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Reposted by Samuel Ashworth

Quinta Jurecic @qjurecic.bsky.social · 9h

FWIW these numbers are a) print only and b) from June

karl rove knausgård @uhactually.bsky.social · 1d

Lmao WaPo has fewer than 100K circulation now. It turns out “alienate your liberal subscriber base” is not a good strategy when the Republicans also hate you. www.forbes.com/sites/andyme...

The Washington Post Is Running Out Of Readers Willing To Pay

Once a titan of American journalism, The Washington Post now struggles to reach even 100,000 print subscribers most days.

www.forbes.com

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Samuel Ashworth @samuelashworth.bsky.social · 2d

This summer I started writing a novel about a ghostwriter who goes to work for a tech mogul and I binned it because I realized I didn’t want to spend two years in the company of an unmitigated piece of shit

Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 2d

thiel, man, what the fuck are you talking about

He describes the plot of Watchmen, a 1986 graphic novel involving superheroes grappling with moral questions about humanity against the backdrop of impending nuclear war:

The antihero Ozymandias, the antichrist-type figure, is sort of an early-modern person. He believes this will be a timeless and eternal solution – eternal world peace. Moore is sort of a late-modern. In early modernity, you have ideal solutions, ‘perfect’ solutions to calculus. In late modernity, things are sort of probabilistic. And at some point, he asks Dr Manhattan whether the world government is going to last. And he says that ‘nothing lasts forever.’ So you embrace the antichrist and it still doesn’t work.

Thiel later finds biblical meaning in the manga One Piece, discussing how he believes it represents a future where an antichrist-like one-world government has repressed science. He believes that the hero, Monkey D Luffy, represents a Christlike figure.

In One Piece, you are set in a fantasy world, again sort of an alternate earth, but it’s 800 years into the reign of this one-world state. Which, as the story unfolds, gradually gets darker and darker. You sort of realize, in my interpretation, who runs the world and it’s something like the antichrist. There’s Luffy, a pirate who wears a red straw hat, sort of like Christ’s crown of thorns. And then towards the end of the story, transforms into a figure who resembles Christ in Revelation.

Thiel, along with a researcher and writer at Thiel Capital, explored these ideas at greater length in an essay for the religious journal First Things earlier this month.

Reposted by Samuel Ashworth

Megan Greenwell @greenwell.bsky.social · 4d

Always check the primary source rather than relying on another journalist’s summary, exhibit 47,932. (NYMag on the left, actual survey on the right)

From NYMag: “A long-running survey by Sallie Mae and Ipsos captures the shift: In the mid-2010s, around 85 percent of parents and students said that college was an investment in the future; by 2024, just 56 percent felt that way. And only 41 percent said in 2024 they were willing to "stretch themselves financially to obtain the best opportunity for their future," versus nearly 60 percent a decade earlier.”

The actual survey: 56% “strongly” agreed that college is an investment in the future, but another 32% “somewhat” agreed — for a total of 88%. 47% strongly agreed that they would stretch financially, plus 38% who somewhat agreed.

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Samuel Ashworth @samuelashworth.bsky.social · 4d

Oh my god

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Samuel Ashworth @samuelashworth.bsky.social · 5d

I drove past Alan every weekday for four years. This is the article that got me to subscribe to @51st.news.

The 51st @51st.news · 5d

For 1,250 days, Alan has given out free water at a busy Brightwood intersection.

He calls it Alan's Oasis — and his constant presence has built a community that stood up for him recently when he seemed to be facing eviction.

For 1,250 days, Alan has given out free water at a busy Brightwood intersection

He’s built a community that stood up for him when the threat of eviction loomed.

51st.news

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Samuel Ashworth @samuelashworth.bsky.social · 5d

I am not emotionally ready to watch the Jane Goodall video but I can offer this, one of the more deranged choices I made in writing AUGUST SWEENEY, and the one I think I regret the least.

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Samuel Ashworth @samuelashworth.bsky.social · 5d

When you get an editor who cares enough to save you from yourself, you cling onto that editor for the rest of your life (or until they finally quit and go freelance)

violent alien @blipstress.bsky.social · 6d

An actual hot take: Too many authors are afraid of editors watering down their voice or whatever and not afraid enough of editors letting you put any old slop on the page.

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Reposted by Samuel Ashworth

Colin Dickey @colindickey.com · 5d

I had a really fun conversation with this mortician Victor M. Sweeney for his podcast series; one of the more fun interviews I've done in awhile, if you're interested:

Death And Storytelling | with Mortician Victor M. Sweeney + Author Colin Dickey

YouTube video by Victor M. Sweeney, Mortician

www.youtube.com

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Samuel Ashworth @samuelashworth.bsky.social · 5d

hang on

Samuel Ashworth @samuelashworth.bsky.social · 5d

I'm part of this lineup next Friday and what writer.org/event/perciv...

