Essays, etc.

We Need Editors, Not Algorithms

gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss? good.

Aug 8 •

The Light Side of the Soul

on Charles Dickens' "Pickwick Papers"

Aug 2 •

The Stork and the Threesome

What makes a life—and an novel—meaningful?

Jun 27 •

Don't Turn Your Back on Me, Baby

In the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich and Matthew Wong, art turns its back on us—and invites us in.

Mar 30 •

In Defense of Living Vicariously

or why I want to know what's in your bag

Jan 28 •

2024 Alphabetical Diary

I alphabetize my diary again, with apologies to Sheila Heti

Dec 22, 2024 •

Gratitude and Greed

Having and wanting, satisfaction and striving, acceptance and ambition—is there ever a happy middle?

Nov 27, 2024 •

Celebrate New Year's Before Thanksgiving

Get a leg up on those Christmas-music-in-early-November nuts

Nov 10, 2024 •

Rooney, Austen, Joyce, 'Intermezzo'

I finally get around to Sally Rooney's latest novel

Nov 3, 2024 •

Life Is Always Incomplete

we are born and we die in the middle of things

Oct 7, 2024 •

Impossible Bullfight

Obsession, desire, and my love-hate relationship with In the Realm of the Senses (1976)

Jul 21, 2024 •

The Alphabetical Diaries Experiment

In which I pull a Sheila Heti and alphabetize my diary

Jul 14, 2024 •

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