Top stories published by Grabbag and Chills in 2018

“Peter knows where he stands. He remembers multiple factories and small businesses “shutting down or laying off. Next thing you know, half of downtown” in the bigger…

Jess Brooks in Grabbag and Chills

Mar 19, 2018

“How Capicola Became Gabagool: The Italian New Jersey Accent, Explained”

“The basic story is this: Italy is a very young country made up of many very old kingdoms awkwardly stapled together to make a patchwork whole. Before 1861, these different kingdoms — Sardinia, Rome…

Jess Brooks in Grabbag and Chills

May 21, 2018

“‘Let me reverse your threat’: how ‘bullying’ Roald Dahl was fired by his publisher”

“Gottlieb was Jewish, and Dahl was openly anti-semitic. The British author didn’t respect his editor, and undermined his knowledge of modern art. He was belligerent to him, and his…

Jess Brooks in Grabbag and Chills

Jun 4, 2018

“Ask Polly: Am I Too Intense to Have Close Friends?”

““People I want as friends/boyfriends don’t want me” is the same kind of story, one that allows you to sulk instead of continuing to open your heart to yourself and others. This is your belief system: Your tragic ending is already…

Jess Brooks in Grabbag and Chills

Mar 25, 2018

“Ask Polly: How Do I Dump My Crappy Best Friend?”

“At the center of this bizarre reenactment is one driving assumption: “I am someone who deserves punishment. If I were better, this person wouldn’t reject me and treat me like toe cheese.” This belief makes it incredibly tough to confront the…

Jess Brooks in Grabbag and Chills

Jun 18, 2018

“How non-English speakers are taught this crazy English grammar rule you know but have never heard of”

“Adjectives, writes the author, professional stickler Mark Forsyth, “absolutely have to be in this order…

Jess Brooks in Grabbag and Chills

Jun 6, 2018

“Does Chinese Civilization Come From Ancient Egypt?”

“In the past year, Sun, a highly decorated scientist, has ignited a passionate online debate with claims that the founders of Chinese civilization were not in any sense Chinese but actually migrants from Egypt. He conceived of this…

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Jess Brooks in Grabbag and Chills

Oct 15, 2018

“From Prison to Ph.D.: The Redemption and Rejection of Michelle Jones”

“With the help of a state librarian, she and another inmate realized that a Catholic laundry house that opened around that time in Indianapolis was actually a reformatory for “fallen women” — those convicted…

Jess Brooks in Grabbag and Chills

Jul 18, 2018

“Does your accent make you sound smarter?”

“Linguist and author Rosina Lippi-Green refers to this as “the standard language ideology”, where many people believe the dialect with the highest social prestige is also the only correct and valid form of the language. In fact, all dialects and accents…

Jess Brooks in Grabbag and Chills

Jan 1, 2018

“MY STRUGGLE WITH AMERICAN SMALL TALK”

“American life is based on a reassurance that we like one another but won’t violate one another’s privacies. This makes it a land of small talk. Two people greet each other happily, with friendliness, but might know each other for years before venturing basic…

2017

2019

These were the top 10 stories published by Grabbag and Chills in 2018. You can also dive into monthly archives for 2018 by using the calendar at the top of this page.

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Grabbag and Chills

Politics, history, philosophy, my favorite pieces of internet candy, and other things that I can’t squeeze into my other publications

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