A screenshot of an event featuring Percival Everett, Madison Smartt Bell, and, somehow, the author

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Reposted by Samuel Ashworth

Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 6d

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

The Verge @theverge.com · May 26

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Paul McCartne, Elton John and others signed an open letter.

buff.ly

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Samuel Ashworth @samuelashworth.bsky.social · 5d

I volunteer

A tweet from Rachel Lapides reading "when will they put a successful writer of literary fiction on dancing with the stars"

A picture of the author some years ago, never mind how many, doing an awe-inspiring Russian split in the air

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Samuel Ashworth @samuelashworth.bsky.social · 6d

I just caught myself yelling "THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE DOING" at the cat.

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Samuel Ashworth @samuelashworth.bsky.social · 6d

I'll be reading as part of the tribute to the god Percival Everett at the Writers Center next Friday, October 17.

Washington Independent Review of Books @wirobooks.bsky.social · 6d

Percival Everett to Headline the F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Festival in Rockville, MD! www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/features/per... @lizaachilles.bsky.social @samuelashworth.bsky.social #booksky

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Reposted by Samuel Ashworth

Mike Ingram @mikeingram.bsky.social · 6d

My editing & publishing class at Temple will be opening soon for submissions for a special online issue of Barrelhouse, with the theme "The Dirty Issue." Fiction & nonfiction up to 2,500 words, and up to 5 poems. Usual @barrelhouse.bsky.social contract & payment.

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Samuel Ashworth @samuelashworth.bsky.social · 6d

a meme: upper image is a screenshot of a gmail inbox with "report spam," which never works, next to a screenshot of the "stay signed in?" box from microsoft, which also never works. The caption reads "corporate needs you to find the differences between this picture and this picture. Lower image is Pam from the Office saying "they're the same picture."

Samuel Ashworth @samuelashworth.bsky.social · 6d

But Dave it worked so well last time

screenshot of a FORTUNE article entitled "Mic's plans to become a millennial media powerhouse"

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Samuel Ashworth @samuelashworth.bsky.social · 6d

In the past three weeks I've started getting ten of these a goddamn day and maybe our overlords at google could devote 0.001% of their workforce to stopping the fucking firehose of scam emails we all have to deal with now

A screenshot of a gmail inbox featuring yet another spam email that looks real but begins with "Re:"

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Samuel Ashworth @samuelashworth.bsky.social · 6d

Today is @bookshop.org's anti-prime day sale, & shipping is free! If you would like to stick it to Amazon, and support bookstores, indie publishers, and moi, pick up a copy of THE DEATH AND LIFE OF AUGUST SWEENEY for the person in your life who loves food and/or bodies! bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

The Death and Life of August Sweeney

Check out The Death and Life of August Sweeney - Legendary chef August Sweeney has served his final meal, dying in the middle of service in the very restaurant he built to secure his legacy. When Dr. ...

bookshop.org

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Reposted by Samuel Ashworth

old uncle BATface @catfacejoe.bsky.social · 7d

tweet screenshot
Matt the outlaw
@cursedgloryhole
Lady behind me at the thing screening last night to her partner "why are they shooting at the dog?" and her partner says very firmly "have you never seen a film before? you watch and information is revealed"

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Chibdm @chibdm.bsky.social · 8d

Robin Williams' daughter has some quality thoughts on AI slop

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Reposted by Samuel Ashworth

Robbie Maakestad @robbiemaakestad.bsky.social · 8d

We had an amazing @plnuwritingma.bsky.social Visiting Writers Series with @samuelashworth.bsky.social. He ran a masterclass on student drafts, read from THE DEATH AND LIFE OF AUGUST SWEENEY, and delivered a lecture titled “The Art of Telling.” Such a generous, wise human!

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Reposted by Samuel Ashworth

Hannah Grieco @writesloud.bsky.social · 8d

Y'all, you get a free registration for AWP if you volunteer for ONE SHIFT. That's incredible, considering the $$$ of entrance!

conference.awpwriter.org/work_exchang...

Work Exchange

Are you a current student, adjunct professor, or someone needing assistance to cover the cost of the conference? Sign up to participate in our work-exchange program for the 2025 AWP Conference & Bookf...

conference.awpwriter.org

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Samuel Ashworth @samuelashworth.bsky.social · 8d

Like you knew this piece was going to be great but not THIS great

Slate @slate.com · 8d

Daniel Day-Lewis is the poster child for Method acting. He in fact does its exact opposite. slate.trib.al/Wbu7x4x

He Might Be the Greatest Actor of All Time—and the Most Misunderstood

Only one performer has won three Best Actor Oscars. Is it fair that he’s also a joke?

slate.trib.al

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Samuel Ashworth @samuelashworth.bsky.social · 10d

THE SMASHING MACHINE is a great movie for those of us who enjoy seeing enormous sweaty bald men kiss each others’ bald heads and say I love you

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