Over the course of the last week I got some fairly high-stress news that isn’t exactly terrible, but does introduce some new chaos into my work life and finances. The news is partially related to the ravages of New American Authoritarianism (need to think of a better term here as this suggests a dictatorship of moderately upscale restaurants guaranteed to have truffle fries), though the situation I find myself in could have just as easily occurred in another timeline. I do wish that some of it hadn’t unfolded on my birthday, though.
All of this may affect the quantity of sentences collected week to week in the coming months. As always submissions are appreciated. Poetry and perfect sentences will not singlehandedly destroy the fascists, but it has to hold some utility if fascists are so insistent on crushing creative expression.
Matewan, written and directed by John Sayles
It was a real treat to get to see one of my favorite movies on the big screen at Metrograph. This line is said by Sid Hatfield (played by David Strathairn) in reference to one of the heads of the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency.
“Zeppelin pushes back against receiver efforts to sell RiNo building”, Thomas Gounley for The Denver Post
Submitted by Chris.
“Windows on Washington”, Shannon Mattern on her blog Words In Space
Charlie Macquarie in the “Views” section of the San Francisco Review of Whatever
“UFC and the beating heart of Trumpism”, Ryan Broderick in his newsletter Garbage Day
Submitted by (a different) Chris.
“The New Atlantis”, Ursula Le Guin in Lightspeed Magazine
Submitted by Bill.
“‘You can yodel and don’t have to be conservative’: the Swiss feminist choir rewriting traditional songs”, Kaja Šeruga for The Guardian
Submitted by Andreas.
"Mahmoud Khalil Is the Target of a Desperate Agenda", Samer Kalaf for Defector
Submitted by Joe.
“The Meaning of Everything”, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, in Shaper of God (monograph by American Artist, editor Zainab Aliyu)
"Empathy's expiry date", Katie Heindl in her newsletter Basketball Feelings
Submitted by Joe, who included another very good sentence from the same:
The Motion of Light in Water: Sex and Science Fiction Writing in the East Village, Samuel R. Delany
Submitted by Bill, with the context that in this sentence Delany is “reflecting on the story an acquaintance told of inadvertently becoming the first woman in a hundred years to be served at McSorley's Old Ale House.”