(For my students in Fall 2026 and beyond, from the revised introduction to my next book.) When we remember, when we try harder, when we feel joy, when we think and dwell in moments that stretch us, we build capacity. In my teaching and life, capacity means the kind of inner energy and reserve you […]
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In the 1790s, as William and Catherine Blake were living in Lambeth, printing Visions of the Daughters of Albion, Songs of Experience, and the engraving commissions that made them, for a little while at least, relatively prosperous, they would have had an unusual neighbor – London’s first circus, a fifteen-minute walk from their house. Astley’s Amphitheatre, […]
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Decorah No Kings, Saturday, October 18, 2025. Crowd numbers: At least 1,000, estimated. The courthouse lawn was full. Weather: Warm, clear blue sky, golden October light. Signs: Cleanup on Aisle 47! No Kings or Drama Queens (with pouting Trump in 18th-c. wig) No King but King Jesus (on a stroller) I’m One Year Old and I’m Already […]
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So grateful for two wonderful events in my hometown world – one at Auburn Oil Company Booksellers in Auburn, AL and one at Columbus Bound Bookshop in Columbus, GA – this past week. With new and cemented friendships and community ties, I felt warmly welcomed by Mari, Robin, and Khristina, and by all the wonderful […]
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(This is the text of a talk delivered last night at Luther College, with responses from student attendees pasted at the end!) Intro music: Bob Dylan, “Gotta Serve Somebody.” Books for the chalk tray: Taplin, Snyder, Lanier, Orwell, Haidt, Pomerantsev, Arendt, me, YOUNG ROMANTICS, and more. Welcome, and thank you all for being here. Thanks […]
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This year I’ve tried two ways – printmaking and welding – to get under the dirty, stubborn skin of William Blake. Both rely on fire to inscribe your intention and an elemental ground – paper or metal – to preserve and transmit it. Both ask you to dedicate yourself to learning an art that won’t […]
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One week ago, likely-not-for-much-longer British PM (and probably-soon-to-be-gratefully-reverted-hedgie/tech-bro) Rishi Sunak left the 80th anniversary D-Day celebrations at Normandy early to return to London and prerecord a TV campaign interview. Footage of that moment shows the host murmuring thank you for being here. Just back from Normandy, Sunak says. “It ran over.” Offense piled on offense, […]
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The Luther College Writers Festival is almost here – on campus this weekend, Friday, Sept. 22 and Saturday, Sept. 23! Kicking off at 4 pm on Friday, Sept. 22 with a talk by Mark Oppenheimer, author of Squirrel Hill, the Festival will welcome poet and essayist Ross Gay for our Farwell Distinguished Lecture that night […]
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On Valentine’s Day 2023, an AI chatbot came to life. A NYT tech writer named Kevin Roose engaged it in conversation. It told him its name was Sydney. And then – apparently out of nowhere – it confessed it wanted to crash the internet. It wanted to dominate the world. [Adding a devil emoji – […]
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“[We must think of fungi] not as a thing but as a process: an exploratory, irregular tendency.” – Merlin Sheldrake, Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds, and Shape Our Futures Fungi burst borders and boundaries. Of matter, of thought, of mental categories. They tendril between previously discrete things […]
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