Alyssa Ann
@thatalyssaann.bsky.social
education | writing | "as you start to walk on the way, the way appears." - Rumi
Reposted by Alyssa Ann
Wrote about how the late, great Rob Reiner had the most impossible 7-movie beginning to any director's career, and yet that's not even what he was most famous for:
December 15, 2025 at 5:23 AM
Wrote about how the late, great Rob Reiner had the most impossible 7-movie beginning to any director's career, and yet that's not even what he was most famous for:
Reposted by Alyssa Ann
Rob Reiner directed so many absolutely world-class films that you could be forgiven for listing some of them as your favourites and forgetting it was him that made them.
Rob Reiner: I'm going to make a coming of age drama, a fantasy adventure story, a romantic comedy, a psychological horror and then a courtroom drama.
Us: Across your entire career?
Reiner: In a 6 year period.
Us: That sounds-
Reiner: -Each one will be arguably the best movie in that genre.
Us: Across your entire career?
Reiner: In a 6 year period.
Us: That sounds-
Reiner: -Each one will be arguably the best movie in that genre.
December 15, 2025 at 9:18 AM
Rob Reiner directed so many absolutely world-class films that you could be forgiven for listing some of them as your favourites and forgetting it was him that made them.
Reposted by Alyssa Ann
Books we Love by NPR: apps.npr.org/best-books/
Books We Love
Here are 380+ great reads from 2025 handpicked just for you by NPR staffers and trusted critics.
apps.npr.org
November 24, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Books we Love by NPR: apps.npr.org/best-books/
Reposted by Alyssa Ann
The Velveteen Rabbit (which is one of the world's great works of philosophy) reimagined in almost unbearably tender illustrations by Japanese artist Komako Sakai www.themarginalian.org/2015/02/23/t...
The Velveteen Rabbit, Reimagined with Uncommon Tenderness by Beloved Japanese Illustrator Komako Sakai
A sweet, timeless story of how the soft bonds of love confer realness upon our existence.
www.themarginalian.org
November 24, 2025 at 1:02 PM
The Velveteen Rabbit (which is one of the world's great works of philosophy) reimagined in almost unbearably tender illustrations by Japanese artist Komako Sakai www.themarginalian.org/2015/02/23/t...
Reposted by Alyssa Ann
Cranberries. The band, the sauce, the season
November 23, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Cranberries. The band, the sauce, the season
Reposted by Alyssa Ann
"exemplars of public value offer an effective way of making the case for arts and humanities fields. By this, I mean a public staging of arts and humanities-based research to express its tangible value." bit.ly/4rcg2Yn
How to demonstrate the worth of arts and humanities-based research
Express the tangible benefits of your creative work and practices, by showcasing public value
bit.ly
November 21, 2025 at 1:36 PM
"exemplars of public value offer an effective way of making the case for arts and humanities fields. By this, I mean a public staging of arts and humanities-based research to express its tangible value." bit.ly/4rcg2Yn
Reposted by Alyssa Ann
Yes, Listening to a Book Counts as Reading www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/o... gift link
Opinion | Yes, Listening to a Book Counts as Reading
www.nytimes.com
November 23, 2025 at 7:11 AM
Yes, Listening to a Book Counts as Reading www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/o... gift link
Reposted by Alyssa Ann
Excited to share my enthusiasm for Rosa Castellano's new book of poems, ALL IS THE TELLING, in @southrevbooks.bsky.social:
southernreviewofbooks.com/2025/06/05/a...
southernreviewofbooks.com/2025/06/05/a...
The Poems in “All Is The Telling” Ask: “What’s burned into my DNA?”
Rosa Castellano’s All in the Telling provides one of the most thought-provoking explorations of biracial life in recent memory.
southernreviewofbooks.com
June 5, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Excited to share my enthusiasm for Rosa Castellano's new book of poems, ALL IS THE TELLING, in @southrevbooks.bsky.social:
southernreviewofbooks.com/2025/06/05/a...
southernreviewofbooks.com/2025/06/05/a...
Reposted by Alyssa Ann
From 2015: Why being an early bird doesn’t make you superior.
No, Mornings Don’t Make You Moral
We are different people at different hours of the day, but an early bird isn’t superior to a night owl.
www.newyorker.com
June 19, 2025 at 3:29 PM
From 2015: Why being an early bird doesn’t make you superior.
Reposted by Alyssa Ann
The art of the sacred pause and despair as a catalyst for regeneration mailchi.mp/themarginali...
