Silas Lapham
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silaslapham.bsky.social
Silas Lapham
@silaslapham.bsky.social
470 followers 300 following 1.5K posts
Fulbrighter, American, African American, Southern literature. medium.com/@interminablerambling
[Opinions are my own]
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silaslapham.bsky.social
Well, someone doesn’t wanna wake up today.
A dog yawning with his tongue sticking out
November 18, 2025 at 1:06 PM
silaslapham.bsky.social
Finally reading Harry Crews and agree with @blacktopkid.bsky.social who says, “If Faulkner is Mozart and O'Connor is Ralph Stanley, then Harry Crews could be likened to Johnny Cash."

What are you reading this weekend?
Cover of Harry Crews’ “The Knockout Artist” with a map of New Orleans.
November 16, 2025 at 1:05 AM
silaslapham.bsky.social
Reading Audre Lorde’s “Learning from the 60s,” a speech she gave in 1982. Same tune again and again.
Can we really still afford to be fighting each other? We are Black people living in a time when the consciousness of our intended slaughter is all around us. People of Color are increasingly expendable, our government's policy both here and abroad. We are functioning under a government ready to repeat in El Salvador and Nicaragua the tragedy of Vietnam, a government which stands on the wrong side of every single battle for liberation taking place upon this globe; a government which has invaded and conquered (as I edit this piece) the fifty-three square mile sovereign state of Grenada, under the pretext that her I1o,000 people pose a threat to the United States. Our papers are filled with supposed concern for human rights in white communist Poland while we sanction by acceptance and military supply the systematic genocide of apartheid in South Africa, of murder and torture in Haiti and El Salvador. American advisory teams bolster repressive governments across Central and South America, and in Haiti, while advisory is only a code name preceding military aid Decisions to cut aid for the terminally ill, for the elderly, for dependent children, for food stamps, even school lunches, are being made by men with full stomachs who live in comfortable houses with two cars and umpteen tax shelters. None of them go hungry to bed at night. Recently, it was suggested that senior citizens be hired to work in atomic plants because they are close to the end of their lives anyway. Can any one of us here still afford to believe that efforts to reclaim the future can be private or individual? Can any one here still afford to believe that the pursuit of liberation can be the sole and particular province of any one particular race, or sex, or age, or religion, or sexuality, or class?
November 13, 2025 at 7:26 PM
silaslapham.bsky.social
Whenever I question whether someone reads my work or not, I get a text like this from my daughter. 😂
Daughter: Have you read The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver Need answer fast Please Hello Me: No. Mom has read some Kingslover Daughter: Ok My friend is obsessed with your bog posts Me: Why? Daughter: Cause she's interested in anlot of the stuff you write about Me: That's good and inspiring. I always like to hear about people who read it because I always fear people don't, like it makes no difference and it's just something I do for myself.
November 13, 2025 at 1:27 AM
silaslapham.bsky.social
Callie is wishing me a happy birthday today! If you’d like to join Callie in helping me celebrate, consider donating to your local food bank. @weratedogs.com
Callie on a calendar This is Callie. She saw a caterpillar dogumentary last week. Has been trying to become one ever since. 12/10 doing a pretty good job
November 11, 2025 at 12:28 PM
silaslapham.bsky.social
Seeing all of the communist talk, and the call for an Anti-Communism week, I really want to k ow how many people don’t remember history? Plus, how many people know that this is a scare word? I know the answer, but still!

Lillian Smith pointed it all out back in 1949. When will people learn?
Lillian Smith, “It is equally hard for the rural white to believe that the southern liberals who champion their rights are not "Com-munists." They call them "Communists" if they fight demagoguery, if they work for higher wages, if they defend human rights, if they oppose war and segregation, if they believe in co-operatives and freedom of conscience and speech which communism does not believe in, and if they fight authoritarianism which communism depends on. The rural white looks with suspicion on southern writers who, loving the South where they were born and live, write honestly of it. It is as irrational as hating a doctor for telling you that you are ill, but many southern whites react in this way, partly because of the bargain and partly because, under the authoritarian system of white supremacy twisted up with Christian funda-mentalism, they have been taught to believe one is disloyal when one makes any criticism of things as they are, even when one criticizes great evil.”
