March 2012
55 posts
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Kurt Vonnegut: The Art of Fiction No. 64 →
longformorg:
This interview with Kurt Vonnegut was originally a composite of four interviews done with the author over the past decade. The composite has gone through an extensive working over by the subject himself, who looks upon his own spoken words on the page with considerable misgivings … indeed, what follows can be considered an interview conducted with himself, by himself.
David...
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The Jimmy McNulty Gambit →
longformorg:
Jimmy McNulty, Mike Daisey, and the problems with skirting the system to get to the greater truth.
Aaron Bady | The New Inquiry | MAR 2012
Oh boy. Juxtapose The Wire and nearly anything and we’ll swoon.
“Keep an audio book or two on your iPhone. Periodically I take the largest of my...”
– The Way We Read Now by Dwight Garner (via millionsmillions)
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“Santorum’s lament is that college threatens to undo the brainwashing that came...”
– Paula Cohen counters Rick Santorum’s claim about college and brainwashing. Read.
: Happy Birthday, Philip Roth! →
nationalbook:
“We hear the questions all the time. Should the writer teach English composition or shouldn’t he? Should the writer accept the money of some dead tycoon or shouldn’t he? Is it worse from a dead tycoon or a live tycoon? Should the writer smoke marijuana or shouldn’t he? Can he survive in New…
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“Summers in Portland, you can’t walk out the door without tripping over a public...”
– William Deresiewicz on civic duty and festivals in Portland. Read.
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Bosco Enriquez Was Beaten and Raped After Helping... →
longformorg:
His horror story is emblematic of a bigger problem that lawmakers in Florida and across the nation have only recently begun to recognize: Cops employ confidential informants — sometimes very young ones — to bust criminals. But there’s little oversight, and the result of police carelessness can be horrific.
Chuck Strouse | Miami New Times | March 2012
This story is tragic.
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“People tend to be far more tolerant of variable spellings (and probably...”
– Jessica Love talks about language, and the 20-odd variants of “caddy-corner.” Read.
10 Excellent Essays About Words →
tetw:
A Tetw reading list
How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read by Pierre Bayard - Not reading is our main way of relating to most literature, find out how to make the most of your ignorance.
Tense Present by David Foster Wallace - In one of his finest essays, DFW reviews a dictionary of English usage, thereby tackling everything from democracy and free will to racism in academia.
The...
“The Internet has been amazing for book talk. There is more of it, and at a...”
– Dave Daley
Thanks for the shout!
(via millionsmillions)
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In which a Goldman Sachs executive director... →
section9:
inothernews:
This is incredible. Please go read it.
Wow. I was not expecting that.
“I don’t write merely to rub two pennies together; I write because I want to have...”
– Alexis Madrigal (via soupsoup)
This is a great piece.
The Sure Thing →
tetw:
by Malcolm Gladwell
The truly successful businessman is anything but a risk-taker. He is a predator, and predators always try to incur the least risk possible.
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“[A teacher’s] sense of self is constantly being bolstered and shredded as...”
– Paula Cohen discusses the psychology of teaching. Read.
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“It’s not about morality; it’s about devotion to the absolute. He doesn’t create...”
– William Deresiewicz on photographer Bill Cunningham. Read.
“I wonder how many people I’ve looked at all my life and never seen.”
– John Steinbeck (via flying-paper-fish)
“What That Puppy Photo on Pinterest Says About the Future of the Internet”
– Morning read from The Atlantic. (via theatlantic)
Longform narrative co-existing with the visual age. Right on.
“Quadrille paper always reminds me of France, where I bought similar notebooks...”
– Michael Dirda reflects on old notebooks, growing up, and paper. Read more.
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“In another similar study, participants who had watched the Oprah clip spent...”
– What do Oprah Winfrey, David Attenborough and altruism have in common?
Brave New World vs. 1984
harperacademic:
“Dear Mr. Orwell,” starts a fascinating letter from Aldous Huxley to George Orwell.
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“We have forgotten that schools must teach not only what students want to learn...”
– Umberto Eco
Paula Cohen attacks the philosopher’s views on political correctness. Read.
“I became intensely aware of things: the trees, the angle of sun, the curvature...”
– An epileptic explains the first few surreal seconds before a seizure hits. Keep reading . . (via utnereader)
“The celebrity-industrial complex is a real phenomenon, and a big part of the...”
– Cord Jefferson, Good. We Were Offered 10 Minutes with Bono—Why We Didn’t Care. (via futurejournalismproject)
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“Celebrity is modern divinity. I’m always struck by this especially in places...”
– William Deresiewicz casts his critical eye on Hollywood and the nature of beauty. Read.
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F. Scott Fitzgerald on Ernest Hemingway and vice...
In a letter dated February 7, 1936—right after the first “Crack-Up” piece was published—Hemingway complains to Perkins that Fitzgerald “seems to almost take a pride in his shamelessness of defeat. The Esquire pieces seem to me to be so miserable. There is another one coming. I always knew he couldn’t think—he never could—but he had a marvelous talent and the thing is to use it—not whine in...
