Northern Lights over the Golden Gate Bridge captured by Hugo Lageneste. Would’ve never thought living in the Bay Area we would ever see the aurora borealis but last night was incredible

This, from Nathan Heller’s piece on attention a few New Yorkers ago, is very precisely the definition of art that I used to teach my students. I like the way it’s framed here.

Zyzzyva, long one of the most interesting lit mags around, has a new editor (from within), a new look, and, by all appearances, a new energy. I’m very excited.

On the widely detested Apple ad: there’s a longstanding premise that people want to live not in the actual world but in a metaverse in their devices. As far as I can tell, this idea originated in strategic offices and has never been observably true. But it has got into techthink.

This is pretty wild & held my attention to the end. newyorker.com/magazine/2024/…

This piece takes quite a turn 1/3 of the way through — quite recommended newyorker.com/magazine/2024/…

absolute profound banger alert ‼️ newyorker.com/magazine/2024/…

The writeups I saw last week when Prof. Helen Vendler died were all about her scholarship, which was, of course, huge. But I knew her as a teacher—a generous, rigorous, encouraging teacher. So I was glad when my friend ⁦Nathan Heller⁩ wrote about / newyorker.com/culture/postsc…

While reporting on our diminishing attention spans, Nathan Heller encountered the Order of the Third Bird—a secret international fellowship, supposedly going back centuries, the members of which meet to intentionally and intensely concentrate on art works. nyer.cm/fZ8xcCp

'Sometimes the world makes everything and everyone seem so replaceable, like they lack value. But then you come here, and it’s, like, no, everything matters. You matter. That building matters.”
newyorker.com/magazine/2024/…

Enjoyed the luxury of reading Nathan Heller’s article “The Battle for Attention” in my paper copy of The New Yorker, but then came here looking for someone to talk to about it.

‘We began to think of art works in need of attention that they don’t receive . . .’—from the Annals of Inquiry, by ⁦Nathan Heller⁩ newyorker.com/magazine/2024/…

Hard to overstate how good and important this piece is.

Thank you Nathan!!

Can’t wait to read this piece on attention when I have time to give it attention!

In this week's The New Yorker, I have what seemed to me an urgent piece. It's about attention (why we're losing it, how to get it back). But it's also about coming together, a secret international order, and what happens between a person and a work of art. newyorker.com/magazine/2024/…

I wrote in memory of Helen Vendler, the giant of criticism, who was also an extraordinarily devoted, open, interested teacher. newyorker.com/culture/postsc…

Luca Guadagnino’s absurdly sexy tennis film, “Challengers,” reached No. 1 at the box office this weekend. Revisit Nathan Heller’s 2018 Profile of the Italian director: nyer.cm/wKLIVQY

John Updike in 1960, pastel and digital, after a photo by Alfred Knopf. Knopf took the photo after cutting some objectionable passages from Rabbit, Run. 'I think what Alfred captured at that moment was the relaxed visage of a man who has decided to sell out,' Updike wrote later.

How absolutely wonderful to see Etel as today's Google doodle, with her beloved Mount Tamalpais peaking over her shoulder. ❤️❤️ #EtelAdnan