Genre Reveal Party

If these ideas are intriguing to you, maybe you wish to subscribe to my newsletter.

Other new writing:

• A review of Justified: City Primeval for Polygon

• The difference between blade and burr grinders for Serious Eats

Raylan Givens, Raylan Takens Away

I was very grateful that Polygon.com let me write about Justified: City Primeval. I’d rather you click through and read that one than try and write something new for this newsletter, but there’s a point I forgot to make in that review.

The original Justified run is built around soap opera stakes and dark humor while Justified: City Primeval is a half-baked attempt at prestige television. But what I forgot to mention is that Justified is clearly a Western and Justified: City Primeval is not. That’s an important distinction, because Westerns are about action, adventure, relationships, and letting the air out with one-off episodes and humor. Anyway, go read that piece.

Read

• The Man Who Could Move Clouds by Ingrid Rojas Contreras

I’m about halfway through this really beautiful memoir written by a former classmate of mine. It’s both incredible to see how strong the writing is and how clear her voice has been for the last 17 years. She has a fascinating way to make small, internal moments feel visceral and big. The story itself is incredible, but I don't think I can sum it up well, so just go read it.

Watch

• FIBA World Cup

Do you like basketball? Team USA has been doing some wild stuff. It’s a super young team with a lot of up and coming future superstars, and they’re facing down some physical play they’re not used to. That means slow starts, clumsy passes, and some key coaching adjustments that pull the team out on top by the end. It’s fun watching raw talent refined on the fly.

Listen

• Blowback Podcast

I resisted listening to Blowback because a thorough examination of how the lead up to the Iraq War seemed completely fucked to try and digest. But I was wrong: it’s extremely fucked and endlessly fascinating. Hosts Brendan James and Noah Kulwin do an incredible amount of research, pull great clips, and add in some fun sound drops to keep it lighthearted. I had assumed it was more of a chat show, but it’s actually a really thoughtfully executed narrative podcast. Give it a listen!

Consume

• Landjäger

I’m working on a piece about landjäger sausage right now, and in doing research, I’ve fallen in love with it. It’s a spiced, cured, fermented, smoked, and dried meat snack that was originally designed to be shelf stable so hunters could carry them out into the fields and forests. It’s tangy, lightly sweet, smoky, and the fermentation adds tons of complexity. Worth picking up if you see it around.

Artwork by Ashley Elander Strandquist. You can view her illustration work here and check out her printing business here.