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Upcoming:
Pasta Making Fundraiser at Pastificio Etna / September 26, 2026
PME-ART's Relay-Interview Party at Diversité Artistique Montreal (DAM) / October 21, 2026
The Air Contains Honey album launch at Sala Rosa / November 9, 2026
More info comong soon!
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September 14, 2026
September 13, 2026
Some Favourite Non-Fiction Books
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I was staring at my ongoing list of Some Favourite Books, trying to figure out what I like and why, when I started thinking how important non-fiction has been for me over these past few years. And since the above-mentioned list is getting rather long – and everyone knows how much I love lists – I thought I'd edit it down into a shorter version of some favourite non-fiction books:
Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments – Saidiya V. Hartman
Worthy of the Event: An Essay – Vivian Blaxell
Touching the Art – Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore
My Rock ’n’ Roll Friend – Tracey Thorn
The Long Run – Stacey D’Erasmo
Animal Joy – Nuar Alsadir
Believers: Making a Life at the End of the World – Lisa Wells
Ordinary Notes – Christina Sharpe
What You Have Heard Is True – Carolyn Forché
The Feminism of Uncertainty – Ann Snitow
The Mushroom at the End of the World – Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing
Outlaw Woman – Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Incognegro - Frank B. Wilderson III
Pollution Is Colonialism – Max Liboiron
The Nutmeg’s Curse – Amitav Ghosh
Lee Lozano: Dropout Piece – Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer
This Little Art – Kate Briggs
Bonus:
Some passages from Touching the Art by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore
Some passages from My Rock ’n’ Roll Friend by Tracey Thorn
Some passages from The Long Run by Stacey D’Erasmo
Some passages from Animal Joy by Nuar Alsadir
Some passages from Believers by Lisa Wells
Some passages from Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe
Some passages from What You Have Heard Is True by Carolyn Forché
Some passages from The Feminism of Uncertainty by Ann Snitow
.
I was staring at my ongoing list of Some Favourite Books, trying to figure out what I like and why, when I started thinking how important non-fiction has been for me over these past few years. And since the above-mentioned list is getting rather long – and everyone knows how much I love lists – I thought I'd edit it down into a shorter version of some favourite non-fiction books:
Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments – Saidiya V. Hartman
Worthy of the Event: An Essay – Vivian Blaxell
Touching the Art – Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore
My Rock ’n’ Roll Friend – Tracey Thorn
The Long Run – Stacey D’Erasmo
Animal Joy – Nuar Alsadir
Believers: Making a Life at the End of the World – Lisa Wells
Ordinary Notes – Christina Sharpe
What You Have Heard Is True – Carolyn Forché
The Feminism of Uncertainty – Ann Snitow
The Mushroom at the End of the World – Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing
Outlaw Woman – Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Incognegro - Frank B. Wilderson III
Pollution Is Colonialism – Max Liboiron
The Nutmeg’s Curse – Amitav Ghosh
Lee Lozano: Dropout Piece – Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer
This Little Art – Kate Briggs
Bonus:
Some passages from Touching the Art by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore
Some passages from My Rock ’n’ Roll Friend by Tracey Thorn
Some passages from The Long Run by Stacey D’Erasmo
Some passages from Animal Joy by Nuar Alsadir
Some passages from Believers by Lisa Wells
Some passages from Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe
Some passages from What You Have Heard Is True by Carolyn Forché
Some passages from The Feminism of Uncertainty by Ann Snitow
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September 12, 2026
Some passages from My Rock ’n’ Roll Friend by Tracey Thorn
Some passages from My Rock ’n’ Roll Friend by Tracey Thorn:
*
“My band the Marine Girls have been described as looking like we’d break your arm before we’d let you break our hearts, and these things sound like compliments, praising women who are no one’s fool. But there’s an implication that demanding equal space and respect makes you the aggressor. These journalists, they are either scared of you, or they are pretending to be. And they shift the blame for this on to you.”
*
“One interviewer says to her that all the Brits know of her culture is ‘lager, Paul Hogan and Australian rules football’, to which Lindy replies, with an accuracy that can only have silenced him where he stood: ‘It’s the same for Australians. We see your soccer violence, Benny Hill and Margaret Thatcher. We think you’re pretty barbaric too.”
*
“As much as I’m drawn to her outrageousness and loudness, I’m drawn to her positivity. She is constantly upbeat, which is also in my nature. We are both full of a curious, almost gauche enthusiasm about the world. We are cheerer-uppers, bounce-backers, irrepressible, determined – me in a quiet way, her in a noisy way.
