Essays

To a Ghost of Web 1.0

A writer remembers a lost friend.

May 5 • Lillian Wang Selonick

The Origins of the Tortured Writer

Thoughts on a theory of great works and their makers.

Apr 16 • Michael Mohr

It's not rlly a war tho is it?

An unemployed young man briefly considers his world.

Mar 13 • Griffin Del Prete

The Acorn and the Twigs

A review of J David Osborne’s new novella, Berserker Club.

Mar 6 • W. G. Lloyd

A Horny Unkillable Shadow

How Worst Boyfriend Ever’s success was inevitable.

Feb 18 • kelvin

Scene Report from Echo Park

Or, Ross Barkan and the Performative Bell Jar

Feb 14 • Cairo Smith

There and Back Again

A word on a detransition.

Dec 3, 2025 • pris86

The Steepness of the Slope

Complexity, like a lattice under pressure, explodes.

Oct 22, 2025 • Stephen Pimentel

Hitchhiking, killing, and grasping for a grand theory of America.

Oct 16, 2025 • Willem Doherty

The Free Speech Inversion

A baffling arc for Pam Bondi and Donald Trump seems to reboot a tired old argument in reverse.

Sep 18, 2025 • Cairo Smith

IG Girls for Years of Lead

On your median friend from school wanting terror attacks.

Sep 11, 2025 • Cairo Smith

I Am the Character

What's in a name, a stage name, and a public-private divide?

Sep 3, 2025 • Cairo Smith

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