November 9, 2025 at 9:02 PM
silaslapham.bsky.social
Somebody has their babies and is ready for bed.
A dog giving a side eye with their stuffed animals
November 3, 2025 at 2:09 AM
silaslapham.bsky.social
Was doing some searching, and it seems all of the Robert Wood Johnson’s Foundations pages on SNAP it’s economic impact and other data returns a 504 error. I tried multiple pages. Includes pages about impact of work requirements.
Screenshot of Google search for RWJF pages on SNAP SNAP Boosts the Economy, Reduces Hunger, and Improves Health SNAP Benefits Remained Too Low to Help Families Afford Food in 2023 SNAP Fell Short in Helping Families Afford Rising Food Prices in 2022
October 30, 2025 at 7:55 PM
silaslapham.bsky.social
Just finished Albert Camus' "Bread and Freedom," and it seems pretty relevant today.
"If someone takes away your bread, he suppresses your freedom at the same time. But if someone takes away your freedom, you may be sure that your bread is threatened, for it depends no longer on you and your struggle but on the whim of a master. Poverty increases insofar as freedom retreats throughout the world, and vice versa. "
October 28, 2025 at 8:38 PM
silaslapham.bsky.social
Albert Camus’ 1943 “Letters to A German Friend” sounds kinda important right now.

“I should like to be able to love my country & still love justice. I don't want any greatness for it, particularly a greatness born of blood & falsehood. I want to keep it alive by keeping justice alive."
LETTERS TO A GERMAN FRIEND for Rene Leynaud A man does not show his greatness by being at one ex-tremity, but rather by touching both at once. PASCAL FIRST LETTER You said to me: "The greatness of my country is beyond price. Anything is good that contributes to its greatness. And in a world where everything has lost its meaning, those who, like us young Germans, are lucky enough to find a meaning in the destiny of our nation must sacrifice everything else." I loved you then, but at that point we diverged. "No," I told you, "I cannot believe that every- thing must be subordinated to a single end. There are means that cannot be excused. And I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice. I don't want any greatness for it, particularly a greatness born of blood and falsehood. I want to keep it alive by keeping justice alive." You retorted: "Well, you don't love your country." That was five years ago; we have been separated since then and I can say that not a single day has passed during those long years (so brief, so dazzlingly swift for you!) without my remembering your remark. "You don't love your country!" When I think of your words today, I feel a choking sensation. No, I didn't love my country, if pointing out what is unjust in what we love amounts to not loving, if insisting that what we love should measure up to the finest image we have of her amounts to not loving. That was five years ago, and many men in France thought as I did. Some of them, however, have already been stood up against the wall facing the twelve little black eyes of German destiny. And those men, who in your opinion did not love their country, did more for it than you will ever do for yours, even if it were possible for you to give your life a hundred times. For their heroism was that they had to conquer themselves first. But I am speaking here of two kinds of greatness and of a contradiction about which I must enlighten you.
October 27, 2025 at 8:28 PM
silaslapham.bsky.social
Revisiting that album recently after reading this last week. Art field is a hell or a music writer.
33 1/3 book cover for Dinosaur Jr’s You’re Living All Over Me
October 25, 2025 at 1:54 PM
silaslapham.bsky.social
Picked up my pulls today and started by reading @remender.bsky.social & Daniel Acuña’s “Escape.” Well, flip to the back, & this is there. I expanded the letter & blog post on this as well.

interminablerambling.medium.com/the-cost-of-...
