Things: In a year spent motion sick, it’s the things I could grip onto. A pencil, at first, tucked in a new notebook, sheathed in black matte leather. For thoughts and their consequences, words. The hard spine of On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. A story that, for the first time, invited me to join it […]

“This is called ‘The polar bear plunge’/ Are you ready?/ If you don’t jump on the count of three/ You do not get your five dollars.“ –– Bilderbuch, “Plansch”   The first Bilderbuch (translated: picture book) song I heard was a nonsensical song called “Bungalow.” The next song I heard was “Plansch.” More than a […]

When I think back on myself as a child, I come up with many obnoxious qualities: I was a stickler for the rules, a teacher’s pet, and a musical purist who believed my ignorance of pop music made me superior to my peers. My parents had raised me on a steady diet of opera, and […]