Spectrum Order
...the individual — the reader — as the subject in need of care. The loss-of-innocence plot, like the Bildungsroman, is a technology of socialization. Its effect is a coming-to-terms with...
The Ellipsis That Told the Tale
Until 1969, there were several attacks on the philosopher Theodor W. Adorno during the student riots in Germany. This story takes place 30 years later, when the roots and conflicts that fueled the incidents are still being felt in a daughter who is reassembling fact and fiction dating back to 250 AD in an attempt
What Would a Busy Blogger Do?
...The time has come, the blogger said, to talk of many things—actually, just one, which is a need for a bit of time off. Specifically, time off without feeling...
A Short History of the Dining Room (Part 1)
...comfort reinforced status and class cohesion. Elite men of the most powerful poleis gathered on fragrant evenings in rooms especially designed for feasting. These rooms accommodated no more than eleven...
Paradoxes: On Suicide and Literature
...is only being. A tree, for instance, is merely a bit of undifferentiated matter when it is unnamed. Strictly speaking, it is inaccurate to say “tree” or even “undifferentiated matter”...
War Comes Home for Dinner
...greens that can sit around without going bad both reduce food waste and the frequency of shopping trips. But unbridled efficiency comes with its own mix of risks and sacrifices....
Beauty Blogosphere 12.7.12
...with the Richard Cohen/James Bond "sexual meritocracy" bit, are we? Good. Then allow me to point you toward Ta-Nehisi Coates's piece on "democracy and the inalienable right to hit that."...
I Felt Myself
An excerpt from The Ribbon at Olympia’s Throat, translated by Christine Pichini
Core Values
..., a pale yellow-skinned apple splashed and striped with two shades of red, and the Cabbage-Head, a vigorous grower and good bearer whose flesh, though a bit coarse, was juicy,...
♫ Roxane ♫
...attorney or the magical negro—roles relegated to the background and completely lacking in authenticity, depth, or complexity.” Viola Davis calls these roles, “the fried-chicken special of the day” that “hold...
Arguing the Web (3): Post-Text
...passive, the other archaically physical. The record, not the remix, is the anomaly today. The remix is the very nature of the digital.” Gibson’s wording is a bit extreme. What...
Got No Shame, Got No Pride
...male model out of International Male. Faith-era George Michael seems to owe a bit of a debt to Bonnet. The startling conceptual departure that Bonnet marked merely through his physical...
Can the Subaltern Vote?
In 2016, the Democratic Party started seeing Muslims as voters, but that’s not necessarily a favor
The Paper Chase
...so wildly in price. But it’s simply wrong to imagine that the history of alternative currency begins with Bitcoin, and it’s potentially harmful to ignore the much more progressive, community...
On the Variety of Ways to Not Praise Charlie Hebdo
...conclusion. I also sympathize with what they are trying to do, which makes me a bit uncomfortable. The way efforts to be antiracist become racist in practice is the farce...
The Future, Probably
...overpriced pieces of space-kitch and fake fur boleros. Yes, the lumpen shop fronts with their weird plaster statues of boots and bangles really did look a bit like they'd been...