Philly

"I knew the meek [ain't] inherit shit."

~~ from "Ganny: Truer Words at a Funeral" by Joseph Earl Thomas

September reads

In September, in the first time in forever, I had time and inclination to read substantial portions of Harper's Magazine. I had the August and September issues available and less access to other reading that I typically would. From the September issue, Sheila Heti's "The New Age Bible: On the origins of A Course in Miracles" and Tanya Gold's "My Auschwitz Vacation: On Holocaust Tourism" are particularly good. My August issue reads included William T. Vollmann's "Korean Hearts at the DMZ," and I am just now getting into Ellyn Gaydos's "On Stones: Carving in the Granite Capital of the World."

Lewis Lapham, R.I.P.

I will always associate Harper's Magazine with Lewis Lapham more than any other writer.

May Mr. Lapham rest in peace.

There was and there was not

Pauls Toutonghi's "Letter from Syria" is compelling reading from the July 2024 print issue of Harper's Magazine.

A Dispatch from the Future

Over a few days this week, I read George Packer's "The Valley," a comprehensive take on Phoenix, Arizona and its surroundings published in The Atlantic Monthly, and it reminded me of how his "The Megacity" from The New Yorker, on Lagos, Nigeria, is perhaps my very favorite in the genre of travel to a city and write about it in detail. This recent Harper's Magazine piece on Branson, Missouri is another recent favorite.

a working life

Over a few days, I appreciated Michael Deagler's second Philly short story in Harper's Magazine: "The Pleasure of a Working Life."

spell catastrophe

Andrew Lipstein's "What Goes Up: Does the rise of index funds spell catastrophe?" is worth a read.

The Branson Pilgrim

I'm enjoying "The Branson Pilgrim" by Rafil Kroll-Zaidi in the May 2024 print issue of Harper's Magazine.

Eviction Experts

I read and appreciated Mya Frazier's "The Eviction Experts" along with Lauren Oyler's "Dance Factory" from Harper's Magazine's April 2024 print issue.

When Soldiers Come Home

From the January 2024 Harper's Magazine, I read Matt Farwell's "The Museum of Broken G.I. Joes."

Kloc City

I've recently enjoyed Joe Kloc's "The Golden Fleece" and both The Band and Bruce on "Atlantic City."

Hessler, Gottlieb, Hemon

At the library, I played hooky from Harper's Magazine and read about John Dewey's influence and Peter Hessler's twins in Chengdu, China as well as Robert Gottlieb's literary life and Aleksandar Hemon's variations in The New York Review of Books. The Gottlieb was the one I initially interrupted the Hessler for, and it appeared to be more than a coincidence when I learned within a few sentences that Gottlieb passed on June 14—a birthday Hessler shares with a certain former president.

Letter from Amish Country

Rachel Yoder visits the Amish in the July 2023 Harper's Magazine.

Hitchens in Harper's

Christian Lorentzen is good on Christopher Hitchens in the London Review of Books and elsewhere.

Letter from Istanbul

"The Spies Next Door" by John Beck is about ethnic-minority exiles in Turkey.

letters

Letter from Cape Town, profile from France

For recent online reading, I appreciated the comical moments in Adam Gopnik's portrait of the far-right Algerian immigrant, media celebrity, and French presidential candidate in The New Yorker as well as this South African business about Nikolai Gogol and stolen noses in Harper's Magazine.

The East, the West, and the meaning of home

Enjoy "Two Germanys: The East, the West, and the meaning of home" by Sigrid MacRae.

"These Precious Days"

I'm indulging in Ann Patchett's "These Precious Days" from my January 2021 print copy of Harper's Magazine.

New Poets

"Tracey held the apple aloft. 'We know that it’s the nature of all objects to fall through space. I understand that. I accept it. But one day, in this universe of endless universes, I believe there’s going to be something that doesn’t fall. That doesn’t have to fall. I have to believe that.' She gripped her prop by its stem, and we all looked on, soundlessly, breathlessly, as she let it go. We half expected, half desired, half required with half the fibers in our bodies that the apple would float there once she released it. We watched like children, we idiots. It fell to the floor with a soft crunch as its flesh compacted under the force of its plummet."

~~ from "New Poets" by Michael Deagler