Within the world of The Go-Betweens she finds Robert and Grant endlessly depressing, describing them in an interview as ‘the most boring and sad people… That’s why they write the most boring and sad songs. They’re moody and sad. That’s our day-to-day existence and it comes out in our songs.’
She understands and appreciates the beauty that also comes out in the songs, but living and working with their introspection and angst is draining, exasperating, she thinks it is very self-indulgent boy behaviour. A woman wouldn’t get away with it. A woman has to try harder socially. Has to placate, keep things running smoothly, not make unnecessary demands. There is no room for her bad moods, which will be called hormonal. Men experience existential despair while women have periods. Lindy and I both take the view that you can be existential some of the time, while also concentrating on having the time of your life.”
*
“I think how central this is to Lindy’s character, to her essence. The hatred of dishonesty. The inability to play along with it. The bewilderment at how others can embrace it so wholeheartedly. Her devotion to the concept of the truth: an almost religious belief in it as the only way of being, and a revulsion at its opposite. This conviction will bring trouble in its wake, and make hefty demands on her life.”
*
“When I see the film, it makes me angry, then frustrated. How shortsighted, I think. Not to have recognized that Lindy was always one of their strongest assets. Which band would you rather go and see? Two Friends? Or Two Wimps and a Witch?
More than anything, I’m puzzled. Puzzled by the focus on the duo, which leaves out all the drama and tension in the tangle of the original trio, leaves out so much of what had been alluring. It’s such a weakness, not to realise one of their great strengths.
The presence of Lindy had elevated them above the ranks of the stereotypical indie-boy-student band, connecting them with new currents in music which were overturning the gender imbalance. She provided a link with the late ’70s feminist UK bands like the Au Pairs, Delta 5 and The Raincoats, a connection with the early ’80s mixed-gender groups, and a look forward to the Riot Grrrl movement of the ’90s.
Underplaying Lindy’s contribution does not just do her a disservice: it is self-defeating. It makes them a less interesting band, saddling them with a dull identity when they had a bright and interesting one. It is their final act of self-sabotage. As Zadie Smith writes, in an essay on the artist Celia Paul, misogyny ‘is a form of distortion, a way of not seeing.’ Leaving a woman out of the story skews the perspective, gives you an alternate version – a more boring one.
Lindy had brought passion to the band, a tension between decorum and licence. Robert and Grant were cool, and she brought heat; they were calm and she brought energy; they were cerebral and she brought physicality. Without her, they were all decorum, all chasteness. She opened them up, picked them apart at the seams.”
.
*
“My band the Marine Girls have been described as looking like we’d break your arm before we’d let you break our hearts, and these things sound like compliments, praising women who are no one’s fool. But there’s an implication that demanding equal space and respect makes you the aggressor. These journalists, they are either scared of you, or they are pretending to be. And they shift the blame for this on to you.”
*
“One interviewer says to her that all the Brits know of her culture is ‘lager, Paul Hogan and Australian rules football’, to which Lindy replies, with an accuracy that can only have silenced him where he stood: ‘It’s the same for Australians. We see your soccer violence, Benny Hill and Margaret Thatcher. We think you’re pretty barbaric too.”
*
“As much as I’m drawn to her outrageousness and loudness, I’m drawn to her positivity. She is constantly upbeat, which is also in my nature. We are both full of a curious, almost gauche enthusiasm about the world. We are cheerer-uppers, bounce-backers, irrepressible, determined – me in a quiet way, her in a noisy way.
Within the world of The Go-Betweens she finds Robert and Grant endlessly depressing, describing them in an interview as ‘the most boring and sad people… That’s why they write the most boring and sad songs. They’re moody and sad. That’s our day-to-day existence and it comes out in our songs.’
She understands and appreciates the beauty that also comes out in the songs, but living and working with their introspection and angst is draining, exasperating, she thinks it is very self-indulgent boy behaviour. A woman wouldn’t get away with it. A woman has to try harder socially. Has to placate, keep things running smoothly, not make unnecessary demands. There is no room for her bad moods, which will be called hormonal. Men experience existential despair while women have periods. Lindy and I both take the view that you can be existential some of the time, while also concentrating on having the time of your life.”
*
“I think how central this is to Lindy’s character, to her essence. The hatred of dishonesty. The inability to play along with it. The bewilderment at how others can embrace it so wholeheartedly. Her devotion to the concept of the truth: an almost religious belief in it as the only way of being, and a revulsion at its opposite. This conviction will bring trouble in its wake, and make hefty demands on her life.”
