a newsletter

Contra Ajeya Cotra on Women Asking Men Out

If the Gale-Shapley algorithm is asker optimal, why don’t women ask men out? Are women just stupid? Lazy? Cowardly? Conformist? Unagentic? Or is the…

Jan 30 • sympathetic opposition

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Lamb Shanks with Guinness and Mustard

I have a taste for bitter flavors.

Jan 22 • sympathetic opposition

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November 2025

Preserves

Let’s make it last like jam.

Nov 5, 2025 • sympathetic opposition

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None of my business

but....

Nov 5, 2025 • sympathetic opposition

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In Defense of the Baby Shower

not that they really need defending?

Nov 3, 2025 • sympathetic opposition

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Somewhat Against Online Vulnerability

Towards the Online Here-and-Now

Nov 3, 2025 • sympathetic opposition

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Nursing Home Gossip

Or: The Old Wives' Tale

Nov 1, 2025 • sympathetic opposition

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October 2025

July 2025

Is the Ending of "Portrait of a Lady" Ambiguous?

If you have to ask if something's ambiguous, it's ambiguous, right?

Jul 23, 2025 • sympathetic opposition

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Why does Isabel Archer Choose Gilbert Osmond?

My attempt at an answer.

Jul 22, 2025 • sympathetic opposition

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On Beauty, Zadie Smith

By the second chapter, I caught myself luxuriating in a sense of richness and naturalism that is maybe not in fashion today, thinking this is like a…

Jul 18, 2025 • sympathetic opposition

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May 2025

Writing on Shrooms Requires Protestant Work Ethic (An Interview)

Less purple elephants, more logic and discipline.

May 29, 2025 • sympathetic opposition

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