Mastodawn

#introduction I consume too much #coffee and solve too many #crosswords and #chess puzzles. ¶ I do as much #reading as I can: #poetry, #flash, #essays, #books of all sorts (#literary fiction + #scifi, #mysteries, and #espionage. I read what I like, when I like! ¶ I was once an upstanding member of the #writing community---creator of #poetry and short #essays on #words and #etymology, among other things---and am working on my return. ¶ I have two dogs (seen here) and one spouse (not seen here).

𝖎𝖔𝖘𝖊𝖕𝖍𝖛𝖘 𝖇𝖎𝖇𝖑𝖎𝖔𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖈𝖆𝖗𝖎𝖛𝖘 Jun 8

Recent home library acquisition:

📖 Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald

#bookstodon #essays #helenmacdonald

Longreads Jun 5

"Deep down, I think we all sensed the ways that Jackass, as we saw it, was a kind of community-building, of getting closer to those you love by partaking in the stupidest, most humiliating, most dangerous acts imaginable. " — Natalie Marlin for Bright Wall/Dark Room

https://www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2025/05/30/laughing-with-the-pain?src=longreads

#jackass #movies #essays #transgender

Jackass: Laughing With the Pain

A different lens on film

Bright Wall/Dark Room

formuchdeliberation Jun 4

Why ‘ocean time’ reveals new ways of seeing the world | Aeon Essays…

An appreciation of the immensity embedded in the ocean’s cycles offers a way to reimagine our relationship with time... #oceans #water #essays #environment #time

https://formuchdeliberation.wordpress.com/2025/06/04/why-ocean-time-reveals-new-ways-of-seeing-the-world-aeon-essays/

Why ‘ocean time’ reveals new ways of seeing the world | Aeon Essays…

An appreciation of the immensity embedded in the ocean’s cycles offers a way to reimagine our relationship with time… #oceans #water #essays #environment #time

for much deliberation

Aurianne Or Jun 4

#BertrandRussell, In Praise of #Idleness and Other #Essays, #1932: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Praise_of_Idleness_and_Other_Essays

In Praise of Idleness and Other Essays - Wikipedia

N-gated Hacker News Jun 3

Behold, the riveting revelation that #essays should tell us things we don't know! 🤯 But wait, there's more: sometimes people don't know things because... *drumroll*... they're not important! 🚗💨 Prepare for a #groundbreaking journey through the cosmos of trivial #car #trivia, because apparently, #epiphanies are just one obscure model away. 🌌✨
https://paulgraham.com/field.html #knowledge #importance #HackerNews #ngated

The Shape of the Essay Field

Sidequest Jun 2

Final Fantasy VII Confronts Capitalism: Tifa Lockhart vs. Medical Debt

Tifa Lockhart never had any intention of changing the world, but as the Final Fantasy VII Remake prequel novel Traces of Two Pasts demonstrates, sometimes the start of something big is as easy as offering a welcoming space (and perhaps a drink) to a friend who could use a

https://sidequest.zone/2025/06/02/final-fantasy-vii-confronts-capitalism/

#Essays #VideoGames #FinalFantasyVII #TifaLockhart #TracesOfTwoPasts

Longreads May 30

"I cherished the whole sequin-heavy, three-hour, glittery, multicultural spectacle that was our continent’s pop music Olympics." #longreads @vesnajaksic @ElectricLit

https://electricliterature.com/eurovision-reminds-me-of-a-country-that-no-longer-exists/?src=longreads

#longreads #nonfiction #eurovision #essays #europe #immigration

Eurovision Reminds Me of a Country That No Longer Exists - Electric Literature

Europe’s pop music Olympics makes me nostalgic for my motherland before war splintered it

Electric Literature

Longreads May 29

"While his father was supposedly driving Porsches and cashing paychecks from GQ Magazine, Thompson was growing up the only son of a nurse in Anchorage." —Will Steinfield for Chilkat Valley News

https://www.chilkatvalleynews.com/2025/05/15/haines-man-finds-long-lost-father-in-scotland/?src=longreads

#longreads #family #essays #nonfiction