by Barrett Hathcock, who believes in silence, exile, and humming
Sure, the movie was fine, but I couldn’t buy Zendaya as Athena. Every time she popped onscreen, I thought, Hey, there’s Spiderman’s girlfriend again. I didn’t really have this problem with the other actors. I believed Matt Damon as Odysseus. He was stoic and brooding and exuded a type of weathered concrete utilitariness, a certain Continue reading Odyssey of a face
The father was at work. The father was always at work. Once, before their second had come, the father and the mother and their then only child, aged two, drove by the father’s work — it was referred to as a campus though he was not a teacher — and their daughter said, Daddy lives? Continue reading A Fair to Middling Day for Bananafish
I was ranting to a friend about something and she said, so do you like anything? And it arrested me, because as I get older I do increase my list of dislikes, my discovery of areas that contain room for improvement, my recommendations subtle and not, perceived slights, accumulated grievances, clearly articulated affronts. What do Continue reading What’s not to like?
You’re going to want to eat some ice cream during your visit. Trust me. There are all kinds of variations so go to a big shop. Baskin Robbins is fine. No need to be too precious about it your first time. Everything gets complicated fast enough. Basically it’s milk that’s been churned and chilled, almost Continue reading Dear Aliens
I try not to be superstitious, honest, but as one gets older they creep in. It’s like when people once referred to diseases by whispering, or the way some people pray before take-off. Mostly foolish. Mostly harmless, a small dam against the unknowable and uncontrollable. But there is one medieval, superstitious belief I hold onto Continue reading The curse of spring
Yesterday Anne Trubek, founder and publisher of Belt Publishing, posted the provocatively titled “Are Agents Now The Real Publishers? And Are Publishers Making Themselves Redundant?” Her premise is that publishing is itself a creative act, and she thinks through how a publisher might differentiate itself from others, and where creativity lies within the Rube Goldberg Continue reading Artistic…
The other day on Substack Ross Barkan wrote a note about Ben Lerner and how he didn t publish frequently and how that surprised him — how back in the good old days successful writers published a book every couple of years. And he’s right. People don’t seem to publish as often now. I was reminded Continue reading In it to win it
I love the feeling of commerce in the morning. Grabbing a bagel at the coffee shop, stopping off at the drive-thru bank teller, booking a car while briskly walking to an elevator in a distant city. I don’t know. It gets my small-town, merchant-blood flowing. It s my middle-aged belief that all real business transpires before Continue reading Commerce in the morning
Privacy by Molly Young2025 It’s a short novella-length memoir derived from the journal she kept while pregnant. Her wit sparkles throughout. It’s basically a normal pregnancy, punctuated by her particular sensibility, until the post-pregnancy hemorrhage that almost kills her, which she narrates in a surprisingly brisk and unemotional fashion. Perhaps all that’s occluded here is Continue reading…
Once again I am deeply disappointed in my home printer. Everyone talking directly to a camera, holding a gimmicky, small microphone, explainitorializing. My review of all modern tacos: entirely too much crema. All software is too slow. When people show me their AI creations, I feel embarrassed for them. New York Review of Gift Guides Continue reading Against coherence, part II