Recent posts tagged these troubled times
2022
To Embody The Moment Without Trying
People can get the anger of the current moment from anywhere. See what else you have to give.
Here Comes The Pain
I fight the idea that the only sensible response to a world that seems to be driving itself mad is to hide under one's desk with one's head in the wastebasket.
2021
A World Awaited And Attained, 2021 Edition
The world awaited is not yet the world attained, but the fighting spirit burns on.
Struck Down By The Moment
"If I stop to look at reality, I think I’ll be struck down, and I don’t want to be." -- Pedro Almodóvar
The Present Moment Leaves Its Mark Anyway
I've found I do my best work when I'm not self-consciously trying to comment on my moment in time.
Current Events Are Making Me Dense
My own little fight against modern-day information overload: don't blog too much about it.
The Next Time The World Almost Comes To An End, I'd Like At Least A Little Advance Notice, Thanks
Title tells it.
2020
A World Waited And A World Attained, 2020 Edition
The world awaited is not yet the world attained, but we took a step in the right direction today.
Stiff Upper Lip And All That
Just a few things as the First Tuesday In November approaches.
No, You Really Couldn't Make This Up If You Tried
On the notion that if our moment in time were a story, nobody would believe a word of it.
Suddenly, It's All Science Fiction
If I didn't feel before like I was living in a science fiction novel, this year sure clinched that feeling. But not for the reasons you might think.
How Much More History Can We Live Through?
And once we do, what do we take away from it all?
The Innumeracy Of Moral Equivalency
Why some people respond to reports of deaths in numbers with minimizing tactics.
Let's Not Try To Understand All This Too Quickly
In a conversation with a friend, about the way our crazy moment in time is shaping our creative decisions, I kept coming back to a phrase I've said to myself before: "Let's not try to understand all this too quickly."
The New Absurd Is The New Normal
And how we might be able to write about it.
The Enormity Of The World's Grief
"Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief." Easier said than done.
Fearful Asymmetry
If I could sum up the problem of modern politics in only a few words, it would be this: the asymmetry of the motivations of the participants.
The Nyah-Nyah World
Welcome back to third grade.
Exact Thinking In Demented Times, And Other Delights
On Sir Popper's beautiful mind as an antidote for this terrible moment.
Of The Here And Now, Or The Anywhere And Always
I've long been wary of using fiction as a system of polemic, not because I don't care about the world we live in but because such things typically make for bad fiction
Escapism In Bad Times
The point isn't to run away from what's around you, but to see something new despite it.
As If
"If infinity is too big for you, live in the day."
Some Sense Of Stability
When all this madness first really lit up, I made a promise to myself: I wasn't going to post anything here that was simply an echo of anything you could find anywhere else.
Recommended Reading In Difficult Times, Pt. 1 / ?
Since many of you are stuck indoors right now and going a little stir crazy, I have some nonfiction reading suggestions that shed light on our moment from different directions.
From The Bunker
Like most of you, I'm "sheltering in place" -- which is actually not all that different from what I already do. The difference is that now I don't have a choice.
