I’m in pretty deep on dissertation writing for the next few months, which means less time for recreational sentence reading. Submissions appreciated—not just from a “having material for the newsletter” perspective but from needing reminders of other things in the world while I toil in the scholarly prose mines.
Events in the real world may supersede our feelings of moral superiority.
“Thinking Ahead to the Full Military Takeover of Cities”, Hamilton Nolan for his newsletter How Things Work
The true tale of history was worryingly short of comeuppance.
Leonard and Hungry Paul, Rónán Hession
Submitted by Dan.
It did not yield a great literature, but it made good use of fonts.
“What Was the Hipster?”, Mark Greif as excerpted in New York Magazine
Lots of things in this 2010 text are dated and goofy and don’t stand the test of time, but it has its moments. I revisited it (and, embarrassingly, purchased a used copy of the original What Was the Hipster? printed volume) because I am currently writing in the dissertation about the geospatial software scene in the 2000s-2010s and, well, “What was the geohipster?” seemed like a funny section header.
Buddy, if you keep pounding energy drinks around the clock to stay alive, there are going to be other problems much closer to your heart.
"22-Year-Old Has It All Figured Out", Patrick Redford for Defector
Submitted by Joe.
Italy was even dumber, if that’s possible.
“I researched every Democratic attempt to stop fascism in history. the success rate after fascists were elected was 0%.”, Chris Armitage on Medium
What good is privilege if you’re still being poisoned?
Ariella Schrader as quoted in “How a Ritzy L.A. Enclave Learned a Bitter Lesson About the Limits of Its Wealth”, Nathaniel Rich for the New York Times Magazine
Submitted by Josh.
To me, it was just kind of like, well, I could be doing rave flyers or [web design], both are equally important in the world.
Someone I interviewed for my dissertation reflecting on getting into web development/what becomes “tech” around 2000-01
I haven’t gotten official approval from the interviewee to use this exact line, which is why I’m sharing it unnamed. Something that I am trying to convey in the dissertation is the contingency of “tech” becoming the thing that eats up most of the economy in the 2010s. There are of course two ways to read this (either our interlocutor thought web design circa 2000 was perceived as unimportant or he thought that rave flyers were very, very important), but I think that’s part of why I find it perfect.
Letting Platner’s lesson wash over me, it’s clear that the oyster is praxis as much as a menu item.
“The Political Awakening of the Oyster Farmer Taking on Susan Collins”, Ana Marie Cox for The New Republic
It's the lederhosen that keeps checkers up at night.
“The History of The New Yorker’s Vaunted Fact-Checking Department”, Zach Helfand for The New Yorker
Submitted by Mars, with this runner-up sentence:
Someone is always spinning in his grave.
Honorable mention to two sentences from the article that are pretty funny independent of each other but together produce a master class in economy of narrative:
Being checked is like being fucked in the ass by a hot thermos.
David Sedaris, in the above article
If a thermos worked, the outside wouldn't be hot.
Yinou Shi (fact-checker), in response to Sedaris