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Readings

Excerpts from the best and most bizarre new books, testimonies, government documents, journals, news reports, speeches, and letters.

Devil’s Advocate

From a recruitment speech given at a Russian prison by the leader of the Wagner Group, a mercenary company that operates as a proxy for the Russian government. Footage of…

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Of Vice and Penn

From “Save Penn Station,” which was published in Issue 31 of the New York Review of Architecture. “Hellhole” was the word that New York governor Kathy Hochul used for the…

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Unacquitted Love

From an October meeting held during the trial of Paul Bellar, Joseph Morrison, and Pete Musico in Michigan’s Fourth Circuit Court. The men were accused of assisting in a plot…

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Blinded by the Sight

From actions people have publicly defended with the phrase “hindsight is twenty-twenty.” Getting drunk during an interview with Playboy magazine Failing to complete a two-point conversion against the Wilcox High…

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The Fox

From Dragons, which will be published in March by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. A fourth grader sees the fox skulking behind the Climatron as something from the rural past, Reynard,…

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Snakes on a Plane

From an announcement made to passengers by a pilot for Southwest Airlines in August. So here’s the deal: If this continues while we’re on the ground, I’m going to have…

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Ratman Begins

From a press conference held by the New York City mayor’s office in October. commissioner jessica tisch: Good afternoon. It is an exciting day because we are about to do…

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Fighting Words

A Ukrainian artillery shell inscribed with a message paid for by an American donor. Other messages purchased by Americans include: rest in piss orcs, this one’s a gay bomb, does…

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Don’t Mess with Texas

From a class-action lawsuit filed in September against T.W. Garner Food Company, the North Carolina–based manufacturer of Texas Pete hot sauce. In the United States, the most common style of…

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Table for Two Towers

From the 9/11-themed menu of The Clubhouse, a restaurant in Stafford County, Virginia. The menu was discontinued in September. pentagon pie: Chocolate silk, $4 freedom flounder: Grilled filet of sole…

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You Talkin’ to Me?

From “Sentience and Sensibility,” which was published in the September/October issue of The Baffler. It was all too easy to dismiss the Washington Post story about Blake Lemoine—the Google engineer…

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His Folk Nation

From his memoir Come Back in September, which was published in October by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 1. My boss, Fran, was hoping to publish Sterling Brown’s collected poems. She…

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First Responders

From unsolicited letters sent to Aileen Cannon, a federal judge in the Southern District of Florida, after she announced that she would appoint a special master to review documents removed…

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When Beale Street Was Hot

From an interview with the critic and historian Greg Tate, conducted for Ain’t But a Few of Us, a collection of conversations with black jazz critics, edited by Willard Jenkins,…

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Don’t Be a Stranger

From “Rose-Colored Glasses,” which was published in the Winter 2022 issue of Raritan. Long gray hair shredded by the cold demiwind funneling up through the village, curving up and around…

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Martha Stewart Living

From a conversation between Martha Stewart and Chelsea Handler, which took place in July on Handler’s podcast Dear Chelsea. chelsea handler: What’s going on in your love life? martha stewart:…

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No Times Like the Present

From headlines published in the Opinion section of the New York Times since 2011. I’m a New York City Liberal I’m a Democrat and a Feminist I Work for Midwestern…

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A Forest of Berlin

From The Writing of an Hour, a poetry collection, which was published in March by Wesleyan University Press. A bouquet of twigs and moss and a hard orange burst of…

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Journey Into the Past

Photographs of Return to Origin, a mixed-media artwork by RaMell Ross, which was exhibited earlier this year at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, in New Orleans. In October 2021,…

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Ghost Stories

From Still No Word from You, which was published last month by Catapult. On the black-and-white TV in the kitchen, my mother and I watched Richard Nixon’s helicopter slowly rise.…

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Don’t Worry About the Trace

From the novel Life Is Everywhere, which was published last month by Graywolf Press. When I was in college, when my mother’s mother died, I did not know what to…

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Baby on Board

Published in Issue 15 of Fonograf Editions. The baby’s blameless, I can’t argue with that. She hasn’t told a single lie in her life, let alone cheated, however inadvertently, on…

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The New Guy

From descriptions of Guy Fieri published in the New York Times between 2010 and 2022. Clown Overexposed on shows with adults Spike-haired Heavily tattooed The Sammy Hagar of TV chefs…

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Ham Session

From notes taken by Belgian researchers studying how different kinds of music affect pigs in captivity. reggae: Tail-wagging new beat: Pigs are looking around for danger rock: Stressful country: Pigs…

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Cockfight or Flight

From an interview with James Nix, conducted in June by Kristen Rary of Action News Jax, in Florida. james nix: How can I help you? kristen rary: We got a…

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Smile

From Feral City, which was published last month by W. W. Norton. As a child I was told I didn’t smile enough. Adults pinched my cheeks, trying to force it.…

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Lessons Learned

From A Boy’s Own Story, an adaptation of Edmund White’s 1982 novel of the same name. The book will be published this month by Top Shelf Productions.

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No Guarantees

From “Dark Matter,” an essay that appears in Bright Unbearable Reality, which will be published this month by New York Review Books. There are no cattle on the ranch, though…

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January 2023

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