Brief Encounters

A Marx for All Seasons

“An Internet dominated by the profit motive is also an Internet that violates our privacy, amplifies right-wing propaganda, and intensifies various kinds of social inequalities.”

September 16, 2023

Le Boxeur

“For several years I trained five or six times a week, not counting the jogging sessions. I felt in control, disciplined, and very focused. I could face any difficulty.”

September 9, 2023

Guardian of Memory

“We cannot tell the story if we do not recognize how the past changes as we try to seize and fix it.”

September 2, 2023

Standing Up to Scrutiny

“In poetry there are never exciting trends, only exciting individuals.”

August 26, 2023

The Decadent Life of the Mind

“There aren’t a lot of freelance philosophers in the world anymore. I can wake up in the morning, dream up any text I like of any length and any degree of complexity, in any style and on any topic, and just sit down and write it.”

August 19, 2023

History’s Presence

“There is a growing public historical consciousness; the past and its meaning is, in a visceral way, part of political debate and social life.”

August 12, 2023

Gesture and Line

“My memory and my imagination merge at the very moment I draw.”

July 29, 2023

Unheard Melodies

“I think narrative is underused in poetry, but I also think I understand why it’s underused—it became exhausted.”

July 22, 2023

A Ghibli Girlhood

“Learning the conditions under which a beloved childhood movie was made can be a loss of innocence, but in the case of Miyazaki, that’s exactly what the films are about.”

July 15, 2023

The Human Landscape

“I try to avoid divisive political or activist narratives that condescend to underserved people. What if we immerse readers in slowness rather than the spectacle of disaster?”

July 8, 2023