But why were they on his property, he asked.

Lightly impairing myself cognitively in the hopes that it improves my productivity.

Ishmael Reed

Will your family members appreciate being gifted a book about math teaching for the holidays? Let's find out. bookshop.org/p/books/teac...

There is approximately one (1) guilt-free pleasure in my life, don't you dare.

Short Story, Long updates: • gonna open submissions in January • for 2026, going to increase payment to $150 (for story publication, and also for artists) ashortstorylong.substack.com

Shit ton of geese migrating in nyc tonight.

"It's poop. The only thing that comes out of your butt is poop." —Michael Pershan, Just Now

Richard Belzer saying barchu. youtu.be/CG4W0OfzJjM?...

Lots of words here but very little new: the retention as selection bias explanation does not make sense for explaining Mississippi's long-run gains because retained students must eventually move forward. statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/12/01/h...

I believe there is a degree of low self-esteem that burrows out the other end and emerges as something like confidence.

This is the time of year when I see college professors talking about wrapping up their semester and I regret some life choices.

Denis 'The Rock' Johnson

"I think there are a lot of things you’re ready to learn at any given time, and beyond a point it doesn’t really matter what you study." - Michael Pershan pershmail.substack.com/p/practice-s...

"Your ghost is the email address that appears when I type E"

At a shiva house tonight I heard the sentence "my wife alav hashalom was very makpid on bikkur cholim" and thought again about how the most important parts of my Jewish life aren't very easy to communicate to non-speakers. (Non-speakers of what? of Judaism?)

People don't ask questions about teachers honestly it's sort of a conversation killer.

Currently obsessed with these guys! www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3mQ...

A kid just shouted "the liberty of statues" those are interesting words.

And if daily life wasn't humiilating enough, noodlearms over here has started going to the gym.

Well @bookshop.org still has free shipping today! Here are some of my favorite books I've read so far this year which would make great reads for you or gifts for a reader in your life! First @joshdenslow.bsky.social Magic Can't Save Us. A delightful and strange story collection

I think I prefer great paragraphs over great sentences. The sentence is a lonely place but paragraphs are a ball.

really went dark for the sequel

Clarence Major

No guarantees but I think Ryan Davis is the kind of guy that if you have him on while you're cooking your dad will walk up and be like 'hey who's this' www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuvU...

A day off without the kids! I took a walk.

“I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs.” —Stephen King, “On Writing” “The boat bobbed, listed, righted itself again, dived bravely through treacherous whirlpools.” —Stephen King, “IT,” second sentence on page one

:(

we're still having fun michaelpershan.substack.com/p/hell-is-pa...

Malamud was right -- "Jewbird" is a fantastic name for a story.

Gonna start working with my 7th graders on their numeracy skills thanks to this numeracy lesson.

Good song! www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGVJ...

Not sure if this is the right way to say this but it's cool how a novel can have two fairly conventional scenes or chapters with straightforward feelings but by putting one after the other it can feel like change.

Hey so literally my only exposure to Roland Barthes is from Percival Everett in GLYPH...any advice on where to start with Barthes?

I turned 38 last week and the main advice I have to younger men is work on your skills - dribbling and especially your shot. I can't hit anything and I'm a huge liability in pick up games. Wish when I was a kid I had studied less, played more.

And with perfect timing, @mpershan.bsky.social just dropped a new essay. I haven't read it yet but I'm confident it's better than other ones. pershmail.substack.com/p/i-dont-kno...

I wrote about philosophers who wrote novels and novelists inspired by philosophy countercraft.substack.com/p/literary-p...

For reasons unknown to me I am keeping at it with this short blogging. michaelpershan.substack.com/p/the-barony...

For reasons unknown to me I am keeping at it with this short blogging. michaelpershan.substack.com/p/the-barony...

This is really good look at trends in student performance data. No jumping to conclusions or analysis - just good ol' fashioned curiosity and humility.

Perhaps complicated issues may not have simple explanations

This is a rational, well written response to some public discourse about the “state of education.”

Yikes I wrote about education policy. pershmail.substack.com/p/i-dont-kno...

heyyyyyy my book made it onto @electricliterature.com's list of favorite short story collections of the year! electricliterature.com/electric-lit...

Needed a job

Teachers: do you think that standards have been lowered for K-8 students in the past 10 years?

Doing my part. michaelpershan.substack.com/p/nursery-of...

Speeeeeeed blogging. michaelpershan.substack.com/p/nursery-of...

File this under very short mysterious Icelandic fairy tale that drifts in and out of a dark story about a woman with Down syndrome saved from a shipwreck.