Look in this space for selections from my collection of all-time favorite pieces, spiced with some recent stories.
These will usually be works of literary nonfiction, but I couldn’t resist launching with this shortie from the May 4 New Yorker. Titled “Buzzed,” it’s a hilarious fantasy by Noah Baumbach about what happens when scientists, curious about the biochemistry of addiction, dropped liquefied freebase cocaine on bees’ backs.
Connie–I just came across this today while reading your cool website, and it really made me laugh. So I sent it off to a few folks who are also teachers at California College of the Arts where I earned my MFA. I thought they might like to use it for any discussion about point of view. Ask someone to read it aloud in workshop and it will provide a perfect example and a discussion breakthrough. Thanks for this! And all you do.
The most difficult read that I ever did was the introduction to Jackson I Cope’s “Joyce’s Cities: Archaeologies of the Soul” I Knew some of the words and understood none of the sentences. I can’t find my copy so if you come across it I would appreciate a translation. If I find my copy I will post the intro.