QUESTION TIME. At Ladyblog, I take on gay marriage as natural-lawyering; Peter Beagle as ethical philosopher; and Ann Landers as obvious agent of subversion. All in one post! Comment or I shoot the unicorn. Read more

A novel of Dostoevsky’s is not a tranquil, smoothly developing episode, but a collection of the fifth acts of many tragedies.–Dmitriy Merezhkovsky, somewhere, I got this from the Rat Read more

CORRESPONDENCE AND COMMENTS-BOXING: An interesting little thread–too short, but maybe there will be more soon: …The problem, as in your link, is the tendency to talk about the the negative consequences of Rorty’s philosophy rather than creating a meaningful argument for why he is wrong. There is an exterior world, but that world is removed from us by our consciousness. We have many reasons to believe that this consciousness is an imperfect or incomplete tool for understanding the exterior world.... Read more

SKIRTING THE ISSUES: My review of the Shakespeare Theater’s all-male Romeo and Juliet (closes 10/18! tickets still available! act now while supplies last!): Love does not alter when it alteration finds; and neither, apparently, does D.C.’s Shakespeare Theatre’s all-male interpretation of Romeo and Juliet. That’s how it would’ve been in Shakespeare’s day, don’t you know? The women characters are all played by men in wigs and dresses, who drop occasionally into deeper voices for comedic effect. Other than that, this... Read more

KITCHEN ADVENTURES: APPLETHINGS! Two things. 1. Grilled cheese sandwich with munster, sliced Jonagold apple, freshly-ground black pepper, and fresh oregano. Butter both outside surfaces of the sandwich and cook in a pan. verdict: om nom nom nom! Delicious, though I sliced the apple a bit too thin. 2. Condiment made by sauteing diced apple in olive oil until browned, then cooking it in red wine with cinnamon, sugar, cayenne, and I think cumin. Then refrigerated overnight. verdict: intriguing! Tangy, really... Read more

SQUIDPUNK. SQUIDPUNK: THE MANIFESTOFiction that unlike New Weird, Steampunk, or Slipstream, is at its core not only about squid, but about the symbolism of squid as color-changing, highly-mobile, alien-looking, intelligent ocean-goers. As a powerful ecosystem indicator, the squid is a potent symbol for environmental rejuvenation. Squidpunk is almost exclusively set at sea and must contain some reference to either cephalopods or to anything that thematically relates to squid, in terms of world iconography and tropes. Squidpunk is never escapist or... Read more

The bitchiest person I know is my sister. She lives in Des Plaines, Illinois–which she refers to as “The City of Destiny.”–David Mamet, “True Stories of Bitches” Read more

AND OUR STORY SHALL BE THE EDUCATION OF OUR HEROES: Some thoughts about those posts about eros and education. First, and most importantly!, a correspondent tells me that Yale’s focus on extracurrics and relative insouciance about course/section hours is not nearly as exotic as I’d thought. Go find out if this is true at your campus! THIS IS THE ONLY STORY I WILL EVER BE ABLE TO TELL: And second, keep in mind that all of my opinions about everything... Read more

“MEMORIES ARE FILMS ABOUT GHOSTS”: Some responses to my abortion-in-horror piece. I’ll note one thing I couldn’t fit in to the piece itself: Horror is so often concerned with the return of the repressed, the intrusion of the denied and terrifying past into the complacent present. Sometimes it works to convince us not to disturb the Old Ones; sometimes it argues that the past isn’t dead, it’s just waiting to rise from the grave and eat your brains. Abortion is... Read more

I DON’T WANT ANOTHER DRINK OR FIGHT, I WANT A TREMENDOUS LOVER: One of the things I do when I’m not here is Always Our Children, St. Matthew’s Cathedral’s ministry for lgbt Catholics and our friends and families. We’re doing confidential support groups every month (the second Sunday, 3:30 in the West Conference Room) and trying to line up discussion groups. If you know anyone in the area who a) is really struggling with gay-Catholic stuff in their own life... Read more