*
“When I see the film, it makes me angry, then frustrated. How shortsighted, I think. Not to have recognized that Lindy was always one of their strongest assets. Which band would you rather go and see? Two Friends? Or Two Wimps and a Witch?
More than anything, I’m puzzled. Puzzled by the focus on the duo, which leaves out all the drama and tension in the tangle of the original trio, leaves out so much of what had been alluring. It’s such a weakness, not to realise one of their great strengths.
The presence of Lindy had elevated them above the ranks of the stereotypical indie-boy-student band, connecting them with new currents in music which were overturning the gender imbalance. She provided a link with the late ’70s feminist UK bands like the Au Pairs, Delta 5 and The Raincoats, a connection with the early ’80s mixed-gender groups, and a look forward to the Riot Grrrl movement of the ’90s.
Underplaying Lindy’s contribution does not just do her a disservice: it is self-defeating. It makes them a less interesting band, saddling them with a dull identity when they had a bright and interesting one. It is their final act of self-sabotage. As Zadie Smith writes, in an essay on the artist Celia Paul, misogyny ‘is a form of distortion, a way of not seeing.’ Leaving a woman out of the story skews the perspective, gives you an alternate version – a more boring one.
Lindy had brought passion to the band, a tension between decorum and licence. Robert and Grant were cool, and she brought heat; they were calm and she brought energy; they were cerebral and she brought physicality. Without her, they were all decorum, all chasteness. She opened them up, picked them apart at the seams.”
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September 4, 2026
Dry Your Tears to Perfect Your Aim / Two Year Anniversary
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Dry Your Tears to Perfect Your Aim came out two years ago. Somehow it already feels like it's been out in the world for as long as I can remember. Thanks so much to everyone who read it (or plans to read it.) And everyone who wrote about it. It’s been really sweet to receive so many varied and insightful reactions. You can of course order it here. Next year there will be a new book, which mean I'll probably start posting about that one instead.
Thinking back to the days before Dry Your Tears to Perfect Your Aim was published, I remembered that the first thing I ever posted about it was this cut passage.
Finally, since I realize I neglected to do this before, thanks so much to everyone who posted about it on Instagram:
anotheramyfung
booksaredeadly
Adam Ferris
whatithinkaboutthisbook
tinamayreads
readandbookmarked
valerier6671
graceisbookedandbusy
kelleydoesbooks
lindsay_wincherauk
junctionreads
rhonda__waterfall
niknak.tbr.stack
bob_black_bluewordsme
gardiemmel
.
Dry Your Tears to Perfect Your Aim came out two years ago. Somehow it already feels like it's been out in the world for as long as I can remember. Thanks so much to everyone who read it (or plans to read it.) And everyone who wrote about it. It’s been really sweet to receive so many varied and insightful reactions. You can of course order it here. Next year there will be a new book, which mean I'll probably start posting about that one instead.
Thinking back to the days before Dry Your Tears to Perfect Your Aim was published, I remembered that the first thing I ever posted about it was this cut passage.
Finally, since I realize I neglected to do this before, thanks so much to everyone who posted about it on Instagram:
anotheramyfung
booksaredeadly
Adam Ferris
whatithinkaboutthisbook
tinamayreads
readandbookmarked
valerier6671
graceisbookedandbusy
kelleydoesbooks
lindsay_wincherauk
junctionreads
rhonda__waterfall
niknak.tbr.stack
bob_black_bluewordsme
gardiemmel
.
September 2, 2026
Three passages from Shapes of Native Nonfiction
Three passages from Shapes of Native Nonfiction: Collected Essays by Contemporary Writers, edited by Elissa Washuta and Theresa Warburton:
*
“Jamaica Kincaid, in her conversation with The American Reader, tells her interviewer, in response to a question regarding Kincaid’s mixture of humor and anger in her writing: “There all sorts of reasons not to like my writing. But that’s not one of them. Saying something is angry is not a criticism. It’s not valid. It’s not a valid observation in terms of criticism. You can list it as something that’s true. But it’s not critical.” As we say, and others say, on and off the reservation, past and present, fuckin’ A right. Anger has long been, and used to be, my response to the circumstances of my childhood, ethnic demographic, and creative voice. Always more anger than love, though there was for me, or might have been, an obsession with violence—daggers protruding out of my skull, barbed wire wrapped around me body. My every response was anger, often misdirected, but always refocused upon myself. I sought to understand not only my mental and physical trauma but also historical trauma, both of which I still seek to understand. [...] I have not found a definite answer, know no absolute. Rather, I’ve taken the view that my life, my existence is a job; making the continual attentiveness to my partner’s emotions and well-being a priority, not solely for her, but for myself as well. I would never have voiced this in my life previously (though that may be inaccurate): I have learned that is possible to love myself. To say, all right violence, you’ve had your limelight, now it’s time for you to take the backseat and observe for the remainder of the trip. As for anger, it can always take the helm while I watch the passing landscape.”
