your tears be your guide! marchxness.com#/2ndround-ho...

These games! I am giving up the ghost on my Paula Cole essay, and want to encourage you all to go vote for @cbiondolillo.bsky.social & MAZZY STAR!!!

Been a rough 1st half for me & Collective Soul & our backs are against the wall...but in the words of Ed Roland, "you don't know what good feels like until you feel bad." We're gonna regroup at half & come out ready to go! Plenty of time to READ & VOTE COLLECTIVE SOUL! marchxness.com#/2ndround-co...

"If you could choose how to spend your last year, would you pick falling in love?" @cbiondolillo.bsky.social on Mazzy Star. on love. on everything. marchxness.com#/2ndround-fo...

If you're in the mood for a good cry, and I mean a GOOD cry...read this essay on Mazzy Star by @cbiondolillo.bsky.social . I'd love to see it get some more votes marchxness.com/2ndround-fol...

Round 2 of @marchxness.bsky.social! My essay re Collective Soul's "The World I Know" & last chances to change is up against Des'ree/Emily Podwoiski, whose excellent essay helped dispatch Goo Goo Dolls in the 1st rd.😬 CS & I got our game faces on! Let's go! READ & VOTE! marchxness.com#/2ndround-co...

Will my essay on #heteronormativity & Where Have All The Cowboys Gone by #PaulaCole live to see another day? Only you can decide: marchxness.com/2ndround-col...

MARCH SADNESS 90S EDITION ROUND 2 DAY 1 SCORES, 98' to play: Celine Dion 197, REM 173 Vince Gill 74, Lisa Loeb 58 Kristin Hersh 90, Belle and Sebastian 44 Sade 89, No Doubt 47 Vote by 9am AZ time / noon eastern at marchxness.com

“One of my most steadfast beliefs is that a perfect sad song is one that does not tell you how to feel but instead lets you find your feelings—the difference between songs about sad things, perhaps, and truly sad songs.”

March Sadness match of the sad dad songs! (a subgenre close to my heart) with @mfitejohnson.bsky.social on "My Heart Will Go On" and Jeremy Bennett on "Country Feedback" on the @remhq.bsky.social album's 35th anniversary. Read, listen, vote! marchxness.com/round2-dionv...

2.5 hours left to vote in @marchxness.bsky.social round 2, day 1! come for thoughts on grief and Vince Gill’s high lonesome sound and dads. stay for a takedown of “Don’t Take the Girl,” one of the worst songs of the 90s imo. marchxness.com/2ndround-gil...

One more for the late crowd: My @marchxness.bsky.social essay on Kristin Hersh's "Your Ghost," up for a vote through tomorrow. <3 marchxness.com#/2ndround-be...

Also, this stunner: “This gentle memory takes it from a song of mourning to a song of celebration. The two things we hold at once at once when we grieve.”

What a wild ride--my @marchxness.bsky.social essay was up, and now it's down. If you haven't voted yet, here's the link for the night owls. The REM essay is beautiful; no shame in losing to it if that's what happens. marchxness.com#/round2-dion...

Reasons to vote for "Go Rest High On That Mountain": - in terms of Sadness, it is quite sad, lyrically and sonically - in terms of 90s, well, the video - today, Vince Gill firmly and clearly said if you use AI to make art, you go to sleep knowing you did *nothing* marchxness.com/2ndround-gil...

Both champion-caliber essays in this Round 2 match, but @mossyair.bsky.social surprised me with this Vince Gill song, winning me over with what could be a March Sadness thesis: "Believe in your ability to grieve openly because you aren’t grieving alone." marchxness.com/2ndround-gil...

Man, I adore the essay I'm up against, and we both write about losing our fathers. Also, I'll be honest--it felt intimidating to be part of this tournament for the first time at all, let alone with a song so many people dismiss. But I really love "My Heart Will Go On." I'm glad to be here with it ❤️

fun fact about today’s @marchxness.bsky.social matchups: both my essay on Vince Gill and @brianoliu.bsky.social’s essay on No Doubt reference Fleetwood Mac’s 1997 performance of “Silver Springs,” which really speaks to the enduring nature of that cultural moment!

We'd all do well to internalize @kathleenmrooney.bsky.social's observation here:

It's time for "People roll their eyes at the glasses now, but if you were not there for the glasses you do not understand about the glasses." vs "Believe in your ability to grieve openly because you aren’t grieving alone." @marchxness.bsky.social

We are back at it! A tough matchup with Sade. May y’all be reading these from the comfort of your homes instead of on a conference center floor!

Round 2 of @marchxness.bsky.social! There’s a certain futility in asking people to vote for a country song over Lisa Loeb and Austin Grossman’s essay is great. But I hope you’ll give “Go Rest High On That Mountain” a listen and I hope this essay brings you something. marchxness.com#/2ndround-gi...