Some things I've read recently
On Cohost, and then on Downpour, I would collect things I have recently read and that I think are worth other people reading. I haven't done so for a while. Here's a few:
More than once, Murata drew me a diagram illustrating her writing process. It showed a standing figure (“novelist Murata”) at a table in a lab; lying on the table was an identical figure, cut into pieces (“human Murata”). Various boxes contained body parts and organs. At the top of the page was a glass cube: the clean, sanitized aquarium. The way it worked, Murata explained, was that novelist Murata dissected human Murata. Aspects of human Murata “crystallized” in the aquarium, where new characters came to life and interacted. The characters, the story itself, were living. “They wriggle, they move, they surprise me,” Murata said.
A long profile on Sayaka Murata by Elif Batuman.
Elif Batuman
During the Cold War era, I think the infrastructure necessary to produce “consensus,” as well as other products like “the monoculture” and “liberal soft power,” existed primarily outside the United States, in countries like Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. As long as these smaller, more homogenous countries enjoyed American military protection, they could afford to invest deeply in education, social programs, and domestic cultural production. American liberals in particular, I think, became very reliant on these countries for cultural and political leadership.
A long essay on cultural production, America versus the rest of the anglosphere, the BBC and pirate radios, CanCon rules, things of that nature. I think Jaime Brooks is one of the most insightful writers about the structure of music in the present day. Maybe also read this one?
jaime brooks
Today, you'd list your first shiny Pokemon for, probably, Raging Bolt - the weird giraffe Pokemon at the top of this post. Once someone gives you a Raging Bolt, you'll search for the shinies you want and see if any have been listed by a person who is seeking Raging Bolt. Someone probably will be. You'll make that trade, and now the player you traded with has a fungible Raging Bolt to use for whatever purpose they desire.
On the fungibility of Pokemon
This is the eighth floor of the Al-Ahli Memorial Library, my favorite place in the building. When the elevator door opens, it’s like walking into a quiet circle of glass. So, as we walk, I’m going to whisper. People are reading, writing, drawing—it’s such a beautiful place to work. I’m probably the luckiest librarian in the world.
Content warning for... well, for Gaza, really. This is an astonishing piece of science fiction, astonishing because of what it faces head on, and astonishing in the hope it dares to have. I am so glad to have read it. I hope it is prophetic.
Wendy Wagner
A third characteristic of adults' talk to children is deliberate and obvious lying. The teacher-testers frequently try to force answers to known-answer questions by claiming that they don't know things which they plainly do. As the children follow the strategy of saying as little as possible to stay out of trouble, they frequently answer with "Uh-huh" or a shake of the head. The teacher could simply point out that the tape recorder wouldn't pick that up. But instead she says, "I don't know what uh-huh means." A few minutes later we hear:
Teacher: Is Jerry your brother?
Child: Yeh.
Teacher: Uh-huh.
A beautiful paper from the late William Labov which touches on racism, lying to children and rabbits.
https://betsysneller.github.io/pdfs/Labov1966-Rabbit.pdf
Well, that's more than enough, especially as so many of them are so long. I saved too many up!