January 2012
10 posts
“I don’t know exactly what covetise is, but in my experience it is not so...”
– Marilynne Robinson, Gilead
A Fantasy Life →
“We’ve had a fantasy life,” says Larry Hale. He worked in the old Greenville, driving a truck and hauling stuff made in Greenville all over the continent. “We’ve done things that a lot of people dream of doing … Like when I went to Canada and started dating this hairstylist …”
7 tags
“It seemed to me that if more women would return to simple, homely tasks—such as...”
– A Loaf of Bread and Thou, Gourmet Magazine, September 1958 I made this bread recipe for a brunch party this past weekend.
As Romney reached out for a baby today, a heckler...
baitandswitch:
(via USA Today)
Generally I like to get my laughs from USA Today in the form of pie charts, but this quote will work.
PennLive : Little Amps coffee shop owner lives his... →
This is my friend Aaron’s new coffee shop and roasting business in Harrisburg, PA. The cappuccino I had there might’ve been the best ever. If you’re in the area, it’s worth stopping by, and if you’re not, the hand-roasted beans can be mail ordered.
Republicans for Revolution →
This is the best piece on present-day politics I’ve read in a while. It starts slow, but it’s worth your time.
Coming & Crying: January 25 at Kelly Writers... →
meaghano:
comingandcrying:
January 25, 2012 6pm Kelly Writers House 3805 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104 Join us (Melissa and Meaghan) at Kelly Writers House to talk Coming & Crying, writing, feminism, and ladybiz. There will be a reception and there will be books!
If you live in Philadelphia, come hang out with us at the Kelly Writer’s House, which as I understand it is a very...
December 2011
10 posts
"lazy"
Hours worked in 2010 by the average worker in the following countries:
Greece - 2,109 (second only to S. Korea among OECD countries)
United States - 1,778
Italy - 1,778
OECD average - 1,749
Spain - 1,663
Germany - 1,419
Netherlands - 1,377 (lowest among OECD countries)
In general, the richer the country, the less its workers work. Primary and secondary sources.
Sad, Alliterative Breakfast Foods
Bummed Bacon Chagrined Croissants Dejected Donuts Forlorn Frittatas Glum Granola Heartbroken Homefries Melancholy Muesli Pensive Porridge Somber Scrapple Wailing Waffles
4 tags
“Emoticons hint at age: someone who uses :-) is probably 10 years older than...”
– Analysis by Bluefin, discussed in “A Social-Media Decoder” in the Nov/Dec 2011 Technology Review.
I realized, while reading this, that I once ate a tremendous amount of sushi with friends at the restaurant after which Bluefin’s named.
It’s amazing and perhaps...
Richard Feynman on Doubt →
Richard Feynman on No Doubt: “I can’t believe you kids call this music.”
enjoyable excerpts of literary magazine submission...
“Unsolicited work sent directly to a guest editor’s home or office will be ignored and discarded; guest editors are formally instructed not to read such work.” Ploughshares
“Do not send us your novel and ask that we select an excerpt that suits our tastes.” The Gettysburg Review “Submissions that demonstrate familiarity with the journal tend to receive more...
3 tags
On Not Rolling the Log
This piece about Faulkner and the often transactional nature of literary friendships is fantastic. Plus, it’s got a great, unexpected bit of dirty talk.
lareviewofbooks:
Transactions along the Mississippi Delta GLEN DAVID GOLD Recently, I spoke to a group of MFA students at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. I wanted to pass along the best advice I got in my own MFA program...
November 2011
17 posts
“I am pleased to help you, but I will not force you to let me help you, because...”
– Teaching materials from the David Foster Wallace archive
2 tags
“Alas, there are so many kinds of commas: those that lie like rocks in the path...”
– William H. Gass’ ode to the comma, from a review of a collection of correspondence between Elizabeth Bishop and the editors of The New Yorker, which appeared in the October 2011 issue of Harper’s.
2 tags
Words and Phrases for Use in Advertisements and...
Kitteny
Like baby fingertips
Softer than Manilow
Helps prevent gingivitis
Microfleece
Peach fuzz
ADA accepted
The gentle flutter of butterfly wings
Marshmallow-esque
Inner thighs against your gums
“In November 2002, at a meeting in the White House, the president and his top...”
– Dick Cheney was wrong.
How the GOP Became the Party of the Rich - Rolling Stone
“I wish I could say that serving as a conduit between the publishing elite and...”
– Confessions of a slush pile reader, c. 2002
“There’s a recent report of a method to make a more stable form of it, by mixing...”
– Things I Won’t Work With: Hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane. In the Pipeline
For scz.
McNally Jackson Bookmongers: The DFW-Eugenides... →
For the record, it’s absolutely impossible that this is coincidence.
mcnallyjackson:
Since today is Things Vaguely Related to DFW Day on the McNJ tumblr: Yesterday over on New York’s Vulture blog Willa Paskin posited that Leonard, a character from Jeffrey Eugenides’ forthcoming novel The Marriage Plot, is based on David Foster Wallace. And she’s right! And not just because he…
Why the Cheapest Maple Syrup Tastes Best →
Always go for Grade B, people.
“A robot walks into a bar,
orders a drink, lays down a bill,
The bartender...”
– David Berman, “The Frontier Index” (via cosmopsis)
5 tags
notes from the jeffrey eugenides reading
Nov 1, 2011 at the Free Library of Philadelphia
He was introduced by his freshman college roommate from Brown (they started there in 1978; the plot of The Marriage Plot is set in 1982, as that class of students is graduating). He didn’t know that Andy, his old roommate, was going to be introducing him. He said that a passage of the novel in which two roommates don’t speak for many...
October 2011
16 posts
2 tags
details create success
“The U.C.L.A. basketball coach John Wooden, at the first squad meeting each season … had his players practice putting their socks on. He demonstrated just how to do it: he carefully rolled each sock over his toes, up his foot, around the heel, and pulled it up snug, then went back to his toes and smoothed out the material along the sock’s length, making sure there were no wrinkles or...
1 tag
“… just a few years ago, I realized that everyone feels secretly...”
– Miranda July, “Shoplifting to Stay Free” (via meaghano)
4 tags
“It turns out that bliss — a second-by-second joy + gratitude at the gift...”
– David Foster Wallace, The Pale King, p. 546 (Notes & Asides).
Things like long-distance running and yoga have an element of this, in addition to their physical aspects. Boredom can approach meditation under the right circumstances.
2 tags
Matt Langer: Elizabeth Warren! →
langer:
This is apparently several weeks old, but still, GOOD STUFF:
There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear: you moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for; you hired workers the rest of…
“Oddly enough, my time at the Wine and Spirits stores taught me to be viciously...”
– Pennsylvania Wine and Spirits Stories - 7STOPS Magazine
As much as I dislike PA liquor laws, I really enjoyed these recollections of working at state liquor stores to get through school.
3 tags
