Or another flavor of accelerationism, in the public health sphere

Honestly, I think it's simpler than people can even imagine. He's incapable of producing complex meaning. He's merely repeating the only other "Crockett" he's ever heard of. Like a 2-yr-old first hearing it and then it's "poopy poopy poopy" all the time. Though racist intent is always his default.

The importance of/how to write thank-you and condolence notes

Kory Stamper’s True Color | The Brooklyn Rail Outlandish as it may sound, Kory Stamper has now given us a spiritedly breathless account of the effort to define thousands of different colors—define, as in “dictionary entry.”

What a blessing to read about something, anything, that doesn't have to do with the idiot-in-chief. Take the relief of Kory Stamper's marvelously diverting "True Color." @aaknopf.bsky.social My review for Brooklyn Rail:
brooklynrail.org/2026/04/book...

I wholeheartedly concur--reading it now, and it's fab.

Television: Fly on the Wall | Vogue | JUNE 1993

Frederick Wiseman shaped documentary into something singular, transcendent. Here's my piece on him for Vogue lo these many years ago . . .
archive.vogue.com/article/1993...

Democracy Dies And some of us become homeless

Sorta had to . . .
open.substack.com/pub/melissah...

For almost a decade I've reviewed books for the Washington Post, under four editors, all of them excellent. I believe our moment may be that of the death of the book. The axing of Book World is a symptom and not a cause. But we will understand the devastating effects only in hindsight, too late.

Well, until today I guess, I reviewed for WaPo and still do for Brooklyn Rail and (I hope) Hyperallergic.

Yes, not one doubt in my mind. He's personality disordered + racist = burn-the-world-down rage. And then . . . he got mercilessly dragged on social media for taking Machado's Nobel. He saw that. Hence the timing of this letter: he went from prideful glee to fury within days because of humiliation.

Spot on (as always). To draw out your analogy a bit further, the Democrats are fighting the Confederacy of the Republicans, and their task is nothing less than to preserve the Union and defeat slavery. Only the boldness of a Grant will do.

Bring me no more reports, let them fly all.

On Desecration Had to forcibly pull myself away tonight from the ongoing revelations in the release of new Epstein emails—the most-binged miniseries are inevitably about depravity underlaying the highest echelons of...

open.substack.com/pub/melissah...

29 bells.

Thanks for this info! I've got four.

Black-and-white glamour shot of the actress Claudia Cardinale in Luchino Visconti's movie "The Leopard"

In memoriam Claudia Cardinale. Reprising my appreciation of "The Leopard," in which she was perfection itself, for @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social

lareviewofbooks.org/article/pass...

Rebecca Solnit commented that it sounded like it was written by Edith Wharton.

Me three.

An announcement for an online writing class: "Writer's Math: When to Add, When to Subtract." Full details at writersinthemountains.org

Interesting. Every class I teach is on a subject I often struggle with myself. Come struggle with me?

I'm glad you mentioned this. My first question was, Wait--my publisher holds the rights to the books of mine that are on the list, so they'll take the money, right?

Can anyone answer for me: If an author's book is still in print or the rights have not reverted to the author, then does this mean the settlement monies go only to the publisher?

Lots of parallels between your circumstances and mine! I anticipate going indie with my next book(s), after losing my mainstream publisher, then my agent. 2 thoughts occur: I believe indies are publishing the best lit right now, hands down; the bigger indies don't accept unagented mss. Bit of a fix.

Kate Zambreno’s Animal Stories | The Brooklyn Rail Rare among contemporary writers, Kate Zambreno does not produce books that are “about” one subject, or even three or four. They are about themselves. As well as about an infinitude.

Looking at Kate Zambreno looking at a subject (which is looking!) was a heady experience.
@transitbooks.bsky.social

brooklynrail.org/2025/09/book...

But do you like to bite off the little tip, then the middle, and see if the different colors taste different?? That's the proper way.

Clash Books is another!

Review | ‘Greyhound’ sees America changing through the bus windows Joanna Pocock’s memoir is about her travels from Detroit to California in 2023, retracing a trip she had taken 17 years earlier.

I was so happy to get the chance to write about @joannapocock.bsky.social‬ 's profound examination of America's ailing heartland. One more in my list of proofs that it is publishers like Soft Skull putting out the most daring and accomplished writing today.

Got 2 this morning! There's a strange desperation afoot in the land of books . . .

The ego fragility with this guy is mind-blowing. And his toadies stand around nodding their heads to his claims of being better at everything than anyone who ever lived. That this is what a once-serious govt has been reduced to has destroyed my understanding of reality.

This is a "breaking news" email from the Washington Post, saying Trump just fired the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner after it reported lower job numbers than he liked.

This made me laugh out loud. There, that should take care of it! We'll live in the land of make-believe when he gets someone to fabricate better numbers. Hysterical.

Incredibly powerful. Very glad it's out there in the world.