The writing process
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On fire myths and the origin of knowledge
EDIT 5/4/2018: a finished essay based on this research was published here. If you’re writing about conflicts between religious and scientific worldviews, there is absolutely no reason why you’d be forced to write about fire. But, c’mon… fire is cool. Eventually you probably would. While researching myths about the origin of fire, I realized that…
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On killer line breaks.
Tracy K. Smith’s poetry collection Life on Mars is excellent, combining bursts of science-fiction weirdness with totally non-speculative emotional clarity. If you chance upon a copy, you might try flipping to her poems “The Museum of Obselencence,” or “Sci-Fi,” or “My God, It’s Full of Stars,” particularly the fifth strophe of that last one; those are…
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On Alice Goffman’s ‘On the Run’ and extrapolate-able truth.
Many people have criticized Alice Goffman’s ethnography On the Run. The first set of criticisms I noticed were from people who claimed that she misrepresented black urban life by studying the particular group of people on whom she centered her book (examples here and here). Now Goffman is being accused of felony-level crimes and, by virtue…
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On Boyhood (the film), specifically the eleven seconds between 2:34:11 and 2:34:22.
One quick remark before I launch into this essay: I typically type these while N is playing at the YMCA, so I had to take several screenshots of the film before coming here so I could consult them alongside my other notes. But Apple’s built-in screencapture won’t function if the DVD player is open; I’d…
Adele Exarchopoulos, appearance changes after ingesting psychedelics, Blue Is the Warmest Color, Boxtrolls, Boyhood, cinema, computer workarounds, criticism, Do No Harm, Family of the Year, film, fire hydrant photographs, fire hydrants, harms caused by U.S. drug policy, Hero, hydrants, iminent arrival of Gargantua, intentional lack of functionality, Jack Kerouack, losing good words, On the Road, philosophy of the present moment, photography, psilocin, psilocybin, puberty as a special effect, screencapture with DVD player open, special effects, sucks, The Dreamers, the loneliness of artistic pursuits, unintentionally homophobic language, unintentionally misogynistic language -
On biomedical research (and why I no longer do it).
Getting a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Stanford is excellent preparation for two careers. One, becoming a research professor at one of our nation’s universities, in which case you get to help mint more Ph.D.s because the workforce employed by research professors is primarily composed of doctoral candidates. Two, conducting bioscience science research at one of…
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On burial rites … and a meaningful life.
And now… a super-cheerful essay to celebrate my 32nd birthday! If you’re writing about conflicts between religious and scientific worldviews, eventually you get stuck writing about death. Within many religious frameworks, inevitable death lurking somewhere down the line doesn’t alter the meaning of the life that comes before it. I’m typing this essay during the gap…
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On perpetual motion machines (and where to find them).
The invention of a perpetual motion machine will revolutionize the world, and Dr. Harvey Trussbloom has done it! Well, perhaps he didn’t invent it, but he found it. Or, no, not quite found it, but he knows where it is. Roughly. Although perhaps it isn’t entirely accurate to refer to it as a “perpetual motion machine.” …
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On secular humanism.
After no more than three pages of Philip Kitcher’s Life After Faith, a sentence gave me pause. “Secular humanism begins, after all, with doubt.” I had never heard the phrase “secular humanism” before arriving at college. The first time was two months into fall quarter my freshman year, sitting in the dining hall near the…
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On minotaurs (and whether or not mothers are the root of all maladies).
While reading Eula Biss’s On Immunity, I was often reminded of Rebecca Kukla’s Mass Hysteria. Both works analyze the permeability of bodies, especially mothers and children, while drawing from literature, philosophy, and medicine. Their major divergence is in tone; Kukla’s work can veer academic (which I enjoy, being a pedantic fuddyduddy myself); Biss’s writing is…
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On redaction as art and Guantánamo Diary.
Guantánamo Diary is a hard book to write about. It was a hard book to read, honestly. Not because the language is difficult. It isn’t. Not because it’s poorly written. It isn’t. Not even because numerous words and sentences and sometimes entire pages are elided; that takes some getting used to, but eventually creates an…
Frank Brown Cloud 