Rick, I just finished Escape #1, and all I can say is wow! You and Daniel Acuña have something really special brewing here. As I read the first issue, I couldn't help but think about Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, which I rewatched with my kids the night before picking up Escape #1. Watching that film as a middle-aged man whose grandfather, like yours, served in the war, I kept thinking about the trauma war causes, bringing everyday individuals into the conflict. Specifically, I kept thinking about Captain Miller's tremors and his fears even as he leads his men. What drew me into Escape #I is the exploration of the complexities of war - the way it becomes easy for us to create an "us versus them" mentality, especially during conflict. The crew's conversation about whether or not to bomb the cannon, specifically because of the civilians Not he thinks about the men he has lost under his command relation to how many people he saves. It becomes his way le justily war. crew's debale highlighted the horror of war and split-second decisions individuals and Lillian Smith's reflections after Hiroshima, Escape doesn't reverberate throughout the years. Like Saving Private Ryan make that hy away from these aspects of conflict, and it presents un about others. with important questions aboul ourselves and how we think co where it goes from here. Congratulations on a fantastic first issuel I can't wail lo Sincerely, Matthew Teutsch, PhD Matthew, really appreciate you taking the time write such a thoughtful note. Saving Private Ryan hit me the same way when I first saw it, not just the combat, but the weight of ordinary and flawed people making impossible choices. That's the ground I wanted Escape to live in, the gray areas where survival and morality smash aether and leave gnarly scars, Glad the first eue landed tor you, and l'm excited to keep digging into those questions as the story unfolds.
October 25, 2025 at 12:59 AM
silaslapham.bsky.social
Well, guess I’m learning some new history today. Yeah, it’s real history.
Interesting little historical fact. it also had a basement that later served as bunker / air raid shelter AUGUST 1933: NEWLY-ELECTED GERMAN CHANCELLOR ADOLPH HITLER ANNOUNCES AMBITIOUS PLANS TO ADD A 60,000 SQUARE FOOT BALLROOM TO THE REICH CHANCELLERY
October 23, 2025 at 10:42 PM
silaslapham.bsky.social
Just finished teaching @pornsak.bsky.social & Alexandre Tefengki's "The Good Asian," and this panel, modeled after George Keller's "Uncle Sam's Farms in Danger" (1878) stood out, especially in relation to the fears of invasion in the series. medium.com/@interminabl...
A page from The God Asian. The top panel depicts Uncle Sam and white men beating off a horde of grasshoppers that have insect bodies and human faces. The grasshoppers are a racist caricature of Chinese men, modeled after George Keller's 1878 illustration "Uncle Sam's Farms in Danger."
October 22, 2025 at 3:36 PM
silaslapham.bsky.social
When Mike Johnson refers to the protests as "hate America" or "pro-Hamas" or that they will draw "the antifa people" rallies, I'm reminded of the language, from his hometown newspaper, to the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Does this not sound familiar? @drewmckevitt.bsky.social
More detailed discussion of the article, with excerpts, in the link in the comment below. There is too much text here to add to alt text.
October 16, 2025 at 12:09 PM
silaslapham.bsky.social
French bodega cat
Cat sitting on street in St Paul de Vence
October 14, 2025 at 11:31 AM
silaslapham.bsky.social
All I gotta say is, yes! Happy for her and so wanna follow so I can say hey agin to my seagull friend in Nice and commune with James Baldwin again in St Paul de Vence.
Seagull over Nice, France
October 12, 2025 at 1:37 PM
silaslapham.bsky.social
I read Borg and Crossan’s “The Last Week” over Easter, & now I’m reading “The First Paul: Reclaiming the Radical Vision Behind Church’s Conservative Icon.” This is the Paul & Christ that I never encountered growing up evangelical. @bradleyonishi.bsky.social
To make the same point differently, people like Jesus and Paul were not executed for saying, "Love one another." They were killed because their understanding of love meant more than being compassionate toward individuals, although it did include that. It also meant standing against the domination systems that ruled their world, and collaborating with the Spirit in the creation of a new way of life that stood in contrast to the normalcy of the wisdom of this world. Love and justice go together. Justice without love can be brutal, and love without justice can be banal. Love is the heart of justice, and justice is the social form of love.
