Required Reading. For a laugh. I am probably one of the most awkward people on the face of the planet when it comes to flirting interactions. Of course, the fact that 90% of the time I am entirely unaware that flirting is occurring likely does not help my case. This, plus a recent situation involving my friend being unable to figure out how to respond to “you have lovely eyes”, mean that “How To Respond When You Suspect Someone Is Flirting” by Mallory Ortberg seriously delights me. I’m probably just going to memorize this list for future use. “Thank you for your time and for your goodwill.” “I am happy…

“The Writer” by Richard Wilbur. I’ve loved this poem for a long time, and have some very fond associations with it. To be honest, however, I hadn’t thought about it in a very long while. Then, the other day, a series of internet rabbit holes somehow miraculously led me back to it. This was delightful not only because it reminded me of this piece, but also because internet rabbit holes usually lead to the scariest parts of the internet, so this was a far more pleasant outcome.   The Writer Richard Wilbur   In her room at the prow of the house Where light breaks, and the windows are tossed…

Required Reading. One of the poems in one of the collections I am working on in my dissertation (assuming the dissertation becomes something real and not another failed project, for if I collect anything at all it is failed projects and this one is starting to seem like it may be another piece for my collection) is “The Heart” by Souvankham Thammavongsa, from Found. This poem is particularly striking. I don’t know what to do with it yet, but it resonates with me. I’ve tried to replicate it here as best I can, but you should really pick up the book itself. It’s beautiful.   THE HEART,   the real   heart,…

Required Reading. McSweeney’s is so frequently spot on with their content, and this piece is no exception. I cannot quite explain how accurate I find this article. And I so enjoy the names for the various panic attacks. Broti Gupta’s “My Panic Attacks: A Performance Review“. WORK PRODUCT In Q1, Broti’s panic attacks were timely, well-organized, and produced outstanding work, including Making Broti Cry During a Charmin Commercial and Broti Asking a FedEx Employee If He Was Mad at Her. After Zoloft was brought on there were a few bumps in the road (Broti Breathes Deeply and Counts to Ten, and Broti Chooses Not to Eat the Cheez-Its She Found in Bed), but recently the drug has been…

Required Reading. I came across this story a few weeks ago. It’s quiet and heartbreaking and powerful. “Winter of Departures” by Susanna Kwan. Recently, at a neighbor’s memorial, I saw a young man in uniform press a button inside the barrel of his bugle, his white gloves bright against the polished yellow metal, before bringing the instrument to his lips and filling the cemetery with the sound of “Taps.” During the minute the song played, the muscles in his cheeks and neck did not move. No one else seemed to notice it was a recording. Another man in uniform presented the family with a flag folded into a soft-cornered triangle…

Required Reading. I am in the midst of one of those weeks that is low on sleep, high on coffee and worries and tears. When life gets like this I start to wonder if maybe, just maybe, I should have chosen to be someone else, some other version of myself. This piece somehow understands that. Hallie Cantor’s “Types of Women I Could Be, But Am Not“. I could be a woman who works at a cozy coffee shop where the baked goods are actually good. My warm smile would offer my customers a tiny emotional oasis from the bustling “rat race” of their regular lives. I would have only a…

Required Reading. I think everyone who loves books has specific authors that they return to over and over again. And I think that each of these authors is returned to for a very specific set of reasons. I return to Rebecca Lee frequently, most often to her short stories, though this is perhaps a feature of my lack of time than of an particular preference for her short stories over her novels. And I turn to her frequently because she is one of a handful of writers who writes supremely, darkly, complicated-ly real characters. This is the story “Bobcat” from her collection Bobcat and Other Stories, a collection that I picked…