Pluribus is very effective, but there are definite Ayn-Randian undertones, the individual vs. the collective

One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc

lol they are melting

But can he make insane videos about used crack pipes in children’s backpacks

But can he make insane videos about used crack pipes in children’s backpacks

I hate this misuse of "whom." I see it every single day. It's irrelevant that the relative pronoun precedes another pronoun; the question is what is the subject of the relevant verb cc @nytimes.com

I hate this misuse of "whom." I see it every single day. It's irrelevant that the relative pronoun precedes another pronoun; the question is what is the subject of the relevant verb cc @nytimes.com

How long will we allow them to steal an hour of daylight from the people in the darkest months of the year? Standard time is theft

I hereby anathematize this sentence from Mark Jarman

i did what i could

i did what i could

a student asked if I had "heard of the German philosopher Martin Heidegger" & I was so tempted to say no

my Halloween name is Michael Goblins & my Thanksgiving name is Michael Gobblins

when former students reach out years later 🥲

in many respects, the best poem ever written

might’ve gone a bit overboard

that gooning essay appearing two issues after my domme essay has me worried for harper's

Balzac has two grand subjects, money and Paris, and everything in La Comédie humaine conspires to reveal the lethality of the latter without the former. (Am writing about Balzac)

it’s almost college basketball season, when texts with my dad are traditionally devoted to penetrating analyses of the nuanced complexities of the game

I visited the Louvre for the first time last month. When my dad was there in the 70s, the Mona Lisa (la Joconde!) was easy to see, no glass, no crowds. Now the inane spectacle—dozens of phones held aloft—is more interesting, in a sad way, than the picture, not even the best Leonardo within ten yards

re the discussion about missing mass-market paperbacks of “serious” books—this cover is amazing

every longform piece I read begins like “It was a drafty April morning when the annual frog jump went disastrously awry …” & then four paragraphs later, just when we’re about to learn what happened, a section break, followed by “Frog jumps have been held in this county since its founding in 1862”

i cannot be the only one who doesn’t care what they do to the white house

This photo accompanying a news story about the heist at the Louvre is perfection.

dreamed i ranked all the sonic youth albums (the ranking was correct)

The woods are lovely, dark and deep I wish I was special but I’m a creep

The woods are lovely, dark and deep I wish I was special but I’m a creep

Steve Miller really knew what he was talking about when he said time keeps on slippin slippin slippin into the future

my sister is in Pompeii texting me pictures of stray cats

my sister is in Pompeii texting me pictures of stray cats

News flash! @alienvsrobbins.bsky.social returns to Rilke for an update open.substack.com/pub/books/p/...

most of my unpopular opinions seem fairly hinged—Pynchon is overrated; D. H. Lawrence is (now) underrated; Walden is immensely better than anything Emerson wrote; Naipaul wrote some fantastic novels, the bastard. I suppose I believe that literature is basically finished, but is that unhinged?

most of my unpopular opinions seem fairly hinged—Pynchon is overrated; D. H. Lawrence is (now) underrated; Walden is immensely better than anything Emerson wrote; Naipaul wrote some fantastic novels, the bastard. I suppose I believe that literature is basically finished, but is that unhinged?

a friend described Big Thief as people “who look like they use ‘van’ as a verb.” it took me a long time to get on the van, but fine, sing me campfire songs about potatoes

took this in Paris last month (fifth attempt at posting this)

took this in Paris last month (fifth attempt at posting this)

walked past two students as one said to the other “be grateful I haven’t stopped being your friend, because you’re dumb and you’re annoying“

walked past two students as one said to the other “be grateful I haven’t stopped being your friend, because you’re dumb and you’re annoying“

masked fascists are disappearing people from american streets while our billionaire pop queen complains that another superstar said something mean about her once

masked fascists are disappearing people from american streets while our billionaire pop queen complains that another superstar said something mean about her once

I feel the need to opine that Slow Horses is so good

dreamed I caught a large mouse in a bag & when I released it, it emitted a brown cloud that someone said could disrupt my “endocrine system,” so I ran away from the mouse, & the person was like, that’s far enough, but I just kept running. a parable

reached the “ready to admit I like Dark Side of the Moon” stage of middle age