Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 11h

If the Toronto Blue Jays end up winning the World Series, some writer in the distant future is going to have a heck of subject on their hands. The phrase "51st state" would undoubtedly be a part title in the middle.

1 2 9

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 13h

Like the good Midwesterner that I am, I’ve taught my daughter to say “Ope.”

2 4

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 14h

Of course, this next project is contingent on Moses and the Doctor doing well and me finding a way to write with a baby and a full-time job. So don’t expect any announcement soon.

1 2

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 15h

Way, way earlier than any of those.

1

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 15h

When I was working on "Our Team," I had in the back of my mind that I wanted to turn to basketball. When I was finishing up "Moses and the Doctor," one word kept coming to mind: Detroit. That's all I had. And now I'm diving into a project that's set in that exact city. Odd how that works.

2 1 19

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 18h

No blurbs yet, sorry.

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 19h

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand:

Archives banned making copies.

Natasha Simonova @philistella.bsky.social · 20h

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand:

New library catalogue website.

1 4

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 1d

How depressing would a Cubs/Dodgers NLCS be?

1 1 11

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 1d

This hasn’t been said since the early 90s: a Blue Jays/Mariners playoffs series is the best Major League Baseball could’ve hoped for.

1 3 33

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 1d

I'd love to go back and check that out. If you haven't seen it, there was a wonderful documentary released a few years ago on Rockford called "Minding the Gap." It's worth seeing. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minding...

Minding the Gap - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

1

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 1d

Love it. And I should mention that I was born in Rockford, though I moved many hours downstate as a child.

1

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 1d

That's amazing, Perry. The ultimate cup-of-coffee player in the majors, although it sounds like he had a long and fruitful career in Sacramento.

1

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 2d

"Moses and the Doctor" will be published four months from today, and it already has its first review on Goodreads. It's all downhill from here.

1 2

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 2d

I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I did not know this at all.

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 2d

Printing presses kept their letters in cases.

Capital letters went in the upper case.
Smaller letters went in the lower case.

This is why we say ‘UPPER CASE’ and ‘lower case.’

Ok, but what did we call them before the invention of the printing press?

MAJUSCULE and minuscule.

2 1 3

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 3d

You realize that I wrote a book about this season, right?

1

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 3d

My only counter would be that while "Born to Run" is a great tune, an all-timer, the person who could write a song so effortful and diligent is by definition uncool.

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 3d

Yes, we're all dunking on the Johnny Cash hot take. But I can't get past the idea that Springsteen is supposed to be cool. Isn't his whole thing (beyond being a brilliant songwriter) that he tries, like, really, really hard? He's the opposite of cool

2 1

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 3d

Sticking with baseball and am writing about the St. Louis Browns for next week's newsletter. Let's go.

2 1 6

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 3d

Jeopardy challenge: How many games in a row can pass without one of the contestants identifying as a writer?

1 6

Reposted by Luke Epplin

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 3d

Seventy-seven years today, one of baseball's most iconic photos was taken. It features Steve Gromek and Larry Doby embracing after the Cleveland Indians' Game 4 win in the 1948 World Series. But what if the photo had been staged? Here's my newsletter on that: lepplin.substack.com/p/the-stagin...

The Staging of One of Baseball’s Most Famous Images

The Steve Gromek/Larry Doby Photo Revisited

lepplin.substack.com

3 10 22

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 3d

Put everything else aside, it's very strange to ask writers if their jobs would be made easier with AI. I mean, we got into this ridiculous, precarious, tightrope-walking line of work to do the writing. You take that away or farm it out, and what's left?

2 1 8

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 3d

Watched the R. Crumb documentary that came out three decades ago, and it's one of the most extraordinary films I've seen. The scenes with the other Crumb brothers are weird and heartbreaking and disturbing. It's a slice of the American underground captured so vividly and honestly.

2 1 10

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 3d

Thanks, Laura!

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 3d

I'm so here for this one.

Matt Zoller Seitz @mattzollerseitz.bsky.social · 3d

My next book will be a biography of Jack Nicholson, written as an epic story of the transformation of the movie industry and modern masculinity from the 1950s to the present, with Nicholson as the main character. The title: Leading Man.

New York Times bestselling author and film & TV critic at New York Magazine Matt Zoller Seitz's LEADING MAN, the definitive biography of Jack Nicholson, casting Nicholson as the complex main character in an era of American culture spanning six decades, while shining a light on the actor’s crucial role in shaping modern masculinity, both on and off the screen, based on new interviews and original reporting, to Amar Deol at Grand Central, in an exclusive submission, by Ethan Bassoff at WME.

1 1

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 3d

For the lunchtime crowd, my piece on how this iconic photo happened.

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 3d

Seventy-seven years today, one of baseball's most iconic photos was taken. It features Steve Gromek and Larry Doby embracing after the Cleveland Indians' Game 4 win in the 1948 World Series. But what if the photo had been staged? Here's my newsletter on that: lepplin.substack.com/p/the-stagin...

The Staging of One of Baseball’s Most Famous Images

The Steve Gromek/Larry Doby Photo Revisited

lepplin.substack.com

6 16

Luke Epplin @lukeepplin.bsky.social · 3d

Seventy-seven years today, one of baseball's most iconic photos was taken. It features Steve Gromek and Larry Doby embracing after the Cleveland Indians' Game 4 win in the 1948 World Series. But what if the photo had been staged? Here's my newsletter on that: lepplin.substack.com/p/the-stagin...

The Staging of One of Baseball’s Most Famous Images

The Steve Gromek/Larry Doby Photo Revisited

lepplin.substack.com

3 10 22