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The Corrections, Franzen (2001)
There are good reasons why The Corrections is talked about in the same breath as the great 19th-century Russian novels. The book has similar ambitions—to explore psychological truths…
4 min read
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Black on Both Sides, Mos Def (1999)
I hated my nose growing up. It was too big, too bulbous. I wanted a white nose: Roman, aquiline. The insecurity grew milder as I got older, but…
4 min read
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The Complete Plantation Recordings, Muddy Waters (1941)
In 1941, the music historian Alan Lomax traveled to Clarksdale, Mississippi, hoping to record the legendary Robert Johnson. Johnson was dead, but locals pointed Lomax to another blues…
4 min read
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RTJ4, Run the Jewels (2020)
RTJ4 dropped a week after George Floyd’s murder and a few months after COVID-19 hit the world stage. In retrospect, the most painful aspect of 2020 wasn’t the…
4 min read
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My Brilliant Friend, Ferrante (2012)
The New York Times recently released a list of the 100 greatest books of the 21st century, as chosen by over five hundred writers and critics. Number one…
4 min read
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On Functions
A function is a machine. We observe the world and wonder what generated the phenomena we see. Water flowing, a bicycle rolling, a tree growing. What we would…
4 min read
