Recommended Reading: Missives from the Edge of the World
New Zealand will take your breath away. Also I'm reading a lot of fiction.
Notice I said edge of the world, not end of the world. Though more often than not these days it feels like that, too. Not paying attention feels irresponsible. Paying attention feels exhausting.
I’ve spent the past 6 weeks in New Zealand — Aotearoa — and it really does feel like the edge of the world. Yes, one can always follow the social media and the constant news cycle, and the connectivity of the Internet is ever-present; but the physical distance really does make you feel that much more removed from everything that is happening over there.
Two weeks ago, I read this article in The Guardian, where author Theresa MacPhail discussed the term polycrisis ( multiple crises happening contemporaneously, interacting with each other, effects piling up), the new year, and looking towards the future in this present moment:
Humans have been here before, Hershfield reminded me. For example, people living through the Cuban missile crisis had no clear way of knowing if they – or the world itself – would survive.
“What feels very different in the present moment,” Hershfield said, “is that it feels like it’s coming from multiple fronts. It’s everything from political uncertainty in the US and elsewhere, health insecurity from the very fresh memory of a global pandemic, job insecurity from AI, geopolitical insecurity, to environmental insecurity.”
All these crises are happening contemporaneously, and because they interact with each other, their effects pile up. Social scientists refer to these stacked crises as a polycrisis. During a polycrisis, radical uncertainty becomes rife.
The lack of predictability creates more doubt about the future, which blocks our ability to imagine ourselves in it…
How many of us are living multiple realities these days? The cognitive dissonance is exhausting. New Zealand has been magical and healing and exactly what I needed. Everyone has been welcoming and wonderful, and at every turn the beauty and the landscape will take your breath away. To what am I returning?
I’ve also been reading a lot more fiction — short stories — these days. “Love of Fate” by Rafael Frumkin, recommended by Halimah Marcus for Electric Literature, stuck with me long after I read it. You should read it, too.
IN PRINT:
Needle’s Eye by Wiesław Myśliwski, Tr. from Polish by Bill Johnston
RECOMMENDED READING - Top of Mind
We are living in a time of polycrisis. If you feel trapped – you’re not alone People are feeling overwhelmed and overstimulated, bombarded with bad news each day – global economic and political instability, the rising cost of living, job insecurity, severe weather events. This not only heightens anxiety but also makes it more difficult to keep going. Theresa MacPhail (Jan. 2026)
Artists Shouldn’t Need to Become Content Creators to Get Fair Pay Under capitalism, those of us who want a career in the arts feel pressured to sell ourselves. But making art and marketing it are very different skills Ilana Masad (Sept. 2025)
Seeds of Science Why aren’t smart people happier? Adam Mastroianni (Oct. 2025)
The Hottest Toy of the Year Is Made by a Tech Startup You’ve Never Heard Of How an obscure company pivoted, then pivoted again, nearly ran out of money—and built a hit product Ben Cohen (Dec. 2025)
From cells to selves Contemplating the world requires a body, and a body requires an immune system: the rungs of life create the stuff of thought Anna Ciaunica (Nov. 2025)
Is Substack still a space for writers and readers? As everyone, from influencers, brands and celebrities, flock to the online publishing platform, 5 writers weigh in on the celebrification (and potential slop-ification) of Substack Laura Pitcher (Dec. 2025)
His Sex Addiction Is Proof of Free Will “Love of Fate” by Rafael Frumkin, recommended by Halimah Marcus for Electric Literature (Nov. 2025)
NEWS / LONG-FORM JOURNALISM
The Tragic, Never-Told Love Story of A Gilded Age–Era Romance While working on a biography of her great-grandmother Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Fiona Donovan unearthed a trove of letters between Gertrude’s daughter, Flora Whitney Miller, and President Theodore Roosevelt’s son, Quentin Roosevelt, that tell a story of one woman’s battle with grief during a time of war. Fiona Donovan (Dec. 2025)
