Caleb Crain
@calebcrain.bsky.social
Into #birding, #CrossFit, and sometimes writing. Wrote the novels "Necessary Errors" and "Overthrow"
More at https://calebcrain.substack.com and https://steamthing.com.
New short story! https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/08/12/clay-fiction-caleb-c
More at https://calebcrain.substack.com and https://steamthing.com.
New short story! https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/08/12/clay-fiction-caleb-c
Pinned
Caleb Crain
@calebcrain.bsky.social
· Nov 26
Hi, new followers! I wrote "Necessary Errors," a gay coming-of-age novel set in Prague a year after the Berlin Wall fell, and "Overthrow," a novel about Occupy protesters aswim in surveillance. My short stories have won n+1's Anthony Veasna So prize and the Paris Review's Susannah Hunnewell prize.
Reposted by Caleb Crain
A bit too on the nose for thanksgiving
ICE DETAINED MARILYN. Fuck these people. www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
‘Northern Exposure’ actor gave ICE agents in Redmond her tribal ID. They called it ‘fake,’ she says
Indigenous actor Elaine Miles of "Northern Exposure" was detained by ICE at a Redmond bus stop. When she showed them her Tribal ID, they told her it was fake.
www.seattletimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 5:26 PM
A bit too on the nose for thanksgiving
Reposted by Caleb Crain
"Modern dentistry is great. But your dentist doesn’t insist you worship him.” www.nytimes.com/2025/11/27/t...
The Writer Who Dared Criticize Silicon Valley
www.nytimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 11:24 AM
"Modern dentistry is great. But your dentist doesn’t insist you worship him.” www.nytimes.com/2025/11/27/t...
Reposted by Caleb Crain
Today is the 56th anniversary of the first performance of Mahna Mahna on Sesame Street. You’re familiar with it by now, of course, but... well, it never hurts to be reminded, does it?
Sesame Street - Mahna Mahna (1969)
YouTube video by Tiny Dancer
youtu.be
November 27, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Today is the 56th anniversary of the first performance of Mahna Mahna on Sesame Street. You’re familiar with it by now, of course, but... well, it never hurts to be reminded, does it?
Reposted by Caleb Crain
never change, NYT Cooking
November 26, 2025 at 5:45 PM
never change, NYT Cooking
Reposted by Caleb Crain
Part 3 read (ugh), I'm now just angry & frustrated on behalf of legit, hardworking journalists who protect their sources, develop stories as they see fit but also recognize their responsibility not to sit on a story for fucking subscriber numbers or weird one-upsmanship w/ their equally terrible ex.
November 26, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Part 3 read (ugh), I'm now just angry & frustrated on behalf of legit, hardworking journalists who protect their sources, develop stories as they see fit but also recognize their responsibility not to sit on a story for fucking subscriber numbers or weird one-upsmanship w/ their equally terrible ex.
Reposted by Caleb Crain
Seriously everything, EVERYTHING about the RFK/Nuzzi/LIzza moment is an argument for a newsroom where you pitch stories in front of each other and editors who shield you from your own worst impulses.
November 26, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Seriously everything, EVERYTHING about the RFK/Nuzzi/LIzza moment is an argument for a newsroom where you pitch stories in front of each other and editors who shield you from your own worst impulses.
Nothing about this is how I thought the game of journalism was supposed to be played.
November 26, 2025 at 11:28 PM
Nothing about this is how I thought the game of journalism was supposed to be played.
The Trump administration’s cuts to AIDS funding will result in roughly 3 million additional deaths over the next five years.
SCOOP: The Trump administration has instructed employees and grantees not to use U.S. funds to commemorate World AIDS Day — because the observance was started by the World Health Organization.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/h...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/h...
Trump Administration Cancels U.S. Observance of World AIDS Day
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 7:18 PM
The Trump administration’s cuts to AIDS funding will result in roughly 3 million additional deaths over the next five years.
Reposted by Caleb Crain
“I had to take the baby from my crying wife’s arms.“ It hasn’t even been a year, and this is not a scandal anymore? What is wrong with us?
Green Card Interviews End in Handcuffs for Spouses of U.S. Citizens
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 6:54 PM
“I had to take the baby from my crying wife’s arms.“ It hasn’t even been a year, and this is not a scandal anymore? What is wrong with us?
Reposted by Caleb Crain
November 26, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Reposted by Caleb Crain
Every year it becomes more dangerous to read Jane Austen:
"she was reasonable enough to allow that a man of five and thirty might well have outlived all acuteness of feeling and every exquisite power of enjoyment"
"she was reasonable enough to allow that a man of five and thirty might well have outlived all acuteness of feeling and every exquisite power of enjoyment"
November 26, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Every year it becomes more dangerous to read Jane Austen:
"she was reasonable enough to allow that a man of five and thirty might well have outlived all acuteness of feeling and every exquisite power of enjoyment"
"she was reasonable enough to allow that a man of five and thirty might well have outlived all acuteness of feeling and every exquisite power of enjoyment"
“ ‘The U.S. poverty line is calculated as three times the cost of a minimum food diet in 1963, adjusted for inflation’ … [But] in 2024, food-at-home is no longer 33% of household spending. For most families, it’s 5 to 7 percent.”
