I travel to a lot of different cities to do stories with the Moth. we usually stay in downtowns to be close to the venues. one thing I've learned is that there is an essence of "American downtown" and they are basically indistinguishable from each other. I have no idea where I am right now

shakira shakira

I made the mistake of going over to threads and after 3 minutes of "book threads" I fear many of these people might be genuinely illiterate

they are on Threads fighting to the death over whether or not it is ableist for an author to use the word “scrying" (people might not know the definition!). how beautiful. people staring into their phones and getting so emotional over “scrying.” perhaps there really is magic in reflective surfaces!

"inert" means you can be "ert"

Heraclitus says "Goat cheese melted in warm wine congeals if not well stirred" and as someone who loves goat cheese and wine I am extremely intrigued wtf is he talking about and can I do it as well.... that sounds good.......

Heraclitus wants to be Rupi Kaur so bad

that's what the christian god probably has Nietzsche doing in hell right now

this cover is frying me I'm about to buy it

I did not know that Nietzsche and Wagner was a "dreams the way we planned 'em" situation

I was laughing out loud at The Stranger by Albert Camus then I looked it up and was basically told aint shit funny... well suddenly The Stranger's me.....

girl not the undivided ceaseless eternal will...........

I have compiled a list of 24 books I've read so far this year as well as my thoughts on them which I understand is quite the commitment so if nothing else here are my thoughts on Nietzsche thank you substack.com/home/post/p-...

[me immediately after Plato anxiously proposes the concept of the world of forms] this dude thinks beds borrow their bedness from another world LMFAO

This is lovely and filled my spirit a bit, thank you @jpbrammer.bsky.social

I’m not anxious about my writing accidentally sounding like AI because I write the way I need to, and the way I need to write is the most human thing I have. When AI starts to sound like me it will be because it tried to steal me, and it can only steal something that sounds like me

you def have to read the intro to any collection of a philosopher's writing because it's often times the translator or editor being like hey I know this guy is an irredeemable freak at times and it makes a lot of the forthcoming text borderline unreadable but here's how to read it anyway. helpful!

I frankly cannot believe how much I’m writing this week. so much writing and I’m excited about it all

Beheading the naked cowboy

I'm compelled by the image of a victorious city in the manic throes of joy vandalizing itself. a lot going on there. Carl Jung you will always be famous

celebrating the Knicks winning by putting the Times Square M&M Store to the torch two days later

this means a lot to me because my flight to Denver was delayed from 3 pm to 7 am the next day and I got no sleep and had to do The Moth in front of an audience of 1,300 people straight off the plane but I wasn't a victim I still worked it and was fierce. I almost vomited in front of everyone.

It seems to me that a country in the manic throes of greatness starts compulsively building railroads which is how I know my country in some sort of nightmarish other thing

St Francis of Assisi:

In Catholic school I liked the Holy Spirit most because it was a bird

I was talking with a transmasc named Enoch

my huge, hard IQ has grown outward from my head (had nowhere left to go) and is curving around and now threatens to slowly bore into my eyeball

I will be fully agentic within months

I will not accept criticism from anyone who enjoys the Babylon Bee. you are a subhuman to me I'm sorry to say and should be hunted for sport

Thanks to @jpbrammer.bsky.social I am now deep into a Toni Morrison novel that I started yesterday and can’t wait to get back to after work. Giving my curiosity reign but directing it away from easy dissociation. Go read his short essay on attention and reading. DO IT.

I didn't know Hinge was automatically hiding 'likes' that included 'inappropriate comments.' just discovered a cache of filthy affirmations

today in DC I will finally see one of my favorite artworks of all time which is The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly !

The post text feels maybe like it's selling you a scheme, but read the actual entry and you might (like me) get so bodied by the assessment of curiosity exploited that you accept that you must stop living this way

"It’s no coincidence the internet is holding our attention with ever more colorful, infantilizing distractions...If prayer makes the Catholic more like a saint, then pure attention, spent like this, makes us more like crass, immoral babies. Attention here is only the price. The thing that’s spent."

This is good. Really, really good.

"My writing, back when I read little, was bumbling in the dark hoping I’d touch something valuable by accident; a writer who doesn’t read now strikes me as absurd. How does a bee make honey without visiting the flowers?" !!!

sometimes I'll be talking crazy on grindr then try to send a pic and accidentally pull up that one tab that's a bunch of Minion gifs

A fantastic read about reading and how we can decide to take control of our attention and what we spend it on. I used to read a ton of novels. Then I went to grad school twice and had a baby and social media expanded and I kind of forgot to do it. Thank goodness I found my way back.

Worth every second of your attention, to drive the point home. Massive second to the idea that reading absolutely makes you a sharper, better writer. If you don't read, how the hell can you know what good writing looks like to you?

This is such a beautiful piece. And so many times I was the Leonardo DiCaprio Pointing meme while reading it

I am not exaggerating when i say that JP Brammer is one of the most impactful writers i have been reading in these past few years & that this may be the most singularly meaningful essay I've read of his yet

JP Brammer: >>I was never sure what was important, and what wasn’t. I experienced reality as a series of disconnected images. Each one was loud, urgent, and temporary. The feed refreshed, and there was an entirely new constellation.<<

This is a really beautiful piece of writing, I feel like I've had a similar somewhat spiritual experience with reading and journalling in the past year. A big part of that was having read what Simone Weil wrote about attention so when she got mentioned in this, I went "yessssss"

“I’m spoiled to love reading and to have so much to read. The world is sweeter than it was.” This is one of the most hopeful things I’ve read in a long time.

the phrase "lipstick on a pig" has always inspired a deep sadness in me. I think of the pig, looking forward to her big night out, and I bring myself to the verge of tears.