― Bojan Louis, Nizhoní dóó 'a'ani' dóó até'él'í dóó ayoo'o'oni (Beauty & Memory & Abuse & Love)
*
“When I feel the world is much too heavy or much too light, when I think there’s no way to push through it or that pushing through is as meaningless as not pushing through, I have a visual: a canyon. It’s always midnight and the canyon walls are slate gray with tentacles flailing from the sides. The bottom is covered in bats, engines, spoiled batteries, and broken glass. At first it is easy to take a step down it; there’s always a side that doesn’t seem too steep. But the first step slides into four, and there’s never time to catch my footing and nothing to grab at. From the bottom there is no way up.
When I feel through with things – with the pressure or the nothingness – I think of this canyon and wonder how close to the edge I am. And I take a step back. Then another.”
― Natanya Ann Pulley, The Way of Wounds
*
“In my Indigenous and Dakota translation, polyamorous multiplicity is not only about human relations. It is an ethic that also focuses on multiple relations with place and values the hard work of relating to and translating among different knowledges. In my ways of relating with human, earthly, and conceptual loves, I reject the usual definition of “promiscuity” as random and indiscriminate. In my redefinition, “promiscuous” is to seek abundance through partial connections. It is openness to multiple human loves and/or to deep connection with other-than-humans, with the lands and waters of our hearts and with different knowledge forms and approaches that enable us to flourish as Indigenous peoples.”
― Kim TallBear, Critical Poly 100s
*
*
“Jamaica Kincaid, in her conversation with The American Reader, tells her interviewer, in response to a question regarding Kincaid’s mixture of humor and anger in her writing: “There all sorts of reasons not to like my writing. But that’s not one of them. Saying something is angry is not a criticism. It’s not valid. It’s not a valid observation in terms of criticism. You can list it as something that’s true. But it’s not critical.” As we say, and others say, on and off the reservation, past and present, fuckin’ A right. Anger has long been, and used to be, my response to the circumstances of my childhood, ethnic demographic, and creative voice. Always more anger than love, though there was for me, or might have been, an obsession with violence—daggers protruding out of my skull, barbed wire wrapped around me body. My every response was anger, often misdirected, but always refocused upon myself. I sought to understand not only my mental and physical trauma but also historical trauma, both of which I still seek to understand. [...] I have not found a definite answer, know no absolute. Rather, I’ve taken the view that my life, my existence is a job; making the continual attentiveness to my partner’s emotions and well-being a priority, not solely for her, but for myself as well. I would never have voiced this in my life previously (though that may be inaccurate): I have learned that is possible to love myself. To say, all right violence, you’ve had your limelight, now it’s time for you to take the backseat and observe for the remainder of the trip. As for anger, it can always take the helm while I watch the passing landscape.”
― Bojan Louis, Nizhoní dóó 'a'ani' dóó até'él'í dóó ayoo'o'oni (Beauty & Memory & Abuse & Love)
*
“When I feel the world is much too heavy or much too light, when I think there’s no way to push through it or that pushing through is as meaningless as not pushing through, I have a visual: a canyon. It’s always midnight and the canyon walls are slate gray with tentacles flailing from the sides. The bottom is covered in bats, engines, spoiled batteries, and broken glass. At first it is easy to take a step down it; there’s always a side that doesn’t seem too steep. But the first step slides into four, and there’s never time to catch my footing and nothing to grab at. From the bottom there is no way up.
When I feel through with things – with the pressure or the nothingness – I think of this canyon and wonder how close to the edge I am. And I take a step back. Then another.”
― Natanya Ann Pulley, The Way of Wounds
*
“In my Indigenous and Dakota translation, polyamorous multiplicity is not only about human relations. It is an ethic that also focuses on multiple relations with place and values the hard work of relating to and translating among different knowledges. In my ways of relating with human, earthly, and conceptual loves, I reject the usual definition of “promiscuity” as random and indiscriminate. In my redefinition, “promiscuous” is to seek abundance through partial connections. It is openness to multiple human loves and/or to deep connection with other-than-humans, with the lands and waters of our hearts and with different knowledge forms and approaches that enable us to flourish as Indigenous peoples.”
― Kim TallBear, Critical Poly 100s
*
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