John McCoy

The Radical Left City Mouse & the Very Good Country Mouse A City Mouse once visited a relative who lived in the country. For lunch the Country Mouse took his elite East Coast cousin to the local Cracker Barrel for Country Fried Steak with a side of Onion …

An ancient Greek fable with absolutely no relevance to the present day: johnmccoy.org/2025/11/06/t...

Yeah, it’s called a disability I got my autism diagnosis at a weird time: about a month and a half before the Global Pandemic. One day I was learning why I isolate myself, the next day the whole world was isolating right along w…

In which I add yet another drop in the ocean of online autism discourse! {If that's not your thing, check out other posts on my bog. Some are even funny!) johnmccoy.org/2025/10/30/y...

Bonus: I blog about the earworm that is the theme song for the 1982 movie adaptation johnmccoy.org/2025/10/08/i...

The Last Unicorn (Sophomore Lit 179) Don’t it allways seem to go, you don’t know what unicorns you got til they’re gone. Kathy Campbell discusses Peter S. Beagle’s 1968 The Last Unicorn.

Pick up some more unicorns on the way home, we’re down to our last. @kathycampbell.com discusses butterflies and bulls. #sophomorelit #unicorns #entropy www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...

YouTube video by mcmullen museum Introduction to "Martin Karplus: Moments & Monuments" by Curator John McCoy (Oct 1, 2025)

I was honored to have the opportunity of curating an exhibition of the photographs of Martin Karplus, currently on view at the McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, until December 7. This link is to a lecture I gave last night as an introduction to the exhibition: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JRI...

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale When, as a kid, I learned the word raconteur, I thought that the role wasn’t simply a matter of one being good with stories; I thought it was a career one could have, and even be paid for. I&…

Get to know me through a series of anecdotes, an alarming number of which involving serious injury: johnmccoy.org/2025/09/28/j...

R.U.R. (Sophomore Lit 178) BEEP boop what is… love? Well, we don’t figure this out, but John Siracusa does return to Sophomore Lit to discuss Karel Čapek’s play R.U.R. (1920), the origin of the word “robot.”

@siracusa.social returns to Sophomore Lit to answer once and for all, are the robots from R.U.R, the play that originated the word "robots," robots...or not? #r.u.r #sophomorelit #endoftheworldasweknowit www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...

Out of touch Getting a psychiatric diagnosis affects everyone differently. For many, it’s a catharsis, a key to self-discovery and self-acceptance. For others, it can be a troubling albatross, a confirmat…

Wow, there sure is a lot of autism discourse on the net these days. So anyway, here's more of mine: #autism #doggos #patheticfallacy johnmccoy.org/2025/09/23/o...

Frankenstein (Sophomore Lit 62) Glenn Fleishman returns to the show to discuss today’s modern Prometheuses. It’s the long-awaited episode on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818-31).

In prepation for the upcoming Frankstein movie, you can listen to @tracemcjoy.bsky.social & I discuss Leslie Klinger’s remarkable New Annotated Frankenstein, which lets you read *THREE* revisions of the book at once! www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...

The Pushcart War (Sophomore Lit 177) Brush up on the Large Object Theory of History. Shaenon K. Garrity returns to discuss Jean Merrill’s The Pushcart War (1964).

My brother @dankmccoy.bsky.social pointed out that there was an audio problem with the most recent episode of Sophomore Lit. I fixed it! So if that was keeping you from listening, now you have no excuse. www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...

I never get tired of talking about how every book I read as a kid turned me into a radical leftist.

The Pushcart War (Sophomore Lit 177) Brush up on the Large Object Theory of History. Shaenon K. Garrity returns to discuss Jean Merrill’s The Pushcart War (1964).

Pushcarts of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but a bunch of trucks. @shaenon.bsky.social discusses Jean Merrill's The Pushcart War (1964) #pushcarts #sophomorelit #generalannalives www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...

Less Fun than a Barrel of Crackers Header image: S.O. Grimes general store, Westminster, Md., c. 1900. Image via Library of Congress. Another day, another shot fired in the culture wars: this time, the internet is loosing its collec…

New on Pathetic Fallacy: I jump aboard the Cracker Barrel bandwagon. Is the world ready for yet another hot take? #logos #crackers #badideas johnmccoy.org/2025/08/25/l...

Sophomore Lit by The Incomparable For fans of the Sophomore Lit podcast on The Incomparable, it's a Mockingbird wearing Holden Caulfield's hat studiously reading a book. She's got a four-page essay due on Tuesday.

Happy to announce the first-ever piece of Sophomore Lit merch! A great present for a listener, or for a non-listener you want to confuse! cottonbureau.com/p/EZQ23R/shi...

