Zan McQuade

Did you know that cardinals can live to 22?

These cardinals might remember snacking on a Gray’s Papaya bun

I don’t actually live alone but if I did I would get a pet raven

Reading a book of facts and keep shouting things like “did you know that a raven can live to 69?” “did you know that a group of cats is called a clowder?” “did you know that Jethro Tull was a real person who invented a seed drill?”

(I live alone)

Oooohh I like this one. 5 authors I’ve read 5 books by:

Iris Murdoch
Toni Morrison
Joan Didion
Nancy Lemann
Laurie Colwin

Billy Steinberg walk of fame star with shadow pointing to it

I am such a Billy Steinberg fan that when I came across his star on the Palm Springs walk of fame I SQUEALED 💔

Billy Steinberg, Songwriter Who Co-Wrote Smashes Including ‘Like a Virgin,’ ‘True Colors,’ ‘Eternal Flame’ and ‘So Emotional,’ Dies at 74 Billy Steinberg, part of one of the most successful songwriting teams of the '80s and '90s, from 'Eternal Flame' to 'I Touch Myself,' has died.

I am sincerely sad about the death of Billy Steinberg. He was my first awareness of the songwriter over the artist, and wrote so many of my favorite childhood songs. (Alone, Eternal Flame, Like A Virgin, True Colors…) variety.com/2026/music/o...

Lolllll as soon as we got in the car Kauai Community Radio was having “goth hour” and it was all The Mission and The Cure 🖤🖤🖤

I have yet to see a goth in Kauai

A Mall I Loved Is Going Pitch Black | Defector The vote looked like a funeral. Residents showed up to the council meeting dressed in black, carrying prop tombstones. One carried drooping flowers. “I feel that what the council has just done has sen...

We both had an appreciation for the history (personal and cultural/communal) of malls; here is a piece he wrote about his old mall that gives a bit of his background and memory to the world. Rest in peace and memory, Dan defector.com/a-mall-i-lov...

I never got to meet Dan but thanks to the similarity of our names we had some really delightful interactions online. I really enjoyed his writing too; this is so sad for the world and especially for those who knew him.

Oh this is so sad. We never met but had wonderful online interactions going back to 2014 thanks to the similarity of our names. I’m so sorry for those who knew him…

This is my sleeper favorite song on this album

“I didn’t know if you could hear the coyotes.”

I was recording a video for a friend about some cover band instrument division that got interrupted by coyotes in our yard and it’s a great illustration of what life in 2026 feels like

This is why it annoys me when people try to make it seem as if this is how things have always been. There was a time when greater literacy and reading as a part of everyday life for people of every class was a national mission. Then it changed drastically and now we’re here.

The Arc Of A Reader A year of consuming Faulkner's floodwaters, Satie, and physics

I guess 2026 is the year I start writing things again? open.substack.com/pub/zanmcqua...

I had like five responses to this that I never sent but I’m STILL thinking about Todd Rundgren

Book on wood table: Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime by Sean Carroll

Also looming large in my reading this year: @seanmcarroll.bsky.social’s Something Deeply Hidden. I feel absolutely transformed by what I learned in this book. Who needs self-help when you have the Many Worlds theory?

It’s really good!

Two books on a wood table: Erik Satie Three Piece Suite by Ian Penman, and Two-Headed Doctor by David Toop

Two books I read this year that I loved more than any others, I think. David Toop
and Ian Penman aren’t just writing about music or Dr. John or Satie or the piano… they’re writing about EVERYTHING THAT CONNECTS THROUGH TIME & EXPERIENCE. Beautiful works.

Mariko Aoki phenomenon - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariko_...

I’m so sorry I missed you! Hope you had fun visiting our city

Wow Annie; tremendous!

I have bags under my eyes from staying up too late listening to the Rosalía album. 😍🫩

It is such a great show.

Am I the only weirdo who likes it when the clocks go back because it’s lighter earlier in the morning?

Honestly the best thing about late October is randomly hearing Warren Zevon in public

baseball is the best preparation for death because it does not come with a clock that tells you when your suffering will end one way or the other

I didn’t watch (I don’t love watching baseball on TV) but I think baseball is beautiful because it can last as long or as short as it needs to

I love how in spite of trying to make baseball shorter (why) they succeeded in having a World Series game that lasted so long and everyone is complaining about so much that I can’t even tell who won based on the posts about it.