Michael Dean Clark
@mdeanclark.bsky.social
Stringer of phrases. Sometimes on the page. Mostly in my head. He/him. Find me elsewhere via michaeldeanclark.com.
Creating a home for a wide swath of voices and fostering them all is the most critical work the literary community should be doing. Drunk Monkeys did just that. (10/10)
michaeldeanclark.com/blog-1/0p61h7u8oumn2sbow051qy2j7gcurn
michaeldeanclark.com/blog-1/0p61h7u8oumn2sbow051qy2j7gcurn
On the end of a journal I loved
michaeldeanclark.com
December 3, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Creating a home for a wide swath of voices and fostering them all is the most critical work the literary community should be doing. Drunk Monkeys did just that. (10/10)
michaeldeanclark.com/blog-1/0p61h7u8oumn2sbow051qy2j7gcurn
michaeldeanclark.com/blog-1/0p61h7u8oumn2sbow051qy2j7gcurn
n short, I knew who I was working with at DM and that mattered. Deeply.
So there is sadness in the end of Drunk Monkeys, but also real appreciation on my part, as there should be. (9/10)
So there is sadness in the end of Drunk Monkeys, but also real appreciation on my part, as there should be. (9/10)
December 3, 2025 at 7:29 PM
n short, I knew who I was working with at DM and that mattered. Deeply.
So there is sadness in the end of Drunk Monkeys, but also real appreciation on my part, as there should be. (9/10)
So there is sadness in the end of Drunk Monkeys, but also real appreciation on my part, as there should be. (9/10)
And those people are a primary reason I encouraged my students to consider applying to intern there. Publishing, as a broader industry, is so often simply a profit-first endeavor, it makes internalizing the core ethos of relationships and risk critical for those entering the business. (8/10)
December 3, 2025 at 7:29 PM
And those people are a primary reason I encouraged my students to consider applying to intern there. Publishing, as a broader industry, is so often simply a profit-first endeavor, it makes internalizing the core ethos of relationships and risk critical for those entering the business. (8/10)
the one perfect treatment and I made a case for the movie Sunset Park being better than the sum of its parts.
It’s the rare journal that allows for this balance of serious and strange, of pop and art. Creating this kind of space is a credit to the people who ran DM all these years. (7/10)
It’s the rare journal that allows for this balance of serious and strange, of pop and art. Creating this kind of space is a credit to the people who ran DM all these years. (7/10)
December 3, 2025 at 7:29 PM
the one perfect treatment and I made a case for the movie Sunset Park being better than the sum of its parts.
It’s the rare journal that allows for this balance of serious and strange, of pop and art. Creating this kind of space is a credit to the people who ran DM all these years. (7/10)
It’s the rare journal that allows for this balance of serious and strange, of pop and art. Creating this kind of space is a credit to the people who ran DM all these years. (7/10)
After that essay, Sean or Kolleen would reach out from time to time and ask if I had anything for their pop culture series, “One Perfect Episode” and “It’s Good, Actually.” The nerd in me said yes, and then actually wrote what I said I had. CHiPs, Psych, and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air got (6/10)
December 3, 2025 at 7:29 PM
After that essay, Sean or Kolleen would reach out from time to time and ask if I had anything for their pop culture series, “One Perfect Episode” and “It’s Good, Actually.” The nerd in me said yes, and then actually wrote what I said I had. CHiPs, Psych, and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air got (6/10)
So, when Kolleen and the crew chose to publish it, a switch flipped and I pushed into the rest of the ideas I had bouncing around in my head. In fact, there’s a direct line from “Subsidence” to “Signal to Noise Ratio,” my most well-received essay to date. (5/10)
December 3, 2025 at 7:29 PM
So, when Kolleen and the crew chose to publish it, a switch flipped and I pushed into the rest of the ideas I had bouncing around in my head. In fact, there’s a direct line from “Subsidence” to “Signal to Noise Ratio,” my most well-received essay to date. (5/10)
When they said yes, I was ecstatic. At the time, “Subsidence” was a foray into what has become a series of pieces I’m closing in on having a book’s-worth of. And if I’m honest, I wasn’t sure I could pull off the form I was wrestling with. (4/10)
www.drunkmonkeys.us/2017-posts/2...
www.drunkmonkeys.us/2017-posts/2...
