“An epic of urban formation followed by dusty abandonment looks menacing next to millions of years of hunting and gathering, as though settled societies are inherently unstable.” — Steven Stoll. “Larding the Lean Earth: Soil and Society in Nineteenth-Century America”. pp. 19 Does this explain the rise and fall of civilizations? Agriculture is inherently unstable;…

In the car, while listening to Muse, my dad said he had finally figured out what exactly it is that Muse does so spectacularly. He said they use the piano in a way that makes the piano sound “liquid”. This seemed to me a remarkably good way of describing their sound – listen to the…

I am walking down Eager Avenue in St. Louis, walking to Borders. I walk past this haven of suburbia past the fountains no one ever notices, past the flowers no one ever smells, across the hot black asphalt with no pedestrian crosswalk because, obviously, why would anyone ever want to walk here? This is dead…

[A collaboration by Joey Spadafora and Amira Makansi] A rose in the desert, the rain on the sea I can’t hear your name anymore The sound in my ears is drowned by the screams The voices, the far-distant horn Hold me by the heel and dip me in the Styx I died ten years ago,…

Dan: I don’t want to hurt you. Alice: So why are you? Alice: No one will love you as much as I do. Why isn’t love enough? Alice: Why do you love her? Is it because she is successful? Dan: No, it’s because she doesn’t need me!