“Technology in the Present Tense” – Notes from a Weary Luddite
“The future is not a blank page; and neither is it an open book.” – Lewis Mumford 1. Here is a confession from a weary, self-identified Luddite: For someone … Continue reading
Plague Poems – The Hundred-and-Tenth Week
Repeat after me: I won’t get sick that happens to others not to me my coworker with the loud laugh acquaintances from school my cousin twice removed neighbors of my … Continue reading
Plague Poems – The Hundred-and-Ninth Week
Do not delay they say you need to have a plan for what you are going to do if you contract the virus (when you contract the virus) they say … Continue reading
Plague Poems – The Hundred-and-Eighth Week
By now we should know that if we wait to act until the hospitals are full than we have waited too long. * Take a shovel and dig the hole … Continue reading
Plague Poems – The Hundred-and-Seventh Week
Prophecy is easy as long as your predictions are modest bold claims are disproven firm dates are always missed the crises that are declared over have a tendency to persist … Continue reading
Plague Poems – The Hundred-and-Sixth Week
It is very challenging to see it coming when you have tied a blindfold tightly over your eyes. * As long as you’re up to it (seeing as the weather … Continue reading
Balance of Terrors – on Günther Anders
“You should not begin your day with the illusion that what surrounds you is a stable world.” – Günther Anders It has been 70 years since Bert the Turtle instructed … Continue reading
Plague Poems – The Hundred-and-Fifth Week
For you who dwell in cities far from the ocean it is pointless to worry about sharks. For you who avoid venturing into the woods there is no need to … Continue reading
Plague Poems – The Hundred-and-Fourth Week
Do not mistake the coming of the spring for the departure of the plague. * Get out of your home you have been working from there for far too long … Continue reading
Emily Drabinski for ALA President
Our dear friend of the LibrarianShipwreck, Emily Drabinski (who you may remember wrote a guest post about the LIU faculty lockout in 2016), is running for president of the American … Continue reading
Plague Poems – The Hundred-and-Third Week
It is inaccurate to say that after the pandemic came the war for the pandemic has not ended it is more accurate to say during the pandemic a war as … Continue reading
Plague Poems – The Hundred-and-Second Week
Pour that bucket of water out in the bathtub hang the extinguisher back on its hook you stopped, dropped, and rolled but now it’s time to continue, to get up, … Continue reading
“I’m so sick of Y2K!” – A review of Y2K: The Movie
“I’m so sick of Y2K!” Contrary to the stereotype that every disaster movie begins with the experts being ignored, there is at least one disaster movie that begins with … Continue reading
Plague Poems – The Hundred-and-First Week
They have already allowed it to happen to the safety net as well as to the social fabric so it is just in keeping with their general stance that in … Continue reading
Plague Poems – The Hundredth Week
One hundred thousand deaths is an incalculable loss deserving of the front page in its gray entirety nine hundred thousand deaths is a very different matter it is not that … Continue reading
Plague Poems – The Ninety-Ninth Week
If here in this exceptional land we were to observe a minute of silence for each life claimed by the plague in the course of the previous week we would … Continue reading
“Things Just Go On” – More Theses on Doomscrolling
“That things just go on is the catastrophe” – Walter Benjamin. One of the risks of declaring victory is the possibility that your declaration will prove to have been premature. … Continue reading
Plague Poems – The Ninety-Eighth Week
If they came to us and said the plague would end in thirty-six days or in four months we would be able to manage days could be counted down black … Continue reading
Plague Poems – The Ninety-Seventh Week
We blame the virus for the disastrous condition of our schools the catastrophic state of our hospitals the ruinous structure of our workplaces the collapsing authority of our institutions so … Continue reading
Plague Poems – The Ninety-Sixth Week
To learn to live with the virus is an easy thing all it requires is that you learn to ignore those dying from the virus. * Apparently it is encouraging … Continue reading
Look Around – Yet Another Piece about “Don’t Look Up”
Truly, I live in the dark times! The guileless word is folly. A smooth forehead Suggests insensitivity. The man who laughs Has simply not yet heard The terrible news. – … Continue reading
Plague Poems – The Ninety-Fifth Week
Let us hope that in this new year we will not need to learn any more letters of the Greek alphabet. * There was the colleague then the casual acquaintance … Continue reading
Inventing the Shipwreck
“Our societies have become arrhythmic. Or they only know one rhythm: constant acceleration. Until the crash and systemic failure.” – Paul Virilio “Conversations about technology tend to be dominated by … Continue reading
Plague Poems – The Ninety-Fourth Week
Perhaps it was selfish at the very least it was naive but I had really hoped that just for that day I would be able to forget the plague I … Continue reading
Plague Poems – The Ninety-Third Week
You who find yourselves unexpectedly ill after trying so hard after trying to stay safe after trying to be responsible must not view your sickness as a moral failing you … Continue reading
Plague Poems – The Ninety-Second Week
It was this week two years ago when we started to see stories ominous stories about a virus spreading but we did not worry for it was happening over there. … Continue reading
My Favorite Books from 2021
“We read books to find out who we are.” – Ursula K. Le Guin I would like to say that I spent 2021 alternating between reading related to my … Continue reading
Plague Poems – The Ninety-First Week
You have not survived the plague. You are surviving the plague. And your survival depends on understanding that distinction. * We wish to do the right thing the responsible thing … Continue reading
Plague Poems – The Ninetieth Week
Surely there must be a better way to learn the letters of the Greek alphabet. * We are warned that if we are unwilling to change we shall wind up … Continue reading
Plague Poems – The Eighty-Ninth Week
By vehicle by train by airplane thus shall we travel this week to be together with one another. By vehicle by train by airplane thus shall the plague travel this … Continue reading
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