Mid-week links, what?

Chaos reigns!

Hello, my friends. I am in Columbia, Missouri to attend and moderate a discussion at the Based on a True Story conference, then attend the True/False Film Festival. I am also working, and a lot is going on, so I lack bandwidth to say anything interesting to you right now.

But over the weekend I was writing chapter 7 (of 10!) in my upcoming book, and so I didn’t send any links either. So let’s just do that now! In semi-disorganized fashion.

From me:

• Last week I wrote what turned out to be a oddly popular rant about people acting as if these upcoming Oscars are super esoteric. They are not! At all! But that sense might be indicative of something else.

• I sat in as guest host of Vox’s Gray Area podcast, and talked with the great scholar Dr. Robin R. Means Coleman about Black horror and the future and a lot of really interesting things. An excerpt of the conversation is here in print.

• Had a great deal of fun talking about Salty, Hannah Arendt, criticism, the future in a streaming age, and so on the New Story Is podcast!

• Spoke with the fine folks at Spotify’s Shot + Chaser podcast about how to win an Oscar, should you be wishing to do such a thing.

From not-me:

• Read Leslie Jamison — well, always, but specifically on the dubious rise of “impostor syndrome.”

• It’s no secret, if you follow me on social media or know me in the real world, that the college where I teach has been pushed to the brink of shutdown for financial reasons. (And so, soon, shall I be, if this isn’t resolved!) But while the media has reported on the story, there are some piece that haven’t really been examined even though they’re very much public record. My colleague Paul Glader wrote about them, and why it would be good to look further.

Enjoyed this? If you’re feeling it, I won’t object if you buy me a cup of coffee. Writers need fuel.