ESSAY / Subsidence / Michael Dean Clark I Drunk Monkeys | Literature, Film, Television
It’s the ‘just’ that matters. It makes the experience manageable for people who have no trouble laying down and sinking head-first into an undisturbed pond. Insomniacs, however, know the secret of…
www.drunkmonkeys.us
December 3, 2025 at 7:29 PM
When they said yes, I was ecstatic. At the time, “Subsidence” was a foray into what has become a series of pieces I’m closing in on having a book’s-worth of. And if I’m honest, I wasn’t sure I could pull off the form I was wrestling with. (4/10)
www.drunkmonkeys.us/2017-posts/2...
www.drunkmonkeys.us/2017-posts/2...
He'd recently moved onto the masthead as a section editor during his time in the OC.
From there, he connected me with co-founder Matt, a guy I’ve come to like a great deal. I did an episode of his podcast and then, after seeing what DM put out, submitted an essay I cared deeply about. (3/10)
From there, he connected me with co-founder Matt, a guy I’ve come to like a great deal. I did an episode of his podcast and then, after seeing what DM put out, submitted an essay I cared deeply about. (3/10)
December 3, 2025 at 7:29 PM
He'd recently moved onto the masthead as a section editor during his time in the OC.
From there, he connected me with co-founder Matt, a guy I’ve come to like a great deal. I did an episode of his podcast and then, after seeing what DM put out, submitted an essay I cared deeply about. (3/10)
From there, he connected me with co-founder Matt, a guy I’ve come to like a great deal. I did an episode of his podcast and then, after seeing what DM put out, submitted an essay I cared deeply about. (3/10)
Most journals I admire, well, I do that admiring from the outside. From the distance of a reader. Through the mediation of Submittable or Duotrope or New Pages or Chill Subs…
But this was not the case at DM. I was first introduced to the space by my former student, now friend, Sean. (2/10)
But this was not the case at DM. I was first introduced to the space by my former student, now friend, Sean. (2/10)
December 3, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Most journals I admire, well, I do that admiring from the outside. From the distance of a reader. Through the mediation of Submittable or Duotrope or New Pages or Chill Subs…
But this was not the case at DM. I was first introduced to the space by my former student, now friend, Sean. (2/10)
But this was not the case at DM. I was first introduced to the space by my former student, now friend, Sean. (2/10)
But as the title of my first post said, in Tom Petty’s voice, the waiting is the hardest part.
buff.ly/1X9q4MN
buff.ly/1X9q4MN
On closing this series (for now)
michaeldeanclark.com
November 26, 2025 at 4:03 PM
But as the title of my first post said, in Tom Petty’s voice, the waiting is the hardest part.
buff.ly/1X9q4MN
buff.ly/1X9q4MN
I find myself thinking about how the professional world makes the desire to feel these things so strongly self-centered it mutes our responsibility to provide them for others.
This is hopefully what I will carry into whatever my next season holds.
This is hopefully what I will carry into whatever my next season holds.
November 26, 2025 at 4:03 PM
I find myself thinking about how the professional world makes the desire to feel these things so strongly self-centered it mutes our responsibility to provide them for others.
This is hopefully what I will carry into whatever my next season holds.
This is hopefully what I will carry into whatever my next season holds.
Life is like this, even as I wish it were not. For anyone. This is not a perspective being unemployed has given me. Rather, it has simply reaffirmed my sense that purpose and dignity should be the goal of our pursuits, and not just for ourselves.
November 26, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Life is like this, even as I wish it were not. For anyone. This is not a perspective being unemployed has given me. Rather, it has simply reaffirmed my sense that purpose and dignity should be the goal of our pursuits, and not just for ourselves.
Ok, sure. All good things on that list. But, as with all lists, it’s incomplete.
