In the 1930s, Yvor Winters Legitimized Literary Studies at Stanford—but Hollywood Should Make a Movie About His Skills as an Amateur Detective. An essay from Ted Gioia, Culture Notes of an Honest Broker
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One of the skills I’ve acquired since turning 40 is the ability to recognize there will likely always be a gap between seeing a photo of myself and appreciating it. That gap, I’ve realized, is the time it takes me to overcome all the ways I’ve been taught to value myself in the world. The… Continue reading Untitled
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She wants a house full of cups and the ghosts of last century’s lesbians; I want a spotless apartment, a fast computer. She wants a woodstove, three cords of ash, an axe; I want a clean gas flame. She wants a row of jars: oats, coriander, thick green oil; I want nothing to store. She… Continue reading Untitled
When Battery Park City was a wheat field in 1982
In 1982, the artist Agnes Denes planted two acres of wheat on landfill that would become Battery Park City…
Transformation
I’ve never seen any life transformation that didn’t begin with the person in question finally getting tired of their own bullshit.” – Elizabeth Gilbert
Lipogram
Lipogram, a literary piece in which one letter of the alphabet is intentionally avoided. The ultimate challenge is skipping over common letters — like Ernest Vincent Wright’s novel Gadsby, which has 50,000 words but not a single ‘E’ to be found.
Shadow Puppetry
https://kottke.org/21/06/edo-period-shadow-puppetry-woodblock-prints
Astronomicum Caesareum
Behold the Astronomicum Caesareum, “Perhaps the Most Beautiful Scientific Book Ever Printed” (1540) Did your college math textbooks have moving parts? From 1524 on, a famous German cosmography book came with 5 volvelles! Peter Apian (later knighted for a different book), opted for a novel, tactile-visual teaching style for all earthly and heavenly measurements.… Continue reading Astronomicum Caesareum
Elite projection
Elite projection is the belief, among relatively fortunate and influential people, that what those people find convenient or attractive is good for the society as a whole. Once you learn to recognize this simple mistake, you see it everywhere. It is perhaps the single most comprehensive barrier to prosperous, just, and liberating cities. -Jarrett Walker, Human Transit
The Wife
“My wife would be a much better writer than me. But she has no desire to be out in the world. You have to find a way to not let it take too much out of you.” -Austin Kleon