Topics

Fyodor Mindset

nonfiction

The last six months of my life have been filled with Anna Karenina. Nearly 1,000 pages of languishing Russian aristocratic life, printed in the smallest letters possible that could still be interpreted. Like many classical Russian works, it is filled with romantically mundane portraits of everyday life that often double as thinly veiled metaphors. Most abundantly, there is a concentration of raw misery conveyed in the beautifully written prose. As if Leo Tolstoy is deeply unsatisfied with the society he has been brought up in, but cannot help but express this in his own prideful way. In that sense he’s a selfish writer, penning his angry critique into chapters that were then disseminated into the general public. Expressing emotions that should best be kept to oneself or those close.

Take Me Anywhere

nonfiction

Around one year ago I left Morgantown, West Virginia. The amount of people in that town I told about my departure was in the single digits, and on the day of the move only one thought was present: “I cannot be seen.” That attitude defined my return from Washington, DC. I flew into town on an eight person plane the day of the event, and left on that same plane early the next morning. No time was left for wandering the streets of my Alma mater, or loitering in the same coffee shops I used to. Similar to my departure, very few knew of my return, only those at the event itself- a bridal shower and going away party for a close friend of mine.

On Eating Alone

nonfiction

Today at 7:17 PM

Hate it when restaurants put you in the non-reservation side like an undesirable

Anyways at the other fancy Mediterranean restaurant

Might rant might not

On Hacker News and Looping

tech

The infamous Hacker News. It’s rss-like tech news aggregation format and community of software engineers, project managers, and other tech-adjacent commenters offers an experience lacking in most social media platforms. In some cases your browsing experience can leave you with some rare insight from a hardened industry veteran. More often than not, you end up reading some of the most insane takes from the dumbest smart people you could ever imagine.

Paper Code

nonfiction

As I’ve become more and more experienced as a programmer, one thing has abundantly clear: the less time you spend writing code, the better. Much like writing a book, if you just hop on your computer and start typing, you’ll eventually find yourself tangled in your own work, making something that is more or less impossible to work with. If you chose to continue working on the same poor foundation, more and more time will be spent dedicated to solving problems that you caused, that could have easily been prevent. It is because of this that the majority of my time is spent carefully deciphering what the problem is and planning out how I will solve it.

Technological Waves and the Music Industry

music

NO MATTER THE INDUSTRY, technology has brought large changes to how things in our society function. The lightning fast pace of technology has hit the music industry in full force, and brought huge change with it. One of the biggest changes has been the introduction of web-based music streaming, where fans can access a huge and growing library of music for a small monthly fee, or even for free with advertisements. This is hugely different from how things worked in the past, where you would need to pay $10 per album in order to listen on demand. Now for around $10 a month, you can access a huge and ever-growing library of music. This is a huge boon for music enthusiasts and general consumers, but what about the artists? How do they make up for the lost revenue? Who eats the loss when it comes to the greatest deal in music? The answer is; eventually everyone. Music streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music are a net negative on the music industry as a whole, and are not sustainable in the long term.

Albums as People

nonfiction

A Good Fool - Michael Seyer

I remember sitting together in that cramped room. Lights low, music softly playing from your computer. I wasn’t doing much of anything, I never did when you were around. Back when I was recovering from myself you were my entire world, though I’m sure the feeling wasn’t mutual. Just being there in your presence was enough, like sitting at a campfire or a warm stove. I’ll always find happiness in those memories.

Sisyphus

nonfiction

This essay was published in Malocclusion: A Post-Bimaxillary Osteotomy Nonfiction Journal, which can be found here

I remember looking through the cold, empty room. Posters plastered the walls, and stickers lined the desks. I scanned through documents and browsed through files, looking for anything of interest on the events that transpired before my arrival. Amongst the mess, I found packets of macaroni and cheese, a pair of panties, and signs of a herculean effort to keep a college radio station running to the best of its ability. There was a constant effort to keep the dying art of radio alive, and eventually it all came crashing down.

On U92 & The Slow Death of College Radio

music

Written somewhere on the walls of U92’s DJ staff area is the phrase “College radio is dying, friends are forever.” While I regret to quote the person that uttered it, it remains an unfortunate reality that those in positions of power must confront. WWVU-FM is not an exception. Over one and a half years I associated myself with the station, I searched for a solution. There isn’t one.

On Vestoj

nonfiction

This essay was published in Malocclusion: A Post-Bimaxillary Osteotomy Nonfiction Journal, which can be found here

To write creative nonfiction is to let yourself be vulnerable. You lay bare scars that are otherwise invisible, bring out painful memories that would rather be forgotten. Fashion, conversely, focuses on exclusivity and subtly. Fashion exists to hide and act while communicating silently, if at all. As such, finding creative nonfiction on the topic of fashion is nontrivial, and I spent a lot of time searching until I found myself on the homepage of Vestoj.com. The design stood out to me from traditional fashion related websites: it had a simple, ad-free layout. There was a large focus on the text with sparse yet impactful photography, and every article had a diverse set of sources.

Fyodor Mindset

nonfiction

The last six months of my life have been filled with Anna Karenina. Nearly 1,000 pages of languishing Russian aristocratic life, printed in the smallest letters possible that could still be interpreted. Like many classical Russian works, it is filled with romantically mundane portraits of everyday life that often double as thinly veiled metaphors. Most abundantly, there is a concentration of raw misery conveyed in the beautifully written prose. As if Leo Tolstoy is deeply unsatisfied with the society he has been brought up in, but cannot help but express this in his own prideful way. In that sense he’s a selfish writer, penning his angry critique into chapters that were then disseminated into the general public. Expressing emotions that should best be kept to oneself or those close.

Fran Lebowitz on Writing

nonfiction

I was going to go on a whole spiel about this quote and how lifechanging/etc it was but I feel like that misses the point so I’ll leave it here so I won’t forget it: