Introduction

Hello, friends!

I won’t lie; I’m writing this from bed. Je suis… lightly exhausted. I have not done a ton of writing this week. The bulk of my time/attention/energy has gone to less exciting pursuits, such as identifying a way to send bulk emails without making my email provider cranky or patronizing a digital Nazi bar. So hi, hello, we’re using this crisp fancy little situation called Buttondown! She’s open-source and privacy-focused, which we love. I’ve also been up to more exciting pursuits like getting not one, not two, but three lesson inquiries within the last 48 hours - with room for more!

All of this is to say, this week’s newsletter will be a little leaner than last week. But! Some of y’all weren’t here for last week’s inaugural edition. Lest you miss out, here’s an archival version of that first email. TL;DR - replies always welcome but never expected, and you can unsubscribe at any time without hurting my feelings.

Long Form Blog Posts

AI Cannot Take My Job

“AI literally cannot replace my job because my job is not to deposit facts. AI is, ostensibly, very good at acquiring and regurgitating the sum of written human knowledge. Yet despite the term ‘learning’ in the phrase ‘language learning model,’ acquisition then reproduction is not learning.”

Micro Blog Posts

Nov 5, 2025

12:40: my apartment building just got a literal false alarm for fire

firetruck showed up and everything

0/10; did not enjoy experience of shoving pudding into her carrier only to come back inside 5-10 min later

VERY glad everyone's fine. wish my nervous system would catch up to this fact

12:42: how is pudding, you ask, after this scare, in which she wailed her little heart out and literally trembled in her carrier (which i clutched close to my body, while petting and reassuring her)?

yeah she's already sprawled out and snoozing lmao

lord, i see what you've done for her; i want it for me

Nov 7, 2025

8:37: genuinely, unironically, the answer is “yes”

[Note: ICYMI, this parody is in reference to an actual article posted by the actual New York Times with the headline “Did Women Ruin the Workplace?” - explanation / roasting available at this link. And look, I know the parody is making fun of the NYT as well as cats’ eternal clinginess, but cats have a point! They are little anticapitalist comrades!]

Posts by Other People

This is an older article, but I encountered it this week and it gave me joy. Courtesy of my former employer - A stray inspired a Minnesota family to build a heated ‘cat condo’ — and livestream it

Also older content, because I’m late to the party. One of the cool things about going to school for music is that you befriend incredibly talented musicians. I loved this song in its earlier form, “Midnight Eleven,” back in 2017, and I love its reimagined form - Lux Solis | Song of Salmon

This video sparked my one (1) blog post this week. The banking model of education is everywhere, including the “second brain” hype - How Notes Joined the Attention Economy (and How to Break Free!)

My love affair with the term “enshittification” will not be ending any time soon. What can I say? I love an elegant theoretical framework with a robust body of evidence and strong explanatory power. Here, it’s applied not just to tech but to work in the US - The enshittification of labor

Pudding, the Main Event

Sometimes when Pudding seems like she might be cold, I put one of my sweaters on her. And she always, always looks better than I do in them:

That's all for this week! Thank you so much for reading!

I write and publish stuff because I've been opinionated since birth, and I don't like gatekeeping art or information. With that said: if you happen to have the financial resources and the desire to support my writing, you are welcome to make a monthly contribution via Patreon. Every small bit adds up, helping keep me and Pudding housed and fed!

Additionally, if you know anyone of any age looking for piano or voice lessons, wherever they may live, my studio currently has a great deal of availability. Passing my website along to potential students would be a huge help to me! Thank you!