Sam Stephenson

People are desperate to feel connected, to feel community and meaning. I can see that being manifest in many developments, some heartwarming, some forced, and some of everything.

A pet peeve is going to a museum in the dead of winter, a visit I had been anticipating highly, and then being unpleasantly warm/hot inside, sweating actually. Yesterday my base layer was wet with sweat. Not sure why many museums are so warm in the winter and cold in the summer.

Headed to Vancouver and then Sechelt, B.C. this week. Any and all suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

I've watched countless cooking videos on youtube, virtually ever cuisine on the planet, and I've never seen a professional chef measure fresh garlic in spoon measurements. NY Times does, though.

I hate when they say, "one tablespoon of minced garlic." Who actually measures minced garlic like that? Maybe if you buy one of those little jars of garlic already minced.

Anybody else feel like the New York Times cooking section daily recipes are often mediocre? So many of them look great, and then I try them, verbatim, and the results are pretty lame.

I own W. Eugene Smith’s custom made stainless steel darkroom sink, made circa 1957 for his loft at 6th Ave and 28th NYC

Totally

They are clearly tired especially on defense

You can pick those assholes out in a crowd. It’s always the same kind of guy.

IT IS IN YOUR SELF-INTEREST TO FIND A WAY TO BE VERY TENDER

Agree. I like the studio with Blake and Udonis. Feels like a fresh new era of NBA with more open passing offense and less ball hog isolation ball.

YouTube video by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert "Young Americans" - St. Vincent Takes David Bowie UNDER THE COVERS

This is outstanding.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=glHb...

The Hit Hollywood Didn’t Want - The American Prospect Ryan Coogler’s bloodsucker blockbuster is all about Black creative freedom. No wonder the industry saw it as a threat.

What a great piece! This just gets better and better as you read.

prospect.org/2025/12/11/s...

Former Vice President Kamala Harris to Visit Jackson in Book Tour Stop Former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Jackson, Mississippi, for a stop on her book tour early next year.

“We look forward to hosting (former Vice President Kamala Harris) at Thalia Mara Hall and sharing in the dialogue her visit will spark about the future of our democracy,” Jackson Mayor John Horhn said.

My latest interlibrary loan caper. Came from University of Houston music library, which my phone indicates is 101 miles from where I'm typing now. The public library branch here in downtown Bryan, TX is about a 200 yard walk, across railroad tracks. Interlibrary loan makes me feel alive.

wtf is a FIFA peace prize? that's like being an NFL laureate in physics

A New Texan Finds Comfort on Matagorda Bay A writer discovers how Houston’s influence stretches across the Gulf Coast

Earlier this year @texashighways.bsky.social published an essay I wrote about first three years living in Texas. Piece has some autobiography, plus a subtle troll of fish and game culture here. Yesterday, an audio version with me reading was published, found here:

texashighways.com/culture/essa...

Absolutely wild that there's an NPR story about states preparing a year ahead for election interference *by the president of the United States*

Love and Work: Lyric Research on Jason Molina — The Brother In Elysium Sam Stephenson 2019 / 2025 Love and Work is a meditation on the life and music of the Ohio-born musician Jason Molina (1973–2013). In this work, Stephenson uses his wandering, associative, perhaps...

This new letterpress edition of my essay on Jason Molina is available from craftsman Jon Beacham, a favorite collaboration of my career. Jon puts all proceeds from sales back into his work. This edition mostly sold out pre-order. Some left today will go fast.
thebrotherinelysium.com/shop/love-an...

Thanks for the tip

What is alt-text?

Front page of today's Houston Chronicle. We're banning books and running out of drinkable water. Go Humans Go!

+1. The decline of the New Yorker profile is sad. Linear cliff notes summaries of rich and successful.

YouTube video by Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin - Rock and Roll (Live at O2 Arena 2007) [Official Video]

4.4M views of shitty video of what could be a great, rare modern video of Zeppelin. The over-cute editing is mind-numbing. You can't see anything. You only see the choices of the absurdly over-clever editor. So much extant concert footage is ruined like this.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=K793...

I'm a certified salty snack nut from way, way back. But the options at the grocery store nowadays have gone too far. I wish Fred Wiseman would make a 3-hour documentary film about the chip aisle.

What do they think of Trump hosting a White House blood money gala for the Saudis last week?

I had that assignment in 6th grade. Interviewed an older friend of my father's who had been captured by Germans in Belgium in WWII. Felt to me like the absolute Stone Age. Truth was it was only 38 years earlier. 38 years ago now was REM "Life's Rich Pageant."

+1. What a bore, I'm sure he is.

I'd love to see some research on how that has changed over the last 40 years. Baseball has become much more white in the States. I'm an old dad of a 10 year old baseball player in Texas where youth baseball is heavy white and heavy MAGA and its on purpose. Pretty sad.