Silver Linings (66) Dante’s Bones

A virus projected to kill off half the world’s population is set to be released within 24 hours. A demoniacal billionaire geneticist created the pathogen in order to solve the world’s overpopulation problem. Dante’s apocalyptic vision of the underworld swirls around the race to find the virus, a crucial clue to the evil plan hidden …

Silver Linings (65) The Lyric Essence of the Moment

I want to recommend four classic short stories I have recently read or listened to that, though written long ago, capture, in their own particular and peculiar way, "The lyric essence of the moment," a phrase taken from... Willa Cather's short story "A Death in the Desert" which I listened to this morning on The …

Silver Linings (64) The King’s Highway

Please join me tonight for a discussion with my colleague, the brilliant cartoonist and 18th-century literature scholar, Andrew Dicus, who has just published the perfect book for our times. You can RSVP here.

Silver Linings (63) Princeton Public Library

Growing up, Princeton Public Library is where I dreamed of living. I spent so many afternoons there after school waiting for my mother to finish work, wishing she would be late, which she always was, so I could keep wandering among the stacks surrounded by books, whom I considered to be my closest friends. At …

Silver Linings (62) More On How We White People (Even With The Best Intentions) Continue To Uphold White Supremacy Culture And How We Can Educate Ourselves Not To And Take Action

On my run today, I listened to this excellent, revelatory  podcast, entitled "Race Traitor: Who Taught You To Be White?" the first of a miniseries, from The Heart, a community of writers, radio makers, and artists committed to radical feminist artmaking.  I highly recommend it. And I also recommend this article on the history of …

Silver Linings (61) On Doing Battle (In Gratitude) With Life’s Irreducible Darkness

Over the weekend, Erin, in London, sent me this powerful, heartening essay entitled "Why Some of Us Thrive in a Crisis" by Vivian Gornick. In it, Gornick turns to Natalia Ginzburg in search of some understanding of what is happening to us in this very strange time. Ginzburg speaks to me at all times, but …

Silver Linings (60) The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Big Read

At a semi-regular Zoom quarantini with Ann Goldstein and Mary Norris, something I look forward to all week (although what's a week anymore?), I learned from Ann that Mary had recently written about The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Big Read. What's that? I asked, intrigued. Mary told me, humbly and with a laugh, to …

Silver Linings (59) Tell Me About A Complicated Man & Persephone Books

I am a huge fan of Emily Wilson--and was beyond honored to see my name next to hers in the Guggenheim Fellowship translation category. How she thinks about, and advocates for, translation has done so much for the art and practice. She has also, with her translation of The Odyssey, led us to rethinking how …

Silver Linings (58) The New Covid Music

Sent to me by Rick, this little clip of Somi is so uplifting! "Somi's songs gracefully fuse African-tinged grooves, supple jazz singing and compassionate social consciousness; they're both serious and seductive."  -The New York Times The Baryshnikov Arts Center has been offering a weekly video series of performances from their archives including this one from …

Silver Linings (57) The New COVID Nature

On my run in Riverside Park yesterday evening, I came across Rocky Raccoon observing from his perch the new world of masked humans. He, of course, believes he's responsible for this new fashion trend. When I'm not outside in the overcrowded park where I am dodging bikers, scooters, and fellow runners, I am enjoying nature …