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The Universe-Centric Approach to Publishing
When I proposed co-founding J & B Publishing to my friend Jamal Barbari, I knew that we’d need to come up with something unique, some way to stand apart from the thousands of other small publishers. We both dove into the industry, cased the competition and contacted the most commercially successful authors we knew. What […]
Launch of My New Business
I’m very happy to announce my newly established business, J & B Publishing. Co-founder Jamal Barbari and I have just released our first book, Joshua and the Chosen People. We have a lot of cool projects ongoing, exciting artists already onboard and opportunities for new writers, all of which you can peruse at jandbpublish.com. If […]
Freeberation, the Logically Tortured History of “Freedom” and “Liberation”
Some words are flexible. Love, for example, might encompass your feelings for ice cream, the relationship you have with a grandparent and the things you do at night with your spouse. Some words are even more flexible, encompassing not just diverse concepts but diametrically opposed concepts. For example, you might organize a protest for freedom […]
I Do Care (About Money) – A Song Translation Project
“I 돈 Care” is a song by comedy group “The Brave Guys.” That “돈” part of the song title means “money” in Korean and is pronounced “don,” which is close enough to “don’t” to make the whole thing a nerdy, bilingual pun. It is legitimately a funny song, and I’m aware that nobody in Korea […]
The Homely Gangsters, Episode 10
Like a lot of things people are passionate about, the stuff we say about abortion and the stuff we seem to mean are very different.
Jack Reacher, Remembering the Victims
I recently watched a Tom Cruise star vehicle called Jack Reacher. It is not a good film. But there is one particular part, a tiny little sliver, that could have been the seed of a truly excellent story. Jack Reacher is a mysterious maverick with supernatural detective skills who lives completely off the grid and […]
Seneca and Trigger Warnings
I took part in a community discussion a few years ago. The rules asked me to label anything “potentially hurtful” with something I’d never heard of before, a so-called trigger warning. I asked what this meant and learned that the mention of certain topics “triggers” painful, often unbearable memories in the audience. For example, […]
Guide to Basic Moral Systems
Guide to Basic Moral Systems (영어회화 1 학생 내용 스터디가이드) 도덕의 시스템을 한국어로 공부하고 싶으면 파랑색 린크를 크릭해 보세요. 한국어로 쓴 자료 유익하지만 영어로 쓴 것도 읽어야 합니다. 너무 어려면, 저에개 연력해 주세요. Morality is subjective (주관적). It’s a feeling, or a set of prejudices or a group of habits. Because of this, the first […]
Word Shape
I recently did a writing exercise with Karen Terrey where we attempted to associate words not by meaning, but by shape or sound. The idea was to open up new avenues of connection in our writing. This is what I came up with, beginning with the word defenestrate. You might have more fun reading this […]
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