As part of my ongoing efforts to ‘kill the part of me that cringes’, rather than the part that is cringe, and to not let the perfect defeat the good, here are three poems I wrote in October. 1. It’s cold and I miss you. Amidst my den of abstractions – warrens made narrow with …
I can still write, you know. I can write like anything. I can squeeze linearity from my looping mind like juice from an orange. I lay down a trail – drop by drop – for people to follow, and usually they do. I write like I swim – without thought or hesitation, and with patience, …
I. I am generally considered to be a pretty smart guy. Now to say this directly is to invite doubt and disaster. I know that. I feel it deep in my bones. It’s been drilled into me that, outside of certain domains (like rap and sports), it’s impolite to talk directly about one’s abilities. But …
When I think back on the five nights I recently spent on holiday in Istanbul, I think of words like “dense”, “sprawling”, and “kebap”. I think of steep cobbled streets and unclean air. I think about what a privilege it was to be able to travel again (or at all). Before the wonder of the …
When I was a kid, I’d spend the hours after school on the circular trampoline we had assembled in our backyard. I’d go into a kind of trance. Though my body would be engaged in jumping up and down — or, when that grew dull, and when the blue plastic cover that obscured the springs …
Upgrading Imagination: The Promise Of DALL-E 2 As A Tool For Thought Read More »
Dear Sasha I’m writing to disagree with you. This, I hope you’ll agree, is a high honour. It’s a sign that I think your thoughts are worth taking the time to grapple with and unpick. I’m doing this to satisfy myself, to contribute to the discourse around the value of note-taking systems, and to consolidate …
Notes Against Sasha Chapin’s Notes Against Note-Taking Systems Read More »
Here are the best books, movies, and games I encountered in 2021 (in no particular order). I was pretty meandering in my choices last year, guided by what books were in second-hand stores, what movies were in cinemas, what games were on sale. So I make no claim to objectivity. I’m writing this to share …
08:30 An early start today, as I prepare to head out. Not physically, of course – my body will stay slumped in my chair, in front of my screen – but digitally, mentally, there’s a lot of ground to cover. I have trails to follow, sources to gather, answers to find. Tasks are piling up; …
[I wrote this essay a few months ago for an academic opportunity that didn’t pan out. I don’t know what else to do with it, so I’m posting it here. A link to the original paper, with all references intact, is available below.] I: A Common Case If you’ve spent any time in a South …
There are many reasons for heartache right now. You probably already know what they are. In Gauteng and in KZN, lives have been lost and livelihoods have been destroyed as areas are looted. The situation in Durban threatens to devolve into a race war. To call it ‘unrest’, or even a ‘riot’, is to put …