An excellent essay about how we have weakened ourselves to the point of allowing a kind of political and cultural virus to take hold within and among us.
Here’s an essay by Alizah Holstein you might enjoy, which takes a historian’s long view and ability to see connections, to help illuminate our present moment:
This writing is stunning and perhaps more than anything else I am reading about the current state of things, it unearths some potent personal perspectives, or in the very least, organizes them in a powerful and poetic and very real way. Interestingly, though I already trashed my NY Times and Washington Post apps months ago, today, before I read this, I took down my Instagram account (FB is long gone). Insta was my one online social connection to my home country and to photos of dogs. My “scrolling” disease, however, started to seriously impose itself on every positive + creative impulse I was valiantly pulling forward. Thank you Jacinto for your singular vision and your ability to put into words what many of us struggle to understand. I hope this is read far and wide.
An excellent essay about how we have weakened ourselves to the point of allowing a kind of political and cultural virus to take hold within and among us.
Here’s an essay by Alizah Holstein you might enjoy, which takes a historian’s long view and ability to see connections, to help illuminate our present moment:
https://3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2025/03/a-tale-of-two-doges-an-uncertain-history.html#comment-6669836012
Thank you, Philip. I will read it, yes. History can help us see the future
And here’s one way for a writer to avoid the rat race of social media and the Spotify-ication of contemporary publishing:
https://themillions.com/2024/09/a-mystery-in-the-shape-of-a-book-free-library.html
This writing is stunning and perhaps more than anything else I am reading about the current state of things, it unearths some potent personal perspectives, or in the very least, organizes them in a powerful and poetic and very real way. Interestingly, though I already trashed my NY Times and Washington Post apps months ago, today, before I read this, I took down my Instagram account (FB is long gone). Insta was my one online social connection to my home country and to photos of dogs. My “scrolling” disease, however, started to seriously impose itself on every positive + creative impulse I was valiantly pulling forward. Thank you Jacinto for your singular vision and your ability to put into words what many of us struggle to understand. I hope this is read far and wide.
Thank you, Philip! We’re all struggling to make some meaning out of this, right?