Lance Richardson

Totally.

A biography that deliberately excludes so-called "petty, demoralizing details" so as not to upset a reader's delicate constitution is not a biography at all; it is fiction. And if a subject is "diminished" by the truth, so be it. Not our job to burnish a legend built on your fantasies.

I get yelled at for saying this but for many hundreds of years people went to university not to get diplomas or be employable but because immersion in the humanities was considered foundational to a good life, and school must return to its original purpose: the joy of learning.

So Philip Glass just joined TikTok. He only has like 4 posts and they’re simply him in what I assume is his living room playing the piano. First comment on one I saw was “your piano is too close to the fireplace, you’ll dry it out” and if that’s not the internet in a nutshell I don’t know what is.

BLM Announces Plan to Fell Oregon's Last Great Forests One billion board feet per year... 30 days to make your voice heard.

morethanjustparks.substack.com/p/blm-announ... there's info on who to complain to to try to stop this at the end of the article, lets share this message and try our best to stop it.

Honored to have an excerpt from my book, "In Trees" (out 4/7) in the pages of this week's
@newyorker.com

This piece is about the summer I spent in a treehouse to blockade an oil pipeline, and why some protest movements change history, while others fade quietly into obscurity.

Masterclass: Going the Distance: Writing Life Through Biography - Event Information – ArtsHub Australia Writing a compelling biography requires more than just a good story. It demands rigorous research, effective organisation and the discipline to see a long-term project through.

I'm also giving a biography masterclass in Melbourne, next Thursday, if that is more your speed.

And next Wednesday, I'll be at the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne. (I love Melbourne and am very excited.)

What's On | SMSA

Sydney friends, I'll be in conversation this Friday with Caroline Baum at the Mechanics' School of Arts. Should be a fun conversation.

I think it has value if you're a young writer without connections, unsure what is on offer in the writing world, and curious about things like MFAs (my Bennington colleagues have a stall). But otherwise I agree.

Yep, it still is. Look up 65 Prospect St, Providence, RI.

What is really weird — Lovecraftian? — is that last time I checked, his house was blurred out on Google streetview. Like a hole in reality.

I spent a year in the NYPL as a writer in residence and it was the best year of my life. Walking through the lobby and Rose Room before it opened to the public is a surreal and wonderful experience.

He lived around the corner from my house (I live in Providence), and people leave all sorts of weird stuff at his surprisingly modest grave in the nearby cemetery. There's a bookshop in town that sells basically nothing but Chulthu stuff; seems to do a roaring trade.

The Migrants in the Ancient Forest Five years ago, Belarus began enabling people from high-conflict countries to migrate into Europe. Despite high walls and backlash, they’re still coming.

In October, migrants attempted more than 10,000 crossings to Poland through the Białowieża Forest. The country passed a law that effectively allows authorities to force migrants back across the border immediately after they arrive, often violently. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/dEHZ7a

Nicest man, brilliant writer.

AIs can’t stop recommending nuclear strikes in war game simulations Leading AIs from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google opted to use nuclear weapons in simulated war games in 95 per cent of cases

I’m sure the extensive use of AI at the Pentagon is going to be great.

People downplay how deeply weird it is.

Because of the National driver register, since their licenses are suspended, trans folks cannot move to another state and get a new license until they remove the suspension on their existing Kansas license.

They can't even escape this by moving to another state.

Philosophy #FAQ Ontology: what the fuck? Causality: why the fuck? Epistemology: how the why the fuck? Phenomenology: the fuck.

Watching a government declare war on its own people is really something.

The Stony Dark Within | Joy Williams This is the 150th anniversary of Rilke’s birth. Or, you might say, the 99th anniversary of his death. I asked a small group of students if they knew of

Joy Williams on Rilke. Yes please.

“Something Familiar,” by Mary Gaitskill She didn’t remember what she’d said, only that it had gone on for the whole hour, and that he’d said, “I’m lonely,” and “Please,” and “Give me a chance.”

Wild Mary Gaitskill story.

Totally devastating film

Helen Frankenthaler in her studio, photographed by David Parks for Life magazine in 1956.

I guffawed when I read that line.

Colbert Doesn’t Give an FCC About Calling Out CBS

Stephen Colbert said that the FCC and CBS - which is in no way a compromised or complicit organization - wouldn’t allow him to broadcast an interview with Democratic State Rep James Talarico. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/17/a...

If you're in D.C. a week from tomorrow, there's an event at Politics & Prose honoring the history of Book World. I think the tone will likely be less funerary than you might imagine. I know my comments will be. politics-prose.com/tribute-book...

On Nov. 16, a mental health counselor recorded in Kamilla’s medical records that her mother reported the girl had lost her appetite after being “served food that contained worms.” A week later, the couple said, children were told to gather in the gym for what they believed would be a Thanksgiving celebration. Excitement spread as families saw tables set with turkey, sandwiches, pastries and pies, they said. The children waited expectantly. But when a parent asked when the celebration would begin, Oksana said, staff told them the holiday meal was for employees, not detainees. The children, she said, watched despondently as the feast was packed away.

On Thanksgiving, the immigrant children held at the Dilley detention center gathered in the gym for what they thought was a holiday feast.

The kids salivated over a spread of turkey, sandwiches, pastries and pies, a family told me.

But the food wasn’t for detainees — it was for the staff.

Stone cold classic.