It’s also a time of stress. Of loss. Of kinship with others in the same position. Of doubt. Of frailty. Of silence. Of feeling dispossessed.
It’s also a time of stress. Of loss. Of kinship with others in the same position. Of doubt. Of frailty. Of silence. Of feeling dispossessed.
November 26, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Ok, sure. All good things on that list. But, as with all lists, it’s incomplete.
It’s also a time of stress. Of loss. Of kinship with others in the same position. Of doubt. Of frailty. Of silence. Of feeling dispossessed.
It’s also a time of stress. Of loss. Of kinship with others in the same position. Of doubt. Of frailty. Of silence. Of feeling dispossessed.
But I did want to tie a bit of a bow on what I’ve posted to this point. This period of my life feels untethered. I’ve been told to look at it as a chance for redefinition. For growth. For rest. For reevaluation. For spiritual seeking. For learning patience. For giving myself over to my moment.
November 26, 2025 at 4:03 PM
But I did want to tie a bit of a bow on what I’ve posted to this point. This period of my life feels untethered. I’ve been told to look at it as a chance for redefinition. For growth. For rest. For reevaluation. For spiritual seeking. For learning patience. For giving myself over to my moment.
Hot take: Empire and Rogue One alternate as 1-2 for me.
November 24, 2025 at 8:25 PM
Hot take: Empire and Rogue One alternate as 1-2 for me.
Best believe they’ll hear about it when I find one. Even though I lost my job, I’m still teaching. Them and myself.
buff.ly/wsQrMd0
buff.ly/wsQrMd0
When you parallel the path of your students who just graduated…
michaeldeanclark.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Best believe they’ll hear about it when I find one. Even though I lost my job, I’m still teaching. Them and myself.
buff.ly/wsQrMd0
buff.ly/wsQrMd0
But these were all firsts for me, as they are for most of my former students. Branches in a path full of possibilities. Meanwhile, I’m standing at a dead end I didn’t see coming, scanning the tree line for the hint of a path out.
November 24, 2025 at 4:02 PM
But these were all firsts for me, as they are for most of my former students. Branches in a path full of possibilities. Meanwhile, I’m standing at a dead end I didn’t see coming, scanning the tree line for the hint of a path out.
my first job in journalism and the year I spent going to work expecting it to be the day when they figured out they’d hired an impostor. Realizing not long after that how quickly the work of trying to be successful was killing me.
November 24, 2025 at 4:02 PM
my first job in journalism and the year I spent going to work expecting it to be the day when they figured out they’d hired an impostor. Realizing not long after that how quickly the work of trying to be successful was killing me.
And…I’m jealous of their youth and energy and the stage of the process they are in. They are all potential and hope. Their stories are in the earliest chapters.
I am by no means romanticizing the circumstances they find themselves in. I may be older, but I remember the mad scramble to find
I am by no means romanticizing the circumstances they find themselves in. I may be older, but I remember the mad scramble to find
November 24, 2025 at 4:02 PM
And…I’m jealous of their youth and energy and the stage of the process they are in. They are all potential and hope. Their stories are in the earliest chapters.
I am by no means romanticizing the circumstances they find themselves in. I may be older, but I remember the mad scramble to find
I am by no means romanticizing the circumstances they find themselves in. I may be older, but I remember the mad scramble to find
The wins. (I got a job with benefits!) The moments of affirmation. (My boss is impressed with my ability to pick things up that weren’t part of my major.)
I’m proud of them; hurt with them; want to call some of the places that turned them down and tell them how badly they whiffed.
I’m proud of them; hurt with them; want to call some of the places that turned them down and tell them how badly they whiffed.
November 24, 2025 at 4:02 PM
The wins. (I got a job with benefits!) The moments of affirmation. (My boss is impressed with my ability to pick things up that weren’t part of my major.)
I’m proud of them; hurt with them; want to call some of the places that turned them down and tell them how badly they whiffed.
I’m proud of them; hurt with them; want to call some of the places that turned them down and tell them how badly they whiffed.