January 2023

A Little Review

Brooklyn, New York 2015

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For those accustomed to Desk Notes as a Friday routine, seeing this lost and confused post on a Sunday might be a little disorienting. But the rough plan is to send a review on the first Sunday of each month because I am sending more essays this year. So here’s one place where you can find a clean record of every recent issue.

Perhaps, over time, I’ll add more to this monthly review. If you have any thoughts about how to do this better, or what I should include, please let me know. For now here is a list of the seven essays from January.

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1. Issue 130 — A Fire in Italy (🔒 Paid Subscribers)

   A few years ago I stood in a small cabin in the north of Italy while it was on fire. Here’s a narrative essay about my time in the mountains that spring, and about a few crucial minutes on one particular day.

2. Issue 131 — One Failure of Contemporary English Teaching

   Most English teachers are motivated, impressive, and working with limited resources. Unfortunately, there are some organizations and institutions who seem determined to make the job harder.

3. Issue 132 — Dividing With Words (🔒 Paid Subscribers)

   I’ve always been fascinated when a single word in one language becomes two words in another language—here’s an essay about how languages can diverge and what that might imply.

4. Issue 133 — Attention!

   A few questions about attention spans, and then some thoughts about what that might mean for writers.

5. Issue 134 — Some Notes On Naples (🔒 Paid Subscribers)

   A disjointed, haphazard, and meandering narrative essay about the chaotic city of Naples.

6. Issue 135 — The Expanding Novel

   What makes a fictional character emerge in a vivid and recognizable form is an endlessly fascinating question—I write about that here along with my view that narrative has slowly moved from ‘we’ to ‘I’ over the centuries.

7. Issue 136 — Brazilian Green (🔒 Paid Subscribers)

   I appreciate the comment “like two essays perfectly tucked into one” because that was the feeling. The first essay is a description of a color that’s only available in Brazil. They’ve stolen it from everywhere else and refuse to export it. The second essay is a justification of my interest in black and white photographs. The latter essay was necessary because, otherwise, there’s something peculiar about putting five black and white photographs in an essay about color.

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Lastly, if you’re receiving the free version of Desk Notes, and you’re enjoying those issues, please consider trying a paid subscription. There will be a lot of new subjects over the next months and I would greatly appreciate your support. Thank you, as always, for reading.