John McCoy
@tracemcjoy.bsky.social
Host of Sophomore Lit podcast, museum professional, husband, father, dog owner.
Time for another Thanksgiving episode of #sophomorelit featuring my bros @rmccoy.bsky.social and @dankmccoy.bsky.social! This time we grouse about protest songs of yore. www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...
Thanksgiving Special: Protest Songs (Sophomore Lit 181)
The answer, my friend…is not a lyric in the any of the songs the McCoy Brothers discuss. For this annual drunk Thanksgiving Special, Rob, Dan, and John talk about Where Have All the Flowers Gone?, One...
www.theincomparable.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Time for another Thanksgiving episode of #sophomorelit featuring my bros @rmccoy.bsky.social and @dankmccoy.bsky.social! This time we grouse about protest songs of yore. www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...
A heartbreaking story of shame and glory. Also, subscribe to my blog (please). johnmccoy.org/2025/11/20/r...
Roque & roll
In the summer of 1981 my family took a cross-country trip from our tiny college town of Eureka, Illinois to spend the summer Claremont, California, where we would live in a loaner house that was pa…
johnmccoy.org
November 20, 2025 at 5:26 PM
A heartbreaking story of shame and glory. Also, subscribe to my blog (please). johnmccoy.org/2025/11/20/r...
In this episode, @djl.bsky.social and I discuss Stoppard, existentialism, and the joys of black box theater www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (Sophomore Lit 180)
Podcasts could happen to anyone. David Loehr discusses exits and entrances in Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (first performed 1966, published 1967).
www.theincomparable.com
November 12, 2025 at 12:11 AM
In this episode, @djl.bsky.social and I discuss Stoppard, existentialism, and the joys of black box theater www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...
More obsessive typography talk on my blog: johnmccoy.org/2025/11/11/a... But if that’s not your jam, check out my other posts about comics, literature, politics, dogs, autism, and nutty anecdotes! Subscribe and get all this free by Email.
American Gothic, et al.
Content warning: this post contains nothing but digressions. Typography is a mess. Or at least, its argot is a mess. In an earlier post I discussed the various meanings of the word font. An even mo…
johnmccoy.org
November 12, 2025 at 12:07 AM
More obsessive typography talk on my blog: johnmccoy.org/2025/11/11/a... But if that’s not your jam, check out my other posts about comics, literature, politics, dogs, autism, and nutty anecdotes! Subscribe and get all this free by Email.
An ancient Greek fable with absolutely no relevance to the present day: johnmccoy.org/2025/11/06/t...
The Radical Left City Mouse & the Very Good Country Mouse
A City Mouse once visited a relative who lived in the country. For lunch the Country Mouse took his elite East Coast cousin to the local Cracker Barrel for Country Fried Steak with a side of Onion …
johnmccoy.org
November 6, 2025 at 5:08 PM
An ancient Greek fable with absolutely no relevance to the present day: johnmccoy.org/2025/11/06/t...
In which I add yet another drop in the ocean of online autism discourse! {If that's not your thing, check out other posts on my bog. Some are even funny!) johnmccoy.org/2025/10/30/y...
Yeah, it’s called a disability
I got my autism diagnosis at a weird time: about a month and a half before the Global Pandemic. One day I was learning why I isolate myself, the next day the whole world was isolating right along w…
johnmccoy.org
October 31, 2025 at 1:59 PM
In which I add yet another drop in the ocean of online autism discourse! {If that's not your thing, check out other posts on my bog. Some are even funny!) johnmccoy.org/2025/10/30/y...
Pick up some more unicorns on the way home, we’re down to our last. @kathycampbell.com discusses butterflies and bulls. #sophomorelit #unicorns #entropy www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...
The Last Unicorn (Sophomore Lit 179)
Don’t it allways seem to go, you don’t know what unicorns you got til they’re gone. Kathy Campbell discusses Peter S. Beagle’s 1968 The Last Unicorn.
www.theincomparable.com
October 10, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Pick up some more unicorns on the way home, we’re down to our last. @kathycampbell.com discusses butterflies and bulls. #sophomorelit #unicorns #entropy www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...
I was honored to have the opportunity of curating an exhibition of the photographs of Martin Karplus, currently on view at the McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, until December 7. This link is to a lecture I gave last night as an introduction to the exhibition: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JRI...
Introduction to "Martin Karplus: Moments & Monuments" by Curator John McCoy (Oct 1, 2025)
YouTube video by mcmullen museum
www.youtube.com
October 2, 2025 at 4:10 PM
I was honored to have the opportunity of curating an exhibition of the photographs of Martin Karplus, currently on view at the McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, until December 7. This link is to a lecture I gave last night as an introduction to the exhibition: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JRI...
Get to know me through a series of anecdotes, an alarming number of which involving serious injury: johnmccoy.org/2025/09/28/j...
Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale
When, as a kid, I learned the word raconteur, I thought that the role wasn’t simply a matter of one being good with stories; I thought it was a career one could have, and even be paid for. I&…
johnmccoy.org
September 28, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Get to know me through a series of anecdotes, an alarming number of which involving serious injury: johnmccoy.org/2025/09/28/j...
@siracusa.social returns to Sophomore Lit to answer once and for all, are the robots from R.U.R, the play that originated the word "robots," robots...or not? #r.u.r #sophomorelit #endoftheworldasweknowit www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...
R.U.R. (Sophomore Lit 178)
BEEP boop what is… love? Well, we don’t figure this out, but John Siracusa does return to Sophomore Lit to discuss Karel Čapek’s play R.U.R. (1920), the origin of the word “robot.”
www.theincomparable.com
September 25, 2025 at 1:38 PM
@siracusa.social returns to Sophomore Lit to answer once and for all, are the robots from R.U.R, the play that originated the word "robots," robots...or not? #r.u.r #sophomorelit #endoftheworldasweknowit www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...
Wow, there sure is a lot of autism discourse on the net these days. So anyway, here's more of mine: #autism #doggos #patheticfallacy johnmccoy.org/2025/09/23/o...
Out of touch
Getting a psychiatric diagnosis affects everyone differently. For many, it’s a catharsis, a key to self-discovery and self-acceptance. For others, it can be a troubling albatross, a confirmat…
johnmccoy.org
September 25, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Wow, there sure is a lot of autism discourse on the net these days. So anyway, here's more of mine: #autism #doggos #patheticfallacy johnmccoy.org/2025/09/23/o...
Reposted by John McCoy
In prepation for the upcoming Frankstein movie, you can listen to @tracemcjoy.bsky.social & I discuss Leslie Klinger’s remarkable New Annotated Frankenstein, which lets you read *THREE* revisions of the book at once! www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...
Frankenstein (Sophomore Lit 62)
Glenn Fleishman returns to the show to discuss today’s modern Prometheuses. It’s the long-awaited episode on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818-31).
www.theincomparable.com
September 3, 2025 at 3:13 AM
In prepation for the upcoming Frankstein movie, you can listen to @tracemcjoy.bsky.social & I discuss Leslie Klinger’s remarkable New Annotated Frankenstein, which lets you read *THREE* revisions of the book at once! www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...
My brother @dankmccoy.bsky.social pointed out that there was an audio problem with the most recent episode of Sophomore Lit. I fixed it! So if that was keeping you from listening, now you have no excuse. www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...
The Pushcart War (Sophomore Lit 177)
Brush up on the Large Object Theory of History. Shaenon K. Garrity returns to discuss Jean Merrill’s The Pushcart War (1964).
www.theincomparable.com
August 29, 2025 at 3:57 PM
My brother @dankmccoy.bsky.social pointed out that there was an audio problem with the most recent episode of Sophomore Lit. I fixed it! So if that was keeping you from listening, now you have no excuse. www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...
