On My Desk Now: Junot Díaz and the Double Bind of Male Survivorship
I had hoped in writing my essay to be able to note this complexity and then set it aside, not because I think it’s not important, but because it seemed to me [that it] silenced Díaz as a survivor, short-circuiting the larger discussion about male survivors that his essay might have started.
From Saadi’s Bustan: Umar Ibn Abd al-Aziz Sacrifices A Jewel To Help the Starving
A Weekly Poem from 13th Century Iran
Of Note: April 12, 2026
Dear Friends,
Here is the latest round of links to pieces dealing with the US-Israel war against Iran and related
The Power We Pretend Not To See - 5
It’s ironic, then, that the metaphor [Attar] constructed for bewilderment is itself “bewildered” in that it simultaneously reveals and denies both the sexual vulnerability of the male body and the trauma that is inherent in how the princess sexually coerces the slave.
From Saadi’s Bustan: Darius and His Herdsman
A Weekly Poem from 13th Century Iran
