10
Apr
Time for gratitude
Letter No. 78: Includes nothing but thanks.
Dr Essai is just back from a journey to the Path of Totality—
1 min read
Latest communiqués
06
Apr
Book report for March 2024
Letter No. 77: Includes smutty essayism and many colors.
Dr Essai, with an eye on the beginning of American baseball
2 min read
29
Mar
Imagining the sullen cave girl who became the world’s first artist
Letter No. 76: Includes someone eating an oyster, disaffected cave youth, and cogitation about color.
The oldest known painters exhibited
6 min read
21
Mar
Things I’m certain about, though I could be wrong, volume one
Letter No. 75: Includes an awful lot of cocksure opinions, with no fallback plan.
* There is no idea so good
2 min read
11
Mar
Book report for February 2024
Nothing remarkable about this past month’s reading, save for Rachel Kadish’s The Weight of Ink, a novel that I heartily recommend. What are you reading, Jogglers?
2 min read
06
Mar
Iron gall ink and the sister Shakespeare never had
Because when I gaze through a scrim of vanished text in my own mind, I am all but helpless, I have to write something, and I’m happy to do so. From ink has come my life. I’ve added my few bits to the lattice of stories. And that feels like a fine life. That feels sufficient.
8 min read
26
Feb
The reading public reading in public, vol. 3
Letter No. 72: Includes evidence of time spent in coffeeshops and on city streets stalking readers of print.
Dr Essai
2 min read
15
Feb
Going to the ice lands
Letter No. 71: You may need a parka.
I no longer recall when we reached the decision. We probably just
6 min read
12
Feb
Book report for January 2024
Letter No. 70: Includes heavy presence of Hemingway, accessing wolf brains, and too many bland essays.
All right then, 2024
2 min read
25
Jan
Cave art, petroglyphs, and mysterious chickens
Letter No. 69: Includes puzzled scientists, representations of poultry that may have been harmed, and maybe a bit of invention
3 min read