Michael Pershan
@mpershan.bsky.social
math teacher, writer
substack: pershmail.substack.com
website with links to publications etc: michaelpershan.com
substack: pershmail.substack.com
website with links to publications etc: michaelpershan.com
Pinned
Michael Pershan
@mpershan.bsky.social
· Aug 27
Really grateful to the crew at @hexliterary.bsky.social for giving this weird story a home. I can't say enough nice things about hex! I love what they're doing.
hexliterary.com?p=2829
hexliterary.com?p=2829
This books connects some dots for me, on the rise of a lawless America, on special forces over conventional army(/police) forces, helps me see the line from the war on terror to our current political moment.
January 21, 2026 at 11:34 PM
This books connects some dots for me, on the rise of a lawless America, on special forces over conventional army(/police) forces, helps me see the line from the war on terror to our current political moment.
Here's a thought: the challenge of teaching is the problem of trying to use language to create habits.
January 21, 2026 at 10:28 PM
Here's a thought: the challenge of teaching is the problem of trying to use language to create habits.
Getting into pataphysics.
January 20, 2026 at 2:54 PM
Getting into pataphysics.
My school is big on anecdotal reports...it's one of its things, quirks, whatever you want to call it. Anyway it's a huge lift! I just did word count, I hit 25k this year for 75 kids.
January 19, 2026 at 10:49 PM
My school is big on anecdotal reports...it's one of its things, quirks, whatever you want to call it. Anyway it's a huge lift! I just did word count, I hit 25k this year for 75 kids.
Didn't make the Robert Coover/Percival Everett connection but that feels very right. (Also I need an interesting hobby.)
January 19, 2026 at 9:53 PM
Didn't make the Robert Coover/Percival Everett connection but that feels very right. (Also I need an interesting hobby.)
I think I need to give up on more writing. I feel haunted by problematic drafts.
January 19, 2026 at 9:19 PM
I think I need to give up on more writing. I feel haunted by problematic drafts.
"I don't think you should like most comedy. Comedy, it's not like food...You should only be gravitating to the voices that speak to you. And if a lot of voices speak to you, I'm like, honey."
I love this, from James Austin Johnson.
I love this, from James Austin Johnson.
January 19, 2026 at 6:55 PM
"I don't think you should like most comedy. Comedy, it's not like food...You should only be gravitating to the voices that speak to you. And if a lot of voices speak to you, I'm like, honey."
I love this, from James Austin Johnson.
I love this, from James Austin Johnson.
All week I've been thinking about this video of some fitness influencer the algo served me, the guy said he'd torn his ACL three times and now he's never been faster, here are his workout tips, and to me that is probably the funniest thing I've ever heard.
January 19, 2026 at 5:05 PM
All week I've been thinking about this video of some fitness influencer the algo served me, the guy said he'd torn his ACL three times and now he's never been faster, here are his workout tips, and to me that is probably the funniest thing I've ever heard.
Reposted by Michael Pershan
Give it a read!: www.outlooksprings.com/stories/stup...
January 18, 2026 at 9:15 PM
Give it a read!: www.outlooksprings.com/stories/stup...
Reposted by Michael Pershan
always a treat to get to feature new Tom Snarsky!
"Scared of maps, I draw a bath
and think of a very weird thing, a future
child I’ll change and draw baths for
and feed and, surely eventually, disappoint."
https://www.havehashad.com/0wich
"Scared of maps, I draw a bath
and think of a very weird thing, a future
child I’ll change and draw baths for
and feed and, surely eventually, disappoint."
https://www.havehashad.com/0wich
Whose Woods by Tom Snarsky
Scared of maps, I draw a bath and think of a very weird thing, a future child I’ll change and draw baths for and feed and, surely eventually, disappoint. God they’ll say, looking at me you don’t…
www.havehashad.com
January 17, 2026 at 4:01 PM
always a treat to get to feature new Tom Snarsky!
"Scared of maps, I draw a bath
and think of a very weird thing, a future
child I’ll change and draw baths for
and feed and, surely eventually, disappoint."
https://www.havehashad.com/0wich
"Scared of maps, I draw a bath
and think of a very weird thing, a future
child I’ll change and draw baths for
and feed and, surely eventually, disappoint."
https://www.havehashad.com/0wich
I'm very into this!
powerhouse today from Ada Pelonia
"Then, the Leader came for chickens, their main livelihood, for sacrifice. People raised questions, but the Leader shunned the clangor and insisted on vacating the coops."
https://www.havehashad.com/4ayw5
"Then, the Leader came for chickens, their main livelihood, for sacrifice. People raised questions, but the Leader shunned the clangor and insisted on vacating the coops."
https://www.havehashad.com/4ayw5
Carnage by Ada Pelonia
First, ravens flecked with mud were pummeled down the soil, thick blood seeping into the cracks, because the new Leader, who vowed to bring rains, roared on community radio past midnight to declare…
www.havehashad.com
January 18, 2026 at 5:16 PM
I'm very into this!
"In the fifteenth century, however, the universal reader had to be a universal book hunter--a haunter of dark shops, a patron of elegant scribes, and a habitue of established collections."
