Here are links to my latest work, Daily Posts from the archives (May 5-8) in case you missed them, and articles, old and new, from around the internet. My aim is not to provide you with up to the minute news, but with a historical understanding of our current times—too many people see everything going on as uniquely special to the current moment. You can follow me on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook (I am not accepting new friends on the last platform, but you can use the “follow” option).
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Hello, hello!
It has been a very, very bad week, in many ways, and I’ve been running ragged from pillar to post, ready to drop. It’s also been very good in some ways, and my exhaustion is partly from a sense of relief in some quarters, if that makes sense (yes, okay, I know it may not). I have a mid-day appointment today (Friday), and will try to sleep for the rest of the weekend after that. Apologies that this is a bit sparse. I may not have new and original work next week because I lost a lot of time, and I want to be sure not to make myself sick from stress and overwork. But: I’ve got some interesting stuff in the pipeline.
NEW WORK!
I wrote “What Are We Defending?” It’s a prequel to a series of planned shorter essays, each on a particular subject.
I also wrote “Who’s Left?: A Taxonomy of Sorts.” (Many thanks to G. for the last-minute read!)
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FROM THE ARCHIVES!
May 5-8 was Teacher Appreciation Week, so this seems apt: “So What If Teachers Are In It for the Money?”
“Joshua Marston’s Complete Unknown: Or, When Critics Respond To A Woman Who Lives Like A Man.”
“Missing: On Terror and Kidnappings.”
“Mr. Holmes and The Case of the Aging Sleuth.”
I’m just a girl, asking you, once again: “What Is the Point of Politics Without ideology?”
“The New York Times Is The Daily Prophet.”
“A Manifesto.”
ELSEWHERE ON THE WEB!
Catholics have a new Pope! From Chicago! Well, we gave you the eight-hour workday, and that rule about no ketchup on hot dogs. The first is a historical fact, and you’re very welcome. The second is more fiction than a historically established dictum, but that is Chicago: truth with some wee lies sprinkled in.
Valerie, the lost dachshund, has been reunited with her humans, a little plumper and in excellent health.
Oh, look, there’s a rise in premature death among young Americans. Whatever could it be? (This is, admittedly, from an insurance site, but still an interesting trend to watch.)
Jezebel, the, you know, feminist magazine is hiring a remote, part-time editorial intern for the summer: the pay is an $800 stipend, to be paid at the end of the period. I believe this is what we call a pre-feminist rate (if it can even be dignified with the term). I’m picturing Victorian lacemakers taking their piecework home for pennies on the yard, and they were probably paid more. I may write more about this.
The best news possible: John Cale, God himself, was on the John Mulaney show with Maggie Rogers, and I nearly died from the shock. I loved the conversation, as brief as it was, and I especially loved the sweetly reverential way that Mulaney kept addressing the best musician the world has ever seen as “Mr. Cale.” Here’s Rogers and Cale, with “Shark-Shark.” And they played “Barracuda” just for the studio audience after the show (“the ocean will have us all.”) I haven’t quite recovered (no, I was not there). I didn’t think I could be more impressed by John Mulaney, and, yet, here I am.
I will have more next week. For now, I’m off to sleep as soon as I can. Stay well, stay hydrated, get your naps. Watch John Mulaney. Listen to John Cale.
You can find previous Updates here.
Image: John Cale, Fear.
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