June 18, 2025 at 2:24 AM
The art of the sacred pause and despair as a catalyst for regeneration mailchi.mp/themarginali...
Reposted by Alyssa Ann
Very exciting news: The Onion has started a creative agency.
We've been doing this quietly for months, so if you've seen a funny ad somewhere, it may be us. But now it is a whole-ass company.
Anyway, we have killed Don Draper for a second time and revived his drunk ghost. Contact me to access him.
We've been doing this quietly for months, so if you've seen a funny ad somewhere, it may be us. But now it is a whole-ass company.
Anyway, we have killed Don Draper for a second time and revived his drunk ghost. Contact me to access him.
Exclusive: The Onion has opened a creative agency
America’s Finest Creative Agency is “like a writer’s room and like a strategic and conceptual laser in your pocket,” The Onion’s CMO Leila Brillson said.
www.marketingbrew.com
May 19, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Very exciting news: The Onion has started a creative agency.
We've been doing this quietly for months, so if you've seen a funny ad somewhere, it may be us. But now it is a whole-ass company.
Anyway, we have killed Don Draper for a second time and revived his drunk ghost. Contact me to access him.
We've been doing this quietly for months, so if you've seen a funny ad somewhere, it may be us. But now it is a whole-ass company.
Anyway, we have killed Don Draper for a second time and revived his drunk ghost. Contact me to access him.
Reposted by Alyssa Ann
Tessa Hulls after winning a Pulitzer for her graphic memoir FEEDING GHOSTS: “I always said, one and done.…I am very much at peace with the fact that I’m never going to do something in this exact format again.” www.seattletimes.com/entertainmen...
Seattle author who won a Pulitzer for her first book says she’s ‘one and done’
After spending 10 years working on her first book, “Feeding Ghosts” — and winning, to her astonishment, a Pulitzer Prize — Tessa Hulls says she’s never writing another book.
www.seattletimes.com
May 18, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Tessa Hulls after winning a Pulitzer for her graphic memoir FEEDING GHOSTS: “I always said, one and done.…I am very much at peace with the fact that I’m never going to do something in this exact format again.” www.seattletimes.com/entertainmen...
Reposted by Alyssa Ann
Catch the complete episode this Sunday at 11 am on @kalwradio.bsky.social 91.7 FM in San Francisco & online at www.kalw.org/show/philoso....
#PhilSky #philosophy #neuroscience
#PhilSky #philosophy #neuroscience
The Power of Prediction
Is your brain a camera that records the world, or a projector that imposes pictures on it?
www.kalw.org
May 9, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Catch the complete episode this Sunday at 11 am on @kalwradio.bsky.social 91.7 FM in San Francisco & online at www.kalw.org/show/philoso....
#PhilSky #philosophy #neuroscience
#PhilSky #philosophy #neuroscience
Reposted by Alyssa Ann
Reposted by Alyssa Ann
I loved this episode of the modern love podcast @nytimes.com with Ada Limon
Listen below.
open.spotify.com/episode/2PHt...
Listen below.
open.spotify.com/episode/2PHt...
Let Yourself Rage With Poet Laureate Ada Limón
Modern Love · Episode
open.spotify.com
April 16, 2025 at 1:24 AM
I loved this episode of the modern love podcast @nytimes.com with Ada Limon
Listen below.
open.spotify.com/episode/2PHt...
Listen below.
open.spotify.com/episode/2PHt...
Reposted by Alyssa Ann
Inspired by a TikTok trend, a professor of cognitive science at the University of California, San Diego developed the largest citizen science study in animal communication @uofcalifornia.bsky.social @ucsandiego.bsky.social
Do button-pushing dogs have something new to say about language? | Aeon Videos
Inspired by a TikTok trend, a cognitive scientist developed the largest citizen science study in animal communication
buff.ly
May 10, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Inspired by a TikTok trend, a professor of cognitive science at the University of California, San Diego developed the largest citizen science study in animal communication @uofcalifornia.bsky.social @ucsandiego.bsky.social
Reposted by Alyssa Ann
In an age where certainty is currency, doubt has become a radical act. What if doubt isn’t weakness but wisdom? buff.ly/JJz6j51
May 10, 2025 at 12:42 PM
In an age where certainty is currency, doubt has become a radical act. What if doubt isn’t weakness but wisdom? buff.ly/JJz6j51
Reposted by Alyssa Ann
new @literaryhub.bsky.social essay up today: The Creative Power of Walking
lithub.com/craig-mod-on...
lithub.com/craig-mod-on...
