Weekly Dispatches Category
Malignant Mutations: On Family, Jay Cutler, and ‘Winesburg, Ohio’
Posted on September 18, 2015 Leave a Comment
By Adam Boretz 1. It has recently come to my attention that the once charming eccentricities of my more distant family members have devolved into full blown pathologies. The wild uncle once known for his cutting wit and free spirit has grown shiftless, unreliable, and selfish. The morbid aunt has become clinically depressed and briefly […]
Sneaked Peaks and Groaner Prose: On the Pack and ‘Winesburg, Ohio’
Posted on September 17, 2015 5 Comments
By Rob Casper Ryan, when I read your post I wondered: were you able to avoid watching football? I have to say I found it damned difficult to avoid it entirely. This week I started to feel like watching football was immoral, was like watching a beheading — and I felt ashamed when I’d sneak peaks. […]
What We Mean When We Say Earned: On ‘Winesburg, Ohio,’ Fact-Based Beatings, and the Fight Against Toxic Masculinity
Posted on September 16, 2015 6 Comments
By Dan Bjork I thought I found my hook for Winesburg, Ohio early on, in the “Mother” chapter, soon after we spent the previous pages with Whig Biddlebaum, formerly the Pennsylvania school teacher Adolph Myers, falsely accused of being improper with his students, now in hiding in the town of his aunt. The trauma of his former life […]
Needs More Tentacles: On ‘Winesburg, Ohio,’ Unique Millennial Snowflakes, and Michael Crabtree
Posted on September 15, 2015 4 Comments
By Ryan Henry Joe 1. I took a course called “The Writer as Teacher” while enrolled in Columbia University’s writing program. (Though at the time, I missed its underlying message: Thanks for the $50,000 tuition, here’s your job prospect.) I thought about that class as I read Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio — a book that […]
Spending My Time: On Collective Identity, Family, and ‘Against Football’
Posted on September 12, 2015 1 Comment
By Yona Harvey When I was invited to participate in this book club, I wasn’t convinced I’d have much to contribute. I didn’t exactly grow up watching sports. I grew up watching the people I loved watch sports. At my grandparents’ house, for instance, I floated in and out of the family room while my […]
No Way to Escape Family Night: On ‘Against Football’ and the Green Bay Packers
Posted on September 11, 2015 Leave a Comment
By Rob Casper Adam, Dan, and Ryan — reading your posts makes me realize, first and foremost, that I am not much of a Packers fan. Or rather, I don’t have much of a problem watching the team I grew up worshipping…unless they start to win. The losses are easy, but when the wins start […]
The Truth Is Terrible: On ‘Against Football’ and the Bears’ Pre-Season
Posted on September 9, 2015 Leave a Comment
By Adam Boretz Were I making a list of things I’d have absolutely no problem missing out on — a head wound, the music of Slipknot, gonorrhea, a close personal friendship with Anthony Weiner — Bears’ pre-season football would land pretty close to the top. Let’s be honest: Pre-season football is all but meaningless, features a sad array of […]
Building Something: On Childhood Memories, ‘Against Football,’ the New York Jets, and My Future Kids
Posted on September 7, 2015 3 Comments
By Dan Bjork When I signed up for this, I didn’t think my chances of making it were all that good. I thought, best case scenario: I’d schedule my Sunday workout for Jets’ kick-off and most of the time they’d be well on their way to losing by the time I finished — it’d be easy enough […]
I Fought the NFL and the NFL Won: On ‘Against Football,’ Illegal Streams, and San Francisco’s Fallen Camelot
Posted on September 5, 2015 4 Comments
By Ryan Henry Joe Three years ago, with then-San Francisco 49ers kicker David Akers landing the ball everywhere but between the uprights, I’d scurry into my bedroom and hide under a blanket whenever he trotted onto the gridiron for a high-stakes field goal attempt. An outburst of cheering — provided it was a home game […]
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