E.M. White, load-bearing grad student
@eric.sadbutbuildingworlds.blog
Pen name. Writes dark and challenging fiction; would write more if life weren't so dark and challenging.
Also a magpie for fine stories and essays, particular about coffee and tea, and a year-round summer camp counselor for two cats.
Also a magpie for fine stories and essays, particular about coffee and tea, and a year-round summer camp counselor for two cats.
"Sir, a second Joyce Carol Oates post has hit—"
November 11, 2025 at 5:19 AM
"Sir, a second Joyce Carol Oates post has hit—"
![The Mamdani slogan template, but it says,
[large, all-caps text at the top] The car's on fire and there's no driver at the wheel
[italics] and
[smaller text, underlined] the sewers are all muddied with a thousand lonely suicides / and a dark wind blows
(Lyrics are from The Dead Flag Blues by Godspeed You! Black Emperor)](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2kxlfdmnga6hei2gidt2uluv/bafkreibuylkwct6ceyhgbeccptzo47lew4ytkjvgr5saxvpybddheekmr4@jpeg)
Sounds pretty wholesome to me, I dunno
November 7, 2025 at 1:20 AM
Sounds pretty wholesome to me, I dunno
Black cat blep forces reporting in
November 6, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Black cat blep forces reporting in
Just opened up issue 1 of @goblins-galaxies.bsky.social, and I know which story I'm gonna read first
November 4, 2025 at 5:03 AM
Just opened up issue 1 of @goblins-galaxies.bsky.social, and I know which story I'm gonna read first
Me when I'm budgeting for my next overseas trip:
November 3, 2025 at 1:59 AM
Me when I'm budgeting for my next overseas trip:
Happy Halloween to the local cemetery and its groundskeepers.
November 1, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Happy Halloween to the local cemetery and its groundskeepers.
Did someone say PhD candidates??
October 29, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Did someone say PhD candidates??
Once again, the Brassica oleracea principle of plant cultivation applies to everything
October 27, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Once again, the Brassica oleracea principle of plant cultivation applies to everything
Much deserved!
And seemingly, the award committee has a sense of humor, too. Choose your (wife) character, etc.
And seemingly, the award committee has a sense of humor, too. Choose your (wife) character, etc.
October 26, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Much deserved!
And seemingly, the award committee has a sense of humor, too. Choose your (wife) character, etc.
And seemingly, the award committee has a sense of humor, too. Choose your (wife) character, etc.
Just sharing one of the default states here
October 24, 2025 at 3:03 AM
Just sharing one of the default states here
My order for this year's Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy just came in, and something about the color scheme feels very @speculativeinsight.bsky.social to me
October 21, 2025 at 5:05 AM
My order for this year's Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy just came in, and something about the color scheme feels very @speculativeinsight.bsky.social to me
Well,
October 20, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Well,
Something something the scourge of populism in our politics today
October 19, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Something something the scourge of populism in our politics today
Illiterate and then some
October 19, 2025 at 2:54 AM
Illiterate and then some
Choose your, uhh, fighter?
October 14, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Choose your, uhh, fighter?
I found this passage in particular simply marvelous:
![Excerpt from the essay linked in the quoted skeet:
We are in a cultural moment that demands purity of characters, particularly characters in romantic narratives (whether the romantic storylines are primary or secondary). In book reviews, readers bemoan the “problematic,” and unequal power dynamics make them “uncomfortable.”[1] This insistence on only the most upstanding and unblemished unions erases all possibility of person-making, which is to say, growth and change. Instead, we end up with narrative corn syrup: an uncomplicated, saccharine meal that goes down fast but is, at the end of the day, unsatisfying.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2kxlfdmnga6hei2gidt2uluv/bafkreia5pufv3g4xz3lz2kkqplwscbzm23n657cq4ajgkzxlcq2noofeeu@jpeg)
October 14, 2025 at 10:41 PM
I found this passage in particular simply marvelous:
Thank you, YouTube's AI™, for explaining the comments on this video to me. No way I could've puzzled this one out using my meat-based hardware alone
October 13, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Thank you, YouTube's AI™, for explaining the comments on this video to me. No way I could've puzzled this one out using my meat-based hardware alone
When you tell the New Age types that 90+% of them were farmers in many of their past lives:
October 11, 2025 at 5:34 PM
When you tell the New Age types that 90+% of them were farmers in many of their past lives:
Oh, y'all might also like this essay if you have a serious appetite for footnotes.
![Excerpt from the article linked in the original post:
What else sets these regimes apart is that whereas other governments chiefly enact violence by way of law enforcement, totalitarian violence “reigns over a completely subdued population” through its unpredictability.[9] The boundaries for acceptable political expression may be suddenly redefined or left deliberately vague;[10] enemies of the Party-state may be recategorized to include new targets for persecution;[11] thuggery and mob violence might be secretly orchestrated by the Party-state;[12] and collective punishment may harm those who were never accused of violating the regime’s laws.[13]These mechanisms of control exist alongside those associated with other dictatorships, such as uncontested[14] single-party rule and bans on critical political expression.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2kxlfdmnga6hei2gidt2uluv/bafkreidn5ct5kcr5qp4vgrcfbc3b52qxtmod2xlktytnkf2eiyk3uuaahq@jpeg)
October 3, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Oh, y'all might also like this essay if you have a serious appetite for footnotes.
It's dangerous out there (though arguably it's dangerous over here, too). Here, have some company.
September 30, 2025 at 4:13 AM
It's dangerous out there (though arguably it's dangerous over here, too). Here, have some company.
All things considered, I think I need to take a social media hiatus for most of the week, every week
September 23, 2025 at 1:43 AM
All things considered, I think I need to take a social media hiatus for most of the week, every week
Creature sighted. Our best zoologists caution against positively IDing it as any previously documented species. Our worst zoologists say it totally looks like a cat.
September 18, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Creature sighted. Our best zoologists caution against positively IDing it as any previously documented species. Our worst zoologists say it totally looks like a cat.