-Anthony Grafton in Commerce With the Classics
-Anthony Grafton in Commerce With the Classics
Been doing a lot of reading about renaissance scholarly life, a notable fact is it was tricky getting your hands on texts in the first place so that every scholar was also trying to win at an intense game of manuscript pokemon.
January 18, 2026 at 3:51 PM
"In the fifteenth century, however, the universal reader had to be a universal book hunter--a haunter of dark shops, a patron of elegant scribes, and a habitue of established collections."
-Anthony Grafton in Commerce With the Classics
-Anthony Grafton in Commerce With the Classics
Been doing a lot of reading about renaissance scholarly life, a notable fact is it was tricky getting your hands on texts in the first place so that every scholar was also trying to win at an intense game of manuscript pokemon.
January 18, 2026 at 2:43 PM
Been doing a lot of reading about renaissance scholarly life, a notable fact is it was tricky getting your hands on texts in the first place so that every scholar was also trying to win at an intense game of manuscript pokemon.
Here's the version I heard:
Mean Pharaoh, he lifted his cup for a drink
There was blood in the cup and blood in the sink
Blood in the Nile with the crocodiles
Blood here, blood there
Blood was truly everywhere.
michaelpershan.substack.com/p/verses-of-...
Mean Pharaoh, he lifted his cup for a drink
There was blood in the cup and blood in the sink
Blood in the Nile with the crocodiles
Blood here, blood there
Blood was truly everywhere.
michaelpershan.substack.com/p/verses-of-...
January 18, 2026 at 1:34 AM
Here's the version I heard:
Mean Pharaoh, he lifted his cup for a drink
There was blood in the cup and blood in the sink
Blood in the Nile with the crocodiles
Blood here, blood there
Blood was truly everywhere.
michaelpershan.substack.com/p/verses-of-...
Mean Pharaoh, he lifted his cup for a drink
There was blood in the cup and blood in the sink
Blood in the Nile with the crocodiles
Blood here, blood there
Blood was truly everywhere.
michaelpershan.substack.com/p/verses-of-...
I'm currently losing an hour or so browsing through this giant index of mathematical fiction. kasmana.people.charleston.edu/MATHFICT/new...
MathFiction: Recent Additions/Modifications
kasmana.people.charleston.edu
January 18, 2026 at 1:33 AM
I'm currently losing an hour or so browsing through this giant index of mathematical fiction. kasmana.people.charleston.edu/MATHFICT/new...
"Window Boy" by Thomas Ha. Love the moral layers in this. clarkesworldmagazine.com/ha_08_23/
January 17, 2026 at 10:51 PM
"Window Boy" by Thomas Ha. Love the moral layers in this. clarkesworldmagazine.com/ha_08_23/
This book is really cool and weird! Buy it!
I would like for one copy of my novel to sell today. I know times are tough, and there are much bigger problems in the world; nevertheless, I’m hoping one copy sells today. It’s even a couple bucks off.
bookshop.org/p/books/thun...
bookshop.org/p/books/thun...
Thunder From a Clear Blue Sky
Check out Thunder From a Clear Blue Sky - <p>The Big West: a largely unexplored region of Calem, Central America, where time and gravity obey different laws, where sloped lakes and mineral snow decora...
bookshop.org
January 16, 2026 at 2:33 PM
This book is really cool and weird! Buy it!
Ah the classic "of course correllation isn't causation.................but"
January 15, 2026 at 7:04 PM
Ah the classic "of course correllation isn't causation.................but"
Good way to start the morning.
i love this beautiful, dreamlike, emotional 300 word story by Timo Teräsahjo !
it's about a house fire & the family that lives there
xraylitmag.com/the-house-at...
it's about a house fire & the family that lives there
xraylitmag.com/the-house-at...
THE HOUSE AT THE EDGE OF THE FOREST BURNS by Timo Teräsahjo
The boy stood barefoot in the snow, staring at the house, a blaze of light in the darkness. It seemed like all there was in the world. The living room window gaped open; green curtains fluttered in th...
xraylitmag.com
January 15, 2026 at 12:24 PM
Good way to start the morning.
Yeah yeah yeah i'm fine just listening to 'mr. november' over and over again tonight.
January 15, 2026 at 4:12 AM
Yeah yeah yeah i'm fine just listening to 'mr. november' over and over again tonight.
I strongly identify with the too-muchness of this song and the extremely on the nose jekyll/hyde metaphor. www.youtube.com/watch?v=57eX...
Ezra Furman- Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (Official)
YouTube video by barnonerecords
www.youtube.com
January 15, 2026 at 12:12 AM
I strongly identify with the too-muchness of this song and the extremely on the nose jekyll/hyde metaphor. www.youtube.com/watch?v=57eX...
There is a whole orthodox jewish dialect that I constantly think about (sometimes called 'yeshivish') and it's totally incomprehensible to the vast majority of americans but I love it. here's a video of two guys humorously using it to describe an NFL rule change. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvvi...
NFL Catch Rule Al Pi Halacha
YouTube video by jenniegold301
www.youtube.com
January 14, 2026 at 9:38 PM
There is a whole orthodox jewish dialect that I constantly think about (sometimes called 'yeshivish') and it's totally incomprehensible to the vast majority of americans but I love it. here's a video of two guys humorously using it to describe an NFL rule change. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvvi...