Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 8h

Wealth, boredom, and greed, a truly toxic brew.

Gabe Fernandez @thelatinochild.bsky.social · 8h

49ers legend Steve Young invests in Saudi-supported basketball league that aims to compete with the NBA
www.sfgate.com/49ers/articl...

49ers legend Steve Young invests in Saudi-supported basketball league

The league aims to actively compete with the NBA.

www.sfgate.com

Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 1d

I look down at my phone for five seconds, I swear, and when I look up my two-year-old’s got a damn apple balanced on her head.

A picture of my two-year-old daughter with an apple balanced on her head.

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 1d

Got an extremely kind note this morning from someone who read a book review I wrote six years ago, thanking me for the review and for introducing them to the book. Feeling keenly aware of just how easy + important it is to encourage folks whose work you admire (and how often I fail to do that!).

Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 2d

Hey I’d say weekly is laudable!

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 2d

Exactly what someone who needs the ever-so-slight mood bump of a fresh sponge would say

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 2d

If you’re reading this, change your sponge out. You’ll feel a little bit better.

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 4d

This morning’s example of the genius of toddler sense-making: “I feel sad in my mouth” is actually a great way to describe a bad taste.

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 5d

From this great piece: defector.com/toward-a-the...

Toward A Theory Of Kevin Roose | Defector

“You can’t be a serious critic,” New York Times technology reporter Kevin Roose wrote on Tuesday, on Bluesky, about artificial intelligence, “if you’re in denial about how useful it is.” Narrowly, in ...

defector.com

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 5d

Ever since reading this @albertburneko.bsky.social paragraph a while back, I find myself thinking about it, encountering unwelcome exemplars of it, far more often than I wish.

Text of a screenshot from a piece at Defector by Albert Burneko, titled "Toward A Theory Of Kevin Roose": "My suspicion, my awful awful newfound theory, is that there are people with a sincere and even kind of innocent belief that we are all just picking winners, in everything: that ideology, advocacy, analysis, criticism, affinity, even taste and style and association are essentially predictions. That what a person tries to do, the essential task of a person, is to identify who and what is going to come out on top, and align with it. The rest—what you say, what you do—is just enacting your pick and working in service to it."

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 6d

Yeah, exactly. When I was 18-21 what I looked for and what I saw in their comments were particular pieces of feedback. Now, I can really see how generous they were being with me, how generous it was that they took me so seriously, and can trace the impact that has had on me in very real ways.

Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 6d

I had occasion today to dig out papers I wrote as an undergrad English major, to go through notes written by my professors. Some real shit in there but the care and attention I was given, the way my ideas were taken seriously—this is a beautiful thing whose value I dearly hope we're not forgetting.

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 7d

Oh absolutely, yes.

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 7d

Many of your favorite authors owe their careers to someone at a small press seeing the value in what they wanted to do, even if there was no guarantee (or even likely chance) of it having real fiscal value. These places deserve your support.

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 7d

Small independent presses and university presses are almost always the ones taking these chances, opening doors to authors with book ideas that most large publishers would balk at. Sometimes those books are successful, often they're not, but we keep doing them because it's what we believe in.

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 7d

"Boy, someone's finally doing something really different."

For a small publisher like us, not much feels better than this kind of praise. We took a big chance on this weird Steely Dan book. It has been a huge success and hasn't really stopped moving since 2023, but that's sort of beside the point.

University of Texas Press @utexaspress.bsky.social · 7d

"QUANTUM CRIMINALS is an absolute breakthrough in terms of how to write about music, how to write about a band, how to write about songs...I was crazy about that book. I felt so gratified—‘boy, someone’s finally doing something really different.’”

THE Greil Marcus, folks.
tinyurl.com/4zjm79he

Greil Marcus on 50 Years of 'Mystery Train': "I Know These Stories Keep Traveling"

We talked to author Greil Marcus about a new 50th anniversary edition of his classic book 'Mystery Train'

www.rollingstone.com

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 8d

TNC: "We're losing because there are always moments when we lose."
Klein: "See, that feels very fatalistic to me."
TNC: Deep history of struggling for change, the value of doing so even without seeing the desired change.
Klein: Too much history, let's look at the last 8-12 years.

^That was weird.

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Reposted by Joel Pinckney

Alex Press @alexnpress.bsky.social · 9d

wrote about a great writer thealexpress.substack.com/p/kaleb-horton

Kaleb Horton

Writing can be beautiful.

thealexpress.substack.com

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Reposted by Joel Pinckney

Luke O'Neil @lukeoneil47.bsky.social · 11d

Put together some thoughts here.

In an earlier time he would have been the kind of writer being paid $5 a word by magazines to go write about whatever he pleased. And no one would be pissed off or jealous about it either.
www.welcometohellworld.com/life-is-a-pr...

He seemed to be struggling. With drinking and with not drinking of late. Always looking for work too. What a fucking condemnation of this industry that he was ever in need of it. One of his greatest pieces ever – on Haggard – was taken down by a corporation that decided it no longer needed great writing anymore. It can only be read on the internet archive . That’s just how the industry is now I suppose. In an earlier time he would have been the kind of writer being paid $5 a word by magazines to go write about whatever he pleased. And no one would be pissed off or jealous about it either. All of the rest of us scrabbling for that kind of gig just nodding in approval. That makes sense. He has that coming.

A couple years ago I offered him the most money I have ever offered anyone to write for Hell World. Not as much as he deserved mind you but a lot for me. Write about literally anything you want I said. He said he would. He promised he would write something for me multiple times over the years but one thing or another always came up. Something big just around the corner was about to happen.

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 12d

Tonight when we played it she just stood with her mouth open wide for the first 30 seconds.

Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 12d

My two-year-old calls “Wide Open Spaces” by The Chicks “Open Wide” and it is very cute.

Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 12d

My two-year-old calls “Wide Open Spaces” by The Chicks “Open Wide” and it is very cute.

Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 14d

“Bored in the USA” > “Holy Shit” > “I Went To The Store One Day” remains a hell of a way to close out an album.

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 15d

In a just world, Springsteen's birthday just means everyone is reading Niko on "Dancing in the Dark" and crying in their bedrooms.

Niko Stratis @nikostratis.com · 15d

Celebrate Springsteen's birthday by revisiting this excerpt in @thequietus.com about Springsteen, and the time I lived above a haunted electrical supply store in the Yukon, from my book The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman (@utexaspress.bsky.social)

“Want to Change My Clothes, My Hair, My Face”: How Springsteen Helped Me Come Out | The Quietus

In an exclusive edited extract from Niko Stratis’s new book The Dad Rock That Made Me A Woman, the award-winning Canadian writer explores trans identity, the music of the American heartlands and how t...

thequietus.com

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 15d

This was really great, Natalie! Thanks for doing it

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 21d

I would not miss this if I were you, person who lives in Austin.

University of Texas Press @utexaspress.bsky.social · 21d

Hanif Abdurraqib and Jessica Hopper are two of the greatest contemporary music writers of our time. They're chatting at Austin Central Library this weekend about their partnership as fellow music critics, editors, and friends. We'll be sat for their panel on Sunday, 9/21 at 7:00pm. So should you!

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 21d

Loyalty is both a great bookstore in its own right, and home to folks who make our industry so much better in Hannah, Christine, and the rest of the crew. If you have the means, I'd suggest snagging something from the staff picks section on their site: loyaltybookstores.com/books?f%5B0%....

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