There are poems about science. There are poems about scientists. But I know of only two poems about women scientists — about women doing science, that is — and both were written by the same person: the brilliant, defiant, influential poet Adrienne Rich, who died last week at the age of 82. From “Power“: Today […]
Miscellaneous
March 26 – 30 Mr. Cosmology once again takes questions. I think he makes them up himself. Christie (and her commenters) find a brand-new widespread phenomenon: compulsive counting. Ann’s annoyed about nonfiction that’s fictional; she thinks it’s just lying. Ginny’s also annoyed about liars, so she learns to see them coming. Our boy Abstruse Goose tangles […]
March 19 – 23 This week: Sally has profound doubts about technology, choice, freedom, and those things on her lawn. Heather grieves her lost stories and admires a young writer who reclaims one of them. Erika says that nonfiction writers who lie hurt the causes for which they lie. Virginia argues with her charming […]
You remember the late 1990s. Money grew on trees, and if your money-picking arm got sore, you could just hold out your skirt to catch the falling sky-money. Take my friend X, who made $90,000 one year freelancing as a PowerPoint guy. Masters of the universe who didn’t understand caps lock threw bags of cash […]
March 12 – 16 This week, Ann explored closed system sibling knowledge, which just turns out to be another of nature’s subtle tricks to make sure we don’t kill each other Cassie did the internet a favour by saying something original, interesting and nuanced about Marilyn Hagerty Michelle wondered where the secret gardens have gone […]
One day last fall I stood in the middle of the meunasah, or community meeting hall, in a remote Indonesian village trying to explain who I am and what I was doing there. A few dozen people sat on straw mats sipping bottled water and snacking on fried plantain strips, watching me expectantly. The village […]
When I lived in Madrid in college, I read several guidebook descriptions of Café Gijón and knew I had to go. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be a writer, but I sure liked the idea of being a writer, and a “famous literary café” with artists and writers still meeting up to […]
We’re delighted that science and travel journalist Cameron Walker has joined our ranks as a regular contributor, bringing the People of LWON to an even dozen. You’ve already read Cameron’s graceful, quiet, funny prose in her popular guest posts. Elsewhere, she’s written about the physics of stone skipping, a marathon swimmer who fuels his river swims […]
