McKenzie Watson-Fore

Zero Tolerance Five years after the George Floyd protests, many liberals blame “wokeness” for stifling open debate. So why can’t they handle being disagreed with?

Loved this bold and impeccably footnoted essay/book review from #AndreaLongChu — about the legacy of 2020, woke panic, and the smokescreens through which we think and speak (or don’t) #freepress #freespeech

www.vulture.com/article/post...

Tomorrow, fix yourself a lunch of frito pie and come hang out with @carameredithwrites.bsky.social and me while we talk all things church camp! Substack live at 10 am PT / 1 pm ET

#churchcamp

Gorgeous and devastating story by Allison Macy-Steines in this week’s issue from @www.sneakerwavemag.org!

I absolutely love running into friends unexpectedly at the library. What a delight. #library #publicspace #ilovemylibrary

“Grasping for sins to get a piece of the agony”!! Yes. Such a perverse incentive system.

💛💛💛

I wrote about the way the doctrine of total depravity alienated me from my inner knowing — read it now in @christiancentury.bsky.social!!

#church #totaldepravity #churchcamp #crynight #youthgroup

This entry in the Farmer’s Almanac implies that Johnson’s impeachment and McKinley’s assassination were both results of their beardlessness 😂

What a narrow view of the world to think that only your definition of “technical abilities” can justify an educational program to exist.

Love seeing Connie Petersen’s @www.sneakerwavemag.org story, “Dislodging a Navel Stone,” featured in this week’s #MemoirMonday!

A story for anyone who’s ever had a total haircut disaster and lived to tell the tale—and, more personally, a story for all of us who have struggled to match the verve inside of us to the appearance outside, to find the right way to express our inner ‘fuckitall.’ #sneakerwavemag#pridemonth#truestory

I’ve been reading Rachel Syme’s #SymesLetterWriter (it’s so gorgeous and fun) and I’m on the section about sending recipes in the mail! What synchronicity

Actually, why limit yourself? I’m curious about both of them.

Wait I am so curious about this rhubarb stew

@therumpus.net your newsletter says you’re taking subs for #collaborativecritism (a column I’m so excited for!), but I can find the submission info. Inquiring minds (and collaborators) would like to know 🤓

#submissions #literarycriticism #writingincollaboration #sendhelp

Pretty sure Substack is what Medium intended to be.
#amwriting #writingcommunity #blogging

The Gravel Path of Belief, Non-Belief, and the Ambiguous In-Between by McKenzie Watson-Fore : MAYDAY This essay is written by MAYDAY magazine’s Critic in Residence for Spring 2025. Sharp bits of gravel poke through my leggings into my thighs. Chilly autumn air wafts from the moonlit surface of the Bi...

I’ve got a new piece up at #maydaymagazine and it’s the first of four essays as part of a critical residency! I’ll be writing about the frictions between the literary world and writing about/wrestling with faith. Thinking about #genesis and #evangelicalism

maydaymagazine.com/the-gravel-p...

I wrote this article about how #thecrowdcollective, a #northboulder artists group, is working to activate #vacantspace on east pearl. Read the article, and check out their awesome new gallery!

#goseesomeart #boulderartists #boulderdowntown

BRING BACK STEWING on the idea that book reviews are boring & repetitive

As a book reviewer of great passion and strong opinions, I absolutely loved this deep dive on criticism! I particularly appreciate Cassie’s point about specificity in book reviews or blurbs. What is a great line or detail you’ve read in a piece of criticism lately?

open.substack.com/pub/pinestat...

I Needed Love Poems For Myself: A Conversation with Rob Macaisa Colgate - The Rumpus I’m curious about a world in which people are less bothered by the physical confrontation of mental disability, and that felt important when I was writing this book to have mental disability take up p...

“When your partner gives you a ride to the airport, that’s access intimacy. That’s love.” I love the framing of care (expressed in craft) from #robmacaisacolgate’s recent interview at #therumpus
#writerinterviews #writingcommunity #AuthorInterviews

therumpus.net/2025/05/19/r...

Hey #writingcommunity, where are y’all reading interviews these days?

#amwriting #literarymagazines #litmags #interviewswithauthors

Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours (1814) Extending Werner's system, this is Patrick Syme's classic taxonomic guide to the colours of the natural world.

Just busy being obsessed with Werner’s Nomenclature of Colors again.

#color #lownotesonartandtrash #wernersnomenclature #publicdomain #amwriting

publicdomainreview.org/collection/w...

This story is so visceral and gross but also so emotional. I really love it. Another smash hit from @www.sneakerwavemag.org !

#nonfiction #truestory #cnf #personalessay #realamericanman #falcon #petsittinghorrorstory #oddjobs

Tonight! Join me, Jaydra Johnson, Elizabeth Cooperman, and Eula Biss in a panel about art made in spite of…everything. Hosted by @calyxpress.bsky.social, happening at 5:30 pm PT! #artunderduress #lownotesonartandtrash #eulabiss #havingandbeinghad #writers

One of those mornings where I just made a whole pot of coffee without any coffee grounds. Happy Monday.

As an editor for @www.sneakerwavemag.org, I really really love sending acceptances.
#litmags #litmageditor

I look forward to these every week too!!

So jazzed to see @rachellsarnoff.bsky.social’s @www.sneakerwavemag.org story featured in this week’s #MemoirMonday roundup! Alongside a bunch of other great pieces 😍 #nonfiction #cnf #personalessay #truestories

A true story about a roommate-ship gone awry… I’ve had roommate-ships that soured, but thankfully never like this! Check out Anna DiMartino’s “The Housemate,” out now from @www.sneakerwavemag.org // #truestory #roommates #stalkerstory #memoir #personalessay

👉 Less than two weeks left to register for this panel with CALYX press, moderated by @mwatsonfore.bsky.social!