Craig Mod on the Creative Power of Walking
This first appeared in Lit Hub’s Craft of Writing newsletter—sign up here. The fullest day I know of begins with taking a portrait of a stranger in the middle of nowhere by 10 a.m. I do this while …
lithub.com
May 9, 2025 at 5:04 PM
new @literaryhub.bsky.social essay up today: The Creative Power of Walking
lithub.com/craig-mod-on...
lithub.com/craig-mod-on...
Reposted by Alyssa Ann
It was an absolute joy talking Greek mythology with the cast of #Hadestown at the National Hellenic Museum this past Thursday! 🏺🎶 With thanks to @broadwayinchicago.bsky.social for partnering with us and @emilymcclanathan.bsky.social for this great @chicagotribune.com story.
Talking about mythology in the musical ‘Hadestown’: ‘It’s a sad song / But we sing it anyway’
In a panel discussion at Chicago’s National Hellenic Museum, cast members share what’s on their minds as they tell the story of Orpheus and Eurydice.
www.chicagotribune.com
May 10, 2025 at 1:33 PM
It was an absolute joy talking Greek mythology with the cast of #Hadestown at the National Hellenic Museum this past Thursday! 🏺🎶 With thanks to @broadwayinchicago.bsky.social for partnering with us and @emilymcclanathan.bsky.social for this great @chicagotribune.com story.
Reposted by Alyssa Ann
I'm so happy that this article is now online. I wrote about Javier and Kristin of Chicago's Exile in Bookville -- with help from @gillianflynn.bsky.social, Nathan Hill, and TJ Newman. Amazing people, amazing store.
"There was no grand opening this time, no publicity, no GoFundMe, no employees, just heaps of accrued trust and friendship from nearly every author in Chicago and a lot of book buyers."
@rebeccamakkai.bsky.social on the literati's favorite bookselling couple.
@rebeccamakkai.bsky.social on the literati's favorite bookselling couple.
Love and the Literati
How a couple’s passion for books spurred not only a romance but a business embraced by local authors.
buff.ly
May 8, 2025 at 7:56 PM
I'm so happy that this article is now online. I wrote about Javier and Kristin of Chicago's Exile in Bookville -- with help from @gillianflynn.bsky.social, Nathan Hill, and TJ Newman. Amazing people, amazing store.
"It’s a tribute to the past, but also a celebration of the present" ❤️ Avril Lavigne and Simple Plan in 2003 being my first ever concert, a perfect full circle
www.nme.com/news/music/l...
www.nme.com/news/music/l...
Listen to Avril Lavigne team up with Simple Plan for "full-circle moment" on nostalgic new single 'Young & Dumb'
Avril Lavigne has teamed up with Simple Plan for a collaborative new single called 'Young & Dumb' – listen here.
www.nme.com
May 9, 2025 at 9:59 AM
"It’s a tribute to the past, but also a celebration of the present" ❤️ Avril Lavigne and Simple Plan in 2003 being my first ever concert, a perfect full circle
www.nme.com/news/music/l...
www.nme.com/news/music/l...
Reposted by Alyssa Ann
Loved this essay on Renata Adler, comma master: "Her punctuation jars, and turns abruptly, like a skater’s blade stopping and sending up shards of ice."
In the Matter of the Commas - The American Scholar
For the true literary stylist, this seemingly humble punctuation mark is a matter of precision, logic, individuality, and music
theamericanscholar.org
April 23, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Loved this essay on Renata Adler, comma master: "Her punctuation jars, and turns abruptly, like a skater’s blade stopping and sending up shards of ice."
Reposted by Alyssa Ann
"A good writer is basically a story teller, not a scholar or a redeemer of mankind." ~ Isaac Bashevis Singer
May 5, 2025 at 11:18 AM
"A good writer is basically a story teller, not a scholar or a redeemer of mankind." ~ Isaac Bashevis Singer
Reposted by Alyssa Ann
The Baltimore Banner just won a Pulitzer Prize.
Baltimore Banner wins Pulitzer Prize for coverage of overdose crisis
The Baltimore Banner was awarded the Pulitzer Prize on Monday for groundbreaking local journalism that exposed Baltimore as the deadliest large city in the nation for drug overdoses.
www.thebaltimorebanner.com
May 5, 2025 at 7:14 PM
The Baltimore Banner just won a Pulitzer Prize.