Fearful fun-seeker: “We can’t go to a dive bar. What if somebody asks me to arm wrestle?”
Sympathetic friend: “That will probably happen.”
Fearful fun-seeker: “Fine. Let me get a pump in.”
Overheard while making evening plans
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Occupation of a Life
He put his hands in the pocket of his brown leather jacket, looking for a piece of paper. All he found was a small receipt he had got from the stationary store in exchange for a red pen, and he wrote: A sailor on land Climbed to the mountaintop and all he saw was the…
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On Girl Math
“When feminists take things like makeup and plastic surgery and argue that we ought to uncritically ‘let women do what they want,’ it reinforces the belief that the goal of modern feminism ought to be to ‘reclaim’ an oppressive, patriarchal standard and pretend we have chosen it for ourselves.”
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Brush With Death: Full Design
This week, the Nass recycles beer cans, interrogates TikTok feminism, and decides what good art is.
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Flyover Country
“The people she invented shared none of her problems, none of her responsibilities. She gave them their own small disasters, which were different from her own and therefore interesting, instead of just pathetic. She was deeply, stupidly jealous of them.”
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When Sustainability Isn’t Sexy
“Does the ‘look’ of sustainability, a sort of glamorous image expressed in the carefully crafted brand of environmental nonprofits, obscure all the unassuming pockets of sustainability?”
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I’m Judging You: Gogol’s Defense of Art Critique
“Gogol advocated that we do not need to reject value-judgements, but rather understand all art as part of a grander movement; great art is the product of labor and reflection, vision and passion, building off the works that precede it.”
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What We Lose to Lithium
How a lithium mine in Nevada is compromising Indigenous autonomy, and the danger of letting it go on.
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Dead Beats: Full Design
This week, the Nass learns from Patti Smith, mulls over pop stardom, and weighs the costs of “clean” energy.
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Lessons on Greatness: Reflections On “A Conversation With Patti Smith”
“For Smith, poet and painter William Blake exemplified this approach to life. She remarked: ‘Despite the fact he had no proof from the world he was worth anything—he would have gotten 4 likes [on Instagram]—he did his work.’”