This is an insightful but deeply upsetting article about why everyone in the US feels poor, and why the current political situation emerges as a direct result.
www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...
www.yesigiveafig.com/p/part-1-my-...
Part 1: My Life Is a Lie
How a Broken Benchmark Quietly Broke America
www.yesigiveafig.com
November 26, 2025 at 5:10 AM
“ ‘The U.S. poverty line is calculated as three times the cost of a minimum food diet in 1963, adjusted for inflation’ … [But] in 2024, food-at-home is no longer 33% of household spending. For most families, it’s 5 to 7 percent.”
Dobie pads used to be banana yellow and now they’re canary yellow. As if they thought no one would notice.
November 26, 2025 at 2:44 AM
Dobie pads used to be banana yellow and now they’re canary yellow. As if they thought no one would notice.
Reposted by Caleb Crain
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
I see some book piracy discourse, and, to make a positive argument in favor of buying books, your marginal ability to influence what books get published and support the careers of writers you like is massive compared to most other forms of media.
November 25, 2025 at 11:07 PM
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
What would Waldo do?
WWRWED?
The Emersonian question about AI
calebcrain.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:21 PM
What would Waldo do?
“And, as he did in Bacurau, Mendonça casts Udo Kier—perhaps the most emblematic actor of ’70s cult and exploitation cinema—in a bit part here, if for no other reason than he simply could.”
The Secret Agent
4columns.org
November 25, 2025 at 2:00 PM
“And, as he did in Bacurau, Mendonça casts Udo Kier—perhaps the most emblematic actor of ’70s cult and exploitation cinema—in a bit part here, if for no other reason than he simply could.”
Why on earth not?
Duffy on his demand that air travelers not wear slippers or pajamas: "It honors our country ... don't take your shoes off and put your feet on the chair ahead of you"
November 24, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Why on earth not?
Reposted by Caleb Crain
Federico Castelluccio, best known for playing Furio Giunta in the Sopranos, is a master painter and art collector. He discovered a long-lost painting by Baroque artist Guercino and assisted with the restoration on Artemisia Gentileschi at the Getty bsky.app/profile/coli...
November 23, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Federico Castelluccio, best known for playing Furio Giunta in the Sopranos, is a master painter and art collector. He discovered a long-lost painting by Baroque artist Guercino and assisted with the restoration on Artemisia Gentileschi at the Getty bsky.app/profile/coli...
Reposted by Caleb Crain
“Bayazid had never quite given up the fantasy he nurtured in boyhood, of discovering himself a child of some minister or prince.” A short story by Daniyal Mueenuddin, the author of “In Other Rooms, Other Wonders.” https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/TZ7L2C
“The Golden Boy,” by Daniyal Mueenuddin
Bayazid had never quite given up the fantasy he nurtured in boyhood, of discovering himself a child of some minister or prince.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 24, 2025 at 3:30 AM
“Bayazid had never quite given up the fantasy he nurtured in boyhood, of discovering himself a child of some minister or prince.” A short story by Daniyal Mueenuddin, the author of “In Other Rooms, Other Wonders.” https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/TZ7L2C
Reposted by Caleb Crain
Chekhov’s earliest stories were “childishly comical”. During the translation process, says Rosamund Bartlett, “we would just collapse in fits of giggles”.
www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...
www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...
‘He was just trying to earn a few kopecks’: how newly translated stories reveal Chekhov’s silly side
With daft jokes and experimental wordplay, the first comprehensive translations of his lesser-known stories show Anton Chekhov in a new light
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:42 AM
Chekhov’s earliest stories were “childishly comical”. During the translation process, says Rosamund Bartlett, “we would just collapse in fits of giggles”.
www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...
www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...
Reposted by Caleb Crain
Reposted by Caleb Crain
How the Elite Behave When No One Is Watching: Inside the Epstein Emails www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/o...
This is not wrong.
This is not wrong.
Opinion | How the Elite Behave When No One Is Watching: Inside the Epstein Emails
www.nytimes.com
November 23, 2025 at 11:26 PM
How the Elite Behave When No One Is Watching: Inside the Epstein Emails www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/o...
This is not wrong.
This is not wrong.
Reposted by Caleb Crain
Alass paw Yaawk
Boston’s about to see the birth of a thriving black metal music scene, as foretold in the prophecy that hath now come to pass.
November 23, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Alass paw Yaawk
“The people who had the worst mental and social outcomes on average were simply those who used ChatGPT the most.”
Making sure an AI release is safe for psychologically fragile users seems to be at odds with making it an addictive product.
Making sure an AI release is safe for psychologically fragile users seems to be at odds with making it an addictive product.
What OpenAI Did When ChatGPT Users Lost Touch With Reality
www.nytimes.com
November 23, 2025 at 2:51 PM
“The people who had the worst mental and social outcomes on average were simply those who used ChatGPT the most.”
Making sure an AI release is safe for psychologically fragile users seems to be at odds with making it an addictive product.
Making sure an AI release is safe for psychologically fragile users seems to be at odds with making it an addictive product.
In San Francisco, where all the billboards advertise AI, or as my mother calls it, A-1.
November 22, 2025 at 1:00 AM
In San Francisco, where all the billboards advertise AI, or as my mother calls it, A-1.