Jun 2, 2020
Ever since the start of the pandemic, the world seems to be following some grim kind of trajectory. So much good could’ve come out of this—a carbon tax, new green economies, respect for science, a sense of being in the same boat at least—but nothing has. And the few...
May 29, 2020
I grew up in the shadow of American culture. A strange thing to say for someone from half a world away, from Poland, a country that the average American can’t place on a map the same way I can’t place Nebraska. But, back in the 80s and 90s culture and entertainment...
May 25, 2020
As I write this, I emerge from an unintended week-long digital sabbatical. The reasons for it are mundane; the wire in the wall of our new place is busted, so we’re stranded without any internet. You’d think my phone would have me covered, but after moving to Germany,...
May 1, 2020
I won’t even pretend I understand the appeal of the mass appeal culture. I read books and watch movies to feel, think, and imagine. Unfortunately, too many blockbuster productions and bestselling novels fail to provoke any of those reactions. That’s why I enjoy...
May 15, 2020
As a child, I used to annoy my mother by refusing to say “please.” She’d tease me by asking, “And what’s the magic word?” using that special tone known only to mothers, to which I’d reply “open sesame!” But, putting aside the sort of a brat I was, I think we can...
May 12, 2020
At a certain distance, you can’t tell a friend from a stranger because from far away, all human faces look more or less the same. Features dissolve into colored blotches. Step back some more, and the blotches become dots; points on a chart, numbers in a spreadsheet....