The snail farm don: is this the most brazen tax avoidance scheme of all time? Terry Ball – renowned shoe salesman, friend to former mafiosi – has vowed to spend his remaining years finding ways to cheat authorities he feels have cheated him. His greatest ruse? A tax-dodging snail empire Jim Waterson (Dec. 2025)
Why your early 2000s photos are probably lost forever If you used a digital camera in the early 2000s, there’s a good chance whole chapters of your life have been erased. A generation of photos has vanished on broken hard drives and defunct websites. Julia Bensfield Luce (Dec. 2025)
AI / STARTUPS / TECH
The digital age’s reversion to pre-literate communication Digital tools are pulling us away from fixed texts and back toward fluid, interactive communication. Andrey Mir (Nov. 2025)
AI Is Inventing Academic Papers That Don’t Exist — And They’re Being Cited in Real Journals The proliferation of references to fake articles threatens to undermine the legitimacy of institutional research across the board Miles Klee (Dec. 2025)
AI got my poetry collection disqualified from the book awards – here’s my side of the story Jiaqiao Liu (Dec. 2025)
SCIENCE / BRAIN / MIND / HEALTH
Brain Patterns Predict Who Becomes Friends Your brain senses familiarity long before you interact with someone. William A. Haseltine (Dec. 2025)
Life for 30-Somethings Is Getting More Stressful But maybe also more meaningful Faith Hill (Dec. 2025)
Gossiping Is Smarter Than You Think Oriel Feldman Hall (Oct. 2025)
Liset Menéndez de la Prida, neuroscientist: ‘It’s not normal to constantly seek pleasure; it’s important to be bored, to be calm’ The researcher has published a new book that unpacks the inner workings of the ancestral neural GPS that allows us to locate ourselves in the here and now, recall memories, and imagine future worlds Jessica Mouzo (Dec. 2025)
Weight-loss drugs do nothing to address the troubled relationships we have with our bodies Susie Orbach (Jan. 2026)
PERSONAL NARRATIVE / ART / FICTION
How to read a poem Ideally over a lifetime, says New Yorker’s Kevin Young. As told to Sy Boles. (Dec. 2025)
I opened a bookshop. It was the best, worst thing I’ve ever done Chloe Fox shares the hopes and heartache of fulfilling a life-long dream (Dec. 2025) … “In the US, daily reading for pleasure has declined by an estimated 40 per cent in the past 20 years.”
Readings Might Be Turning Into America’s New Favorite Pastime Many people arrive looking to meet someone and enjoy a shared cultural experience Mia Risher (Sept. 2025)
Menopause, Writer’s Block, and Being a Late Bloomer I’m supposed to believe my womanhood is ending but instead, I have been handed a new beginning Roxane Gay (Jan. 2026)
I was warned my children would be ripped in half when we divorced. But I had no idea just how brutal custody cases can be My experience of court was eye-opening. And when I sat in on other cases, I realised how often mothers are vilified Lara Feigel (Jan. 2026)
The Friend-Group Fallacy Many people yearn for a crew, but having one is not actually the norm. Jenny Singer (Jan. 2026)
Frances McDormand on her adult-sized cradle art project: ‘It’s not performative, it’s experiential’ Frances McDormand (Nov. 2025)
Zadie Smith’s heads up to young people: ‘You are absolutely going to become old’ Terry Gross (Dec. 2025)
Eye Fucking Men Across New York City “Shapeshifter” by Maggie Love, recommended by Preety Sidhu for Electric Literature (Dec. 2025)
Tracking Down the Lover From Her Dreams An excerpt from HOUSE OF DAY, HOUSE OF NIGHT by Olga Tokarczuk, translated and recommended by Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Dec. 2025)
Can a Pen Pal Save Your Life? “The Promise of Hotels” by Bill Cotter, recommended by Halimah Marcus for Electric Literature (Sept. 2025)
Illness Is a Tear in the Great Cosmic Patter “Poppy” by Hope Henderson, recommended by Willem Marx for Electric Literature (Sept. 2025)
Whatever’s Killing the Cattle Is Killing Him Too “The Cattleman” by Aaron Gwyn, recommended by Wynter K Miller for Electric Literature (Aug. 2025)
MBA Program at Harvard Business School: 1963 - 1970 First woman admitted to full MBA Program 1963
She Got the Money and I Did the Time “One Thing about Blue” by Maureen O’Leary from SACRAMENTO NOIR, recommended by John Freeman (March 2025)
My Obscenity Deserves to Be Seen “The Cat Sitter” by Genevieve Plunkett, recommended by Preety Sidhu for Electric Literature (June 2025)
Sleep Is a Runaway Train and I’m Tied to the Tracks “My Sleep” from HURRICANE ENVY by Sara Jaffe, recommended by Leni Zumas