Stories

My instructors grudgingly conceded I had some talent but were skeptical I could develop it fully. These doubts forged a quality in me that turned out to be a strength in later years. - New Criterion

We’re in a language crisis. "The discourse that produces new slang is not only publicly available online, but also amplified based on its ability to attract attention from outside its original context, … destroying the power of slang to perform its basic function: to signal membership in a group.”  - The Atlantic

Finishing a trilogy or a series isn’t easy for most writers, but Adeyemi faced physical challenges along the way. She says, "I like that I can stand in front of readers and say, “Hey, we know life’s going to knock us down. That’s life. Life is going to life.” - The New York Times

British artists are suffering: “Nearly one in three artists doubted that they would be able to continue working professionally in five years’ time, and 40% said they could not afford to have savings or contribute to a pension.” - The Guardian (UK)

Thanks, publishers, we love that you removed access to 500,000 titles from public access. - Ars Technica

Andrew Westberg says his wife is "happy it's not tractors. … Pencils are so much easier to store.” - MPR

“There was a customer on the phone who said something along the lines of 'Just throw out $20,000,' and reported to our staff member to shout that out into the room. And boy did it work, because the first time it came up, it stunned the room and silenced the room.” - Slate

And that is its credibility. "The reputation of the Post newsroom has been built upon readers’ trust that reporters do not pay sources, much less steal documents, hack computers, or engage in other deceptive news-gathering practices that have been associated with a certain kind of British journalism.” - The Atlantic

Jeremy Cooper, the winner of the 2019 Fitzcarraldo Prize, remembers when he had a little cushion of money from selling art and a lot of chutzpah: "I ditched my literary agent Curtis Brown, as they strongly advised me against writing fiction and since then I’ve handled all my work myself.” - The Guardian (UK)

Not that this is unusual, sadly: Meg Bellamy “described the comments from internet trolls as ‘a glimpse into being a woman in this industry.’” - BBC

“These five pieces include two-and-a-half hours of music, 621 pages of score, and more than 97,000 piano notes.” - Open Culture

"Previously a curator at the Fine Art Museums of San Francisco, where she led the European paintings department, Brilliant claims that Voena and di Robilant subjected her to sexual harassment and repeated verbal abuse in the form of racist, sexist, antisemitic, and homophobic comments." - Hyperallergic

She’s not having it. “It is antithetical to the life force that exists in all of us,” the singer-songwriter says. - BBC

And no, “there has been no greater original screenplay in the last 50 years than the one Robert Towne wrote for Chinatown.” - The Guardian (UK)

"The truest artist-muse relationship may be that in which the former works with the latter because no other individual talent will bring the art to the exalted level that lives in the artist’s imagination." - Washington Post