Reposted by John McCoy
I never get tired of talking about how every book I read as a kid turned me into a radical leftist.
Pushcarts of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but a bunch of trucks. @shaenon.bsky.social discusses Jean Merrill's The Pushcart War (1964) #pushcarts #sophomorelit #generalannalives www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...
The Pushcart War (Sophomore Lit 177)
Brush up on the Large Object Theory of History. Shaenon K. Garrity returns to discuss Jean Merrill’s The Pushcart War (1964).
www.theincomparable.com
August 27, 2025 at 10:07 PM
I never get tired of talking about how every book I read as a kid turned me into a radical leftist.
Pushcarts of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but a bunch of trucks. @shaenon.bsky.social discusses Jean Merrill's The Pushcart War (1964) #pushcarts #sophomorelit #generalannalives www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...
The Pushcart War (Sophomore Lit 177)
Brush up on the Large Object Theory of History. Shaenon K. Garrity returns to discuss Jean Merrill’s The Pushcart War (1964).
www.theincomparable.com
August 27, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Pushcarts of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but a bunch of trucks. @shaenon.bsky.social discusses Jean Merrill's The Pushcart War (1964) #pushcarts #sophomorelit #generalannalives www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...
New on Pathetic Fallacy: I jump aboard the Cracker Barrel bandwagon. Is the world ready for yet another hot take? #logos #crackers #badideas johnmccoy.org/2025/08/25/l...
Less Fun than a Barrel of Crackers
Header image: S.O. Grimes general store, Westminster, Md., c. 1900. Image via Library of Congress. Another day, another shot fired in the culture wars: this time, the internet is loosing its collec…
johnmccoy.org
August 25, 2025 at 11:16 PM
New on Pathetic Fallacy: I jump aboard the Cracker Barrel bandwagon. Is the world ready for yet another hot take? #logos #crackers #badideas johnmccoy.org/2025/08/25/l...
Happy to announce the first-ever piece of Sophomore Lit merch! A great present for a listener, or for a non-listener you want to confuse! cottonbureau.com/p/EZQ23R/shi...
Sophomore Lit by The Incomparable
For fans of the Sophomore Lit podcast on The Incomparable, it's a Mockingbird wearing Holden Caulfield's hat studiously reading a book. She's got a four-page essay due on Tuesday.
cottonbureau.com
August 12, 2025 at 1:39 PM
Happy to announce the first-ever piece of Sophomore Lit merch! A great present for a listener, or for a non-listener you want to confuse! cottonbureau.com/p/EZQ23R/shi...
If you enjoy comic essays in which the 57-year-old author roasts his six-year-old former self, I got you covered: johnmccoy.org/2025/08/04/t...
The Early Writings of John McCoy (2nd edition)
A Facsimile Edition; with commentary by the author The author in 1974. I published the first edition of this commentary in 1997, having just learned how to code HTML from a disreputable Usenet post…
johnmccoy.org
August 5, 2025 at 1:37 PM
If you enjoy comic essays in which the 57-year-old author roasts his six-year-old former self, I got you covered: johnmccoy.org/2025/08/04/t...
If you're not already reading my blog/newsletter Pathetic Fallacy, what better post to start with than this exploration of Boston's best graves? (As voted on by me.)
johnmccoy.org/2025/07/27/m...
johnmccoy.org/2025/07/27/m...
Meet me at the cemetery gates
Boston is a great place for cemeteries. If you visit our fair city as a tourist and walk the Freedom Trail, which is the red-brick line that connects downtown Boston’s and Charlestown’s…
johnmccoy.org
July 27, 2025 at 6:27 PM
If you're not already reading my blog/newsletter Pathetic Fallacy, what better post to start with than this exploration of Boston's best graves? (As voted on by me.)
johnmccoy.org/2025/07/27/m...
johnmccoy.org/2025/07/27/m...
