Reading

Oh my god, hi! I’m thrilled to see you here, especially so soon after I sent you the link to my short story draft. If you’re just taking a peek, no worries. I don’t expect any notes right away.

But I am going to start a timer to see how long you linger here, not-so-subtly disguised as Anonymous Kraken. The length of your stay reveals the extent of my draft’s power to pull the reader in. So even before you’ve given me any notes, you’re already saving me from downward spiraling into self-doubt. Thank you!

Oh dang, you left after just twelve seconds.

That’s okay. Maybe you had to go because your cat started a kitchen fire. Or maybe you clicked the link by accident and were like, “Whoops, this definitely isn’t the URL to activate my twenty dollars in Kohl’s cash.” Or maybe you opened the doc and saw that it’s yet ANOTHER tale about a girl and a horse that everyone underestimated, and you couldn’t X out of the tab fast enough. Just kidding—I know not everything is about me and my silly writing project.

For fifteen years or so, I’d been kicking around the idea of resurrecting the artist-apprentice model that reigned in the art world for hundreds of years.

Again and again, I’d heard from young people who lamented the astronomical and ever-rising cost of art school. For many college-level art programs, the total cost to undergraduates is now over $100,000 a year. I hope we can all agree that charging students $400,000 for a four-year degree in visual art is objectively absurd. And this prohibitive cost has priced tens of thousands of potential students out of even considering undertaking such an education.

For years, I mentioned this issue to friends in and out of the art world, and everyone, without exception, agreed that the system was broken. Even friends I know who teach at art schools agreed that the cost was out of control, and these spiraling costs were contributing to the implosion of many undergraduate and postgraduate art programs.

As many of you know, something really important is happening, and it’s critical that we all stay informed. There’s a reality star/influencer whose name includes the words Paul, Taylor, and Frankie in an order that is both confusing and ultimately irrelevant. What’s important is that she did some stuff, and now all hell is breaking loose.

You’re probably thinking: “I don’t care,” or “There are more important things happening,” or “This is an intentional distraction orchestrated by our algorithmic AI overlords.”

Maybe it does feel like I’m being fed this content against my will, but that’s only because I’m paying attention to what’s happening in the world. And sure, those things are really important, but we also invade other countries all the time now. Keep up. Maybe we’ll have midterm elections, maybe not. Who knows?

But this stuff with the Mormon wives? It’s happening right now, and it’s a doozy.

What’s it like for a blind person to run a marathon? Living the punk ethos he was raised on, Phil is set on finding out

- Directed by Reuben Armstrong

Watch on Psyche

Living a moral life often comes with costs. Recent studies clarify whether joy and satisfaction are among them

- by Jessie Sun

Read on Psyche

Continue reading "How taboo shapes knowledge production on Wikipedia"

Leaked material reviewed by The Grayzone reveals failed ‘journalist’ Paul Mason conspired with GCHQ to monitor and attack this journalist and other critics. What did the British intelligence agency do with the sensitive information he secretly provided? Leaked correspondence reviewed by The Grayzone reveals disgraced journalist Paul Mason covertly collaborated with  a unit of the GCHQ intelligence service to monitor and inform on perceived adversaries, including this reporter. In addition to feeding intel on independent reporters to British intelligence, the […]

The post Paul Mason instigated GCHQ targeting of The Grayzone’s Kit Klarenberg, leaks reveal first appeared on The Grayzone.

The post Paul Mason instigated GCHQ targeting of The Grayzone’s Kit Klarenberg, leaks reveal appeared first on The Grayzone.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News that the move to free up 140 million barrels of oil was aimed at preventing China gaining from the situation. “That’s about 10 days to two weeks of supply that the Iranians had been pushing out that would have all gone to China,” he said. “In essence, we will be using the Iranian barrels against the Iranians to keep the price down for the next 10 or 14 days as we continue this campaign.”

The post Embarrassing Pivot: US Considers Dropping Iran Oil Sanctions Amid War appeared first on MintPress News.

“Right now, the United States is tightening its siege on Cuba,” said political streamer Hasan Piker, explaining his decision to join the convoy, adding: “Fuel shipments are blocked. Flights grounded, critical supplies cut off. Donald Trump has even threatened a ‘friendly takeover’ of the island. For Washington, the message is simple: submit – or suffer.”

The post Hasan Piker, Greta Thunberg Head Massive Cuba Convoy Aimed At Breaking US Blockade appeared first on MintPress News.

Many stores and markets are empty, not because the island does not produce food, but because there is no way to transport it from the countryside to the cities. The United Nations has warned of a possible “humanitarian collapse,” due to the economic war. Havana-based journalist Luis de Jesus Reyes labeled it an attempted genocide in the making. 

The post Maximum Pressure, Maximum Blackouts: The Gazafication of Cuba appeared first on MintPress News.