Sunday Content #6: September 13, 2015
A non-emailed newsletter curated by Sandra Allen
Hey look it’s this guy:
You’ve probably seen some write ups or watched some clips (here are three good ones if you haven’t) from the Late Show, which has finally premiered. The Colbert link I’m most eager to share here isn’t from that. It’s an hour-long recording of him reading “The Enduring Chill” by Flannery O’Connor, which was just put up but taped back in the Colbeard Era.
I listened to it while running this week. I’m alright with summer but I’m also always happy when it’s done. I don’t like being sweaty and I do like wearing black and gray and drapey things. First dead leaves and a dramatic dreariness in the sky brought me great joy, as did listening to this story, both because of the quality of his performance and the vicious power of O’Connor’s observations and prose, and because this is a story about a (displaced Southern) white American who understands that racism exists but doesn’t know what to do about it and what things he is doing aren’t right and he is too obsessed with himself to realize it. I love how all of her characters are garbage and the narration knows it.
Coupla of links about how ~academia is broken~:
The University of Iowa’s ‘spensive and unqualified new president is remodeling his house and office for $2.4 million dollars (on behalf of the taxpayers and indebted students and alumni, you’re welcome, sir!) and he wrote asking his staff to brainstorm new ways to generate revenue.
A professor discusses several decades of teaching slavery to college students:
And here’s a piece of “crit lit ” published on Vox by another professor who’s quitting his tenure track job. It includes a plainly stated and persuasive explanation as to why and how the university system needs to be reformed.
(He previously wrote this confession about being a grade inflator; it rang true to experiences I had as a TA and an adjunct.)
An essay mentioned in the trend piece above that I like was written a while ago by my friend and former colleague Anne Helen Petersen. She’s someone you should follow on Twitter, if you don’t already. Her Longform episode is also v good. Here’s her latest, a profile of Alison Brie. (Peter!)
On the topic of poet Michael Derrick Hudson’s act of ignorant/lazy/racist/creepy/??? literary fraud, I’d recommend you read Hua Hsu’s essay at the New Yorker:
and Jenny Zhang’s at BuzzFeed Books:
which had this marvelous illustration by Will Varner:
Also at the New Yorker, a farewell to Key and Peele.
It’s been seven years since David Foster Wallace’s death. Why not (re)read his piece about tennis and physics.
Why not (re)read John Jeremiah Sullivan on the Williams sisters, while you’re at it.
#trend #alert:
Three recent examples of investigative / depressing / nerdy journalism presented in digitally innovative ways: ProPublica’s interactive tracking student debt by institution and degree; the Marshall Project’s multimedia presentation that count downs to the next people to be put to death by the American government in real time; and the Lenny Kravitz penis copyright law violation quiz at Vice’s Motherboard.
I’m still not over that GIF.
Cool things:
Matter is running a lot of stories created by and about trans people this month. Here’s an essay about the project by editor Meredith Talusan.
Lindy West wrote a great response to the Dear Fat people video (because that was a thing someone thought should exist):
(ICYMI: her TAL segment in which she confronted a troll so nasty he’d impersonated her recently deceased father online.)
I liked this Vanity Fair profile of Bill DeBlasio.
Read this poem called “Pause” by Mary Ruefle in Granta.
Read this lyric essay called “I hoisted them, two drug dealers, I guess that’s what they were,” by Diane Seuss in Brevity.
The Wallcreeper is as amazing as everybody says.
Diary of a Teenage Girl is as amazing as everybody says.
Some of you know I ran a little magazine for some years and this week we released our twentieth and final issue. I’ve been yammering about it nonstop on Twitter since (sry) so, briefly: from the latest issue, here’s an essay I wrote about the project, and an interview with Saeed Jones, and another with interview with Paul Ford, and an essay by Doreen St. Félix and weird art.
One thing I’ve been meaning to say: you should just start a magazine if you want to. Or a reading series or a Tumblr or a bot or whatever it is you want to make to say the things you want to say to who you want. It’s work to do it right (and we did just okay) but it’s a really great experience if you are sick of waiting for other people to tell you whether or not you can make the art you like.
I’ve cared about creating and promoting good writing on the internet for a while but I’m not perfect at all. I only want to do this if it’s fun for me and you. So thanks to those of you who’ve been reading this new little experiment and I welcome any feedback. You can now follow this non-emailed newsletter on Twitter and Facebook or email sundaycontent@gmail.com.
xo,
Sandra
p.s. http://paintwithdonaldtrump.com/
p.p.s. Here’s the trailer for Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Atlantic cover story about the black family in the age of incarceration, which publishes Tuesday.