Make no mistake, we will call you back to the lake. Or pond, whatever. @dancredentials.bsky.social discusses Walden. #thoreau #sophomorelit #quietdesperation www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...
Walden, or Life in the Woods (Sophomore Lit 176)
If you’re suffering from Quiet Desparation, why not listen to the not-so-quiet voices of Dan Daughhetee and me discussing Henrey David Thoreau’s Walden, or Life in the Woods (1854)?
www.theincomparable.com
July 18, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Make no mistake, we will call you back to the lake. Or pond, whatever. @dancredentials.bsky.social discusses Walden. #thoreau #sophomorelit #quietdesperation www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...
I invite all listeners to Sophomore Lit—and anyone else, really—to check out the new iteration of my blog, Pathetic Fallacy. In addition to literature, I discuss design, pop culture, ASD, and lots more! You can subscribe to the blog as a newsletter and get new posts via email. johnmccoy.org
Pathetic Fallacy
Another Blog You're Not Reading.
johnmccoy.org
July 14, 2025 at 2:11 PM
I invite all listeners to Sophomore Lit—and anyone else, really—to check out the new iteration of my blog, Pathetic Fallacy. In addition to literature, I discuss design, pop culture, ASD, and lots more! You can subscribe to the blog as a newsletter and get new posts via email. johnmccoy.org
Reposted by John McCoy
Just posted, only for The Incomparable members - I talk with @tracemcjoy.bsky.social about Stephen King's first novel "Carrie,” which I had never read. Turns out... Sue Snell is in it?
www.theincomparable.com/members/firs...
www.theincomparable.com/members/firs...
First Class - The Incomparable
Exclusive bonus content, only for Incomparable members.
www.theincomparable.com
May 2, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Just posted, only for The Incomparable members - I talk with @tracemcjoy.bsky.social about Stephen King's first novel "Carrie,” which I had never read. Turns out... Sue Snell is in it?
www.theincomparable.com/members/firs...
www.theincomparable.com/members/firs...
Fun fact: this book never actually says what a chrysalid is. #JohnWyndham #SophomoreLit #TheWorldEndsAgain www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...
The Chrysalids (Sophomore Lit 174)
Podcasts are the original voices in your head. David Dredrick discusses John Wyndham’s The Chrysalids (1955).
www.theincomparable.com
April 23, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Fun fact: this book never actually says what a chrysalid is. #JohnWyndham #SophomoreLit #TheWorldEndsAgain www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...
Reposted by John McCoy
I talked about the surprisingly relevant 1950s play The Visit by Friedrich Dürrenmatt with @tracemcjoy.bsky.social on Sophomore Lit. www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit... Call it “the ones who decided Omelas was an okay place to live if it paid well enough.”
The Visit (Sophomore Lit 173)
Make money fast with this one weird trick. Glenn Fleishman discusses Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s play The Visit (1956).
www.theincomparable.com
March 19, 2025 at 6:01 AM
I talked about the surprisingly relevant 1950s play The Visit by Friedrich Dürrenmatt with @tracemcjoy.bsky.social on Sophomore Lit. www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit... Call it “the ones who decided Omelas was an okay place to live if it paid well enough.”
If life is getting you down right now, maybe spend about a half an hour discussing someone else's problems.
@lschmeiser.bsky.social discusses T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." #sophomorelit #disturbingtheuniverse www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...
@lschmeiser.bsky.social discusses T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." #sophomorelit #disturbingtheuniverse www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (Sophomore Lit 172)
And indeed there will be time to discuss this, the most mid-life white-guy crisis poem of all. Lisa Schmeiser discusses T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (1915).
www.theincomparable.com
February 28, 2025 at 3:58 PM
If life is getting you down right now, maybe spend about a half an hour discussing someone else's problems.
@lschmeiser.bsky.social discusses T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." #sophomorelit #disturbingtheuniverse www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...
@lschmeiser.bsky.social discusses T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." #sophomorelit #disturbingtheuniverse www.theincomparable.com/sophomorelit...