A place to put things
Hiya to all who’ve joined lately! And, of course, to those who’ve been with me since the start! And to those not here but who should be! And to all carbon-based lifeforms (which is not to disparage non-carbon-based lifeforms, mind, but they need better lobbyists)!
Most of my posts are like this one, which is a round-up of interesting1 stories out there on Al Gore’s internet. I tend to just collect them as I stumble across them and shove them in a draft. When the draft feels hefty enough,2 I send it on out.
Welcome:
This Kate Wagner story is about Formula 1 and obscene wealth and the pairing of machines and human brains and personas and not at all about any of that. I can see why Road and Track 86’d it. I can also see why it should be read.
Drew Magary’s “An American Dumbass in London” about taking his teenage son to a soccer match is about so much more than that, as most of his work is. I might have teared up a bit.
Material culture is always so much more complicated than we think it will be: The Ghana Must Go bag.
One of my favorite playwrights has passed. You gave us so much, Mr Durang. May we all laugh wild amid severest woe.
Related: When Broadway shows don’t go as planned.
It’s too bad that it is logistically untenable to make every American visit this monument.
The detail of the spindle is what really sells this particular Icelandic saga about a woman who sailed the Atlantic.
Maybe what surprises me most about the process of displaying Queen Victoria’s Mourning Dress is how short she was. The whole process is fascinating, tho.
Anne Helen Petersen’s piece about The Dahlia Wars is about a lot more than dahlias.3
I very much remember reading these books when I was a tween or teen but retained zero memory of how subversive they were.
Smithsonian magazine finally found Rabbit Goody and her textile work. I can’t help but think that my piece for MDK helped them find her. ;)
For approximate values of “interesting”
For relative values of “hefty enough”
Full disclosure: I love dahlias but lack any skill and patience for growing them.
I love that dahlia piece! I caught the fever during lockdown and went nuts. I need to go count how many now that they’ve sprouted. I love sharing pictures of them because they are just that gorgeous.
Oh, I missed the news about Chris Durang. He was one of my favorites as well. And I devoured the Sunfire books in middle school, usually purchased at school books fairs, obviously.