The Early Writings of John McCoy (2nd edition) A Facsimile Edition; with commentary by the author The author in 1974. I published the first edition of this commentary in 1997, having just learned how to code HTML from a disreputable Usenet post…

If you enjoy comic essays in which the 57-year-old author roasts his six-year-old former self, I got you covered: johnmccoy.org/2025/08/04/t...

Meet me at the cemetery gates Boston is a great place for cemeteries. If you visit our fair city as a tourist and walk the Freedom Trail, which is the red-brick line that connects downtown Boston’s and Charlestown’s…

If you're not already reading my blog/newsletter Pathetic Fallacy, what better post to start with than this exploration of Boston's best graves? (As voted on by me.)
johnmccoy.org/2025/07/27/m...

Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads The latest episode of my podcast, Sophomore Lit, is a discussion of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, Or, Life in the Woods (1854), with guest host Daniel Daughtee. As I mentioned in my discussio…

And also check out my blog/newsletter for more thoughts on Thoreau johnmccoy.org/2025/07/18/h...

Walden, or Life in the Woods (Sophomore Lit 176) If you’re suffering from Quiet Desparation, why not listen to the not-so-quiet voices of Dan Daughhetee and me discussing Henrey David Thoreau’s Walden, or Life in the Woods (1854)?

Make no mistake, we will call you back to the lake. Or pond, whatever. @dancredentials.bsky.social discusses Walden. #thoreau #sophomorelit #quietdesperation www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...

Pathetic Fallacy Another Blog You're Not Reading.

I invite all listeners to Sophomore Lit—and anyone else, really—to check out the new iteration of my blog, Pathetic Fallacy. In addition to literature, I discuss design, pop culture, ASD, and lots more! You can subscribe to the blog as a newsletter and get new posts via email. johnmccoy.org

remember when Dad used to listen to Music from the Hearts of Space? now they want to defund public radio what will us olds listen to smh

First Class - The Incomparable Exclusive bonus content, only for Incomparable members.

Just posted, only for The Incomparable members - I talk with @tracemcjoy.bsky.social about Stephen King's first novel "Carrie,” which I had never read. Turns out... Sue Snell is in it?

www.theincomparable.com/members/firs...

The Chrysalids (Sophomore Lit 174) Podcasts are the original voices in your head. David Dredrick discusses John Wyndham’s The Chrysalids (1955).

Fun fact: this book never actually says what a chrysalid is. #JohnWyndham #SophomoreLit #TheWorldEndsAgain www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...

The Visit (Sophomore Lit 173) Make money fast with this one weird trick. Glenn Fleishman discusses Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s play The Visit (1956).

I talked about the surprisingly relevant 1950s play The Visit by Friedrich Dürrenmatt with @tracemcjoy.bsky.social on Sophomore Lit. www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit... Call it “the ones who decided Omelas was an okay place to live if it paid well enough.”

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (Sophomore Lit 172) And indeed there will be time to discuss this, the most mid-life white-guy crisis poem of all. Lisa Schmeiser discusses T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (1915).

If life is getting you down right now, maybe spend about a half an hour discussing someone else's problems.
@lschmeiser.bsky.social discusses T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." #sophomorelit #disturbingtheuniverse www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...

Frank O'Connor Stories (Sophomore Lit 171) I’ve heard it said by men of wide experience that podcasts used to be better in the old days. Kieran Healy discusses three short stories by Frank O’Connor: “First Confession,” “The Majesty of the Law,...

In the latest episode of Sophomore Lit I discuss Frank O'Connor, first confessions, and heather-based whisky with guest host Kieran Healy (@kjhealy.co) www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...

Emily Dickinson Poems (Sophomore Lit 170) Forever is composed of podcasts. Caroline Fulford discusses selected poems by Emily Dickinson (c. 1860-65).

I'll tell you how the sun rose... is not discussed in this episode. #sophomorelit #dickinson #emopoetsunite

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (Sophomore Lit 169) Cigars are always trouble. Marina McCoy discusses Barbara Robinson’s The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (1972).

Not a movie tie-in! www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...

lifehack your kindness with one weird cup

The Time of Your Life (Sophomore Lit 168) Sometimes you want to go where everybody is a thread in the fabric of the human condition. Also they know your name. Phil Gonzales discusses William Saroyan’s The Time of Your Life (1939).

Phil Gonzales (@pcgonzo.bsky.social) visits #sophomorelit to discuss this very strange play that is also an American classic? www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...

Thanksgiving Special: Comfort Reads (Sophomore Lit 167) Hey, things are tough. The McCoy Bros, Rob, John, and Dan, discuss the books that get them through.

This year’s traditional family episode, featuring Dan (@dankmccoy.bsky.social ?and Rob, this time discussing comfort reading www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...