writing is an inherently dignified human activity

substack.com · 7,005 words · saved by 1 readers

Been saying this for years, and it’s one of the few things that I’m still certain about. Cartoon is from one of the many earlier posts I made on the subject. One reason I started my own newsletter was that Celine Nguyen showed what was possible. Inspirational is a word often used too lightly. Here, it fits exactly. From the diary of André Gide, on December 31, 1891: When one has begun to write, the hardest thing is to be sincere. Essential to mull over that idea and to define artistic sincerity. Meanwhile, I hit upon this: the word must never precede the idea. Or else: the word must always be necessitated by the idea. It must be irresistible and ine… It’s challenging to write a genuinely interesting academic monograph; it’s also challenging, I think, to write an interesting review of one! But I loved Derek Neal’s review of the NYU humanities prof Leif Weatherby’s Language Machines: Cultural AI and the End of Remainder Humanism. Neal’s review is just so inviting and accessible and engag

In 2023, after several years of failed new year’s resolutions, I decided to try something new. My annual attempts to “write more” never seemed to last longer than a month; I began to fear that I was someone incapable of finishing projects, of executing on ideas. But in early December, I seized upon a sudden, capricious urge to start a newsletter—drafting my first post on a Wednesday evening after work—and once I’d sent my first email, it was easier to continue writing. That was my first strategy: to begin my resolutions in December, unburdened by the cumbersome weight of the new year. A…

writing is an inherently dignified human activity

related reading