In Conversation

In its traditional formulation, the metaphor of the bird cage is pretty banal: we can see out and they can see in—but we’re trapped…

There is something rather delightful in reading about the deleterious effects of the Internet whilst one is on the Internet. The eventual metastasis of its recursive self-reference is a pleasure not to be missed. Take Carl Wilkinson’s recent article in The … Continued

The last time I used a pay phone was to respond to my beeper, which was attached to my hip and set on vibrate. It was fourteen years ago; “Quit Playing Games With My Heart” was what is now “Call … Continued

A friend and I once debated whether critics are helpful or even necessary. She ventured no, citing a New York Times book review that attacked the work of a “seasoned” writer, and basically concluded that the novelist had, in his … Continued

 On the first day of art school, I arrived prepared. I toted my 30 pounds of required supplies into the classroom, having carefully chosen each expensive paint tube and special willow charcoal from the three-page “class requirements” list. I sat … Continued

In the following, senior editor Samuel Burr gives a short note on graphic journalism, as preface to Lucy Knisley’s “The New Life of the Comic Book”. Read her work here. + “Print is dead.” This was proclaimed, and loudly—shouted from … Continued

Even before I learned to drive, I always believed I would die in a car crash—a strange fear, canonized when my mother was in a bad accident. I knew it the moment it happened; no one told me. Magical thinking … Continued

You have asked about my whereabouts since our last conversation. There is no need to fear; I have been exploring the many coffee shops of Brooklyn.

Perhaps, as so many contend, we young kids have very little interest in reading and writing. Follow that logic to its end…