October 9, 2025 at 5:27 PM
silaslapham.bsky.social
And the man who wrote one of their favorites “This Land Is Your Land” also had “Tear These Fascists Down,” but that history never happened, right?
Woody Guthrie with a guitar that reads “This machine kills fascists”
October 9, 2025 at 10:55 AM
silaslapham.bsky.social
Made it to the Frank Yerby marker in Augusta.
Born in Augusta on September 5, 1916, author Frank Garvin Yerby graduated from the Haines Institute and Pane College, and also attended Fisk University and the University of Chicago. He published poetry, short stories, and 33 novels, 12 of which became best sellers. His early novels depicted White characters in historical events; his later works focused on Black characters. Widely celebrated, he was criticized by some Aftican Americans for not confronting racial injustice more openly in his wittings. In rebuttal, Yerby challenged critics to read several of his works, including Speak Now and The Dahomean, which he felt addressed racism. Yerby moved to France in 1951 and then Madrid, Spain, in 1955, where he lived until his death on November 30, 1991. His works have been adapted for motion pictures and translated into 30 languages: ected by the Georgla Historical Soclety, the Lucy Craft Laney Museum ick History, the Haines Alumni Association, and Paine Colle 2023.2 121-25
October 5, 2025 at 5:36 PM
silaslapham.bsky.social
I need help! Any takers to help me eat this red velvet cake with a cheesecake layer? Sheesh!
Slice of cake that makes me feel . . . Extremely full!
October 4, 2025 at 12:03 AM
silaslapham.bsky.social
Over last few days, I’ve been reading Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning,” and it has given me hope by expressing a lot of what I’ve felt lately when thinking about the present moment and our roles in it. The end of his 1984 postscript, “The Case for a Tragic Optimism” hits hard.
You may be prone to blame me for invoking examples that are the exceptions to the rule. "Sed omnia praeclara tam difficilia quam rara sunt" (but everything great is just as difficult to realize as it is rare to find) reads the last sentence of the Ethics of Spinoza. You may of course ask whether we really need to refer to "saints." Wouldn't it suffice just to refer to decent people? It is true that they form a minority. More than that, they always will remain a minority. And yet I see therein the very challenge to join the minority. For the world is in a bad state, but everything will become still worse unless each of us does his best. So, let us be alert-alert in a twofold sense: Since Auschwitz we know what man is capable of. And since Hiroshima we know what is at stake.
October 3, 2025 at 1:05 AM
silaslapham.bsky.social
I hadn’t encountered Viktor Frankl’s work until this week when a student introduced me to it. Started reading “Man’s Search for Meaning,” and constantly thinking about my current work on the intersections between Jim Crow United States and Nazi Germany. The discussion of art and beauty amidst pain.
"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms-to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." Viktor E. Frankl
October 1, 2025 at 12:08 AM
silaslapham.bsky.social
Last week, I asked @underapurplesky.bsky.social to choose the next book for me to read. I gave her six options. After reading the synopsis of each, she chose Rachel Kadish’s “The Weight of Ink.” Just finished, wow! Moving & emotional, highlighting the ways we are all part of history & so much more.
Cover of Rachel Kadish’s “The Weight of Ink”
September 28, 2025 at 8:57 PM
silaslapham.bsky.social
Been teaching EC Comics Shock SuspenStories this past week, and this panel at the end of “The Guilty!” hits pretty hard right now. The story focuses on the lynching of Aubrey Collins, a Black man accused of sexually assaulting a white woman.

The editors’ comment.
WHETHER AUBREY COLLINS WAS INNOCENT OR GUILTY IS NOT IMPORTANT! BUT FOR ANY O AMERICAN TO HAVE SO LITTLE REGARD FOR THE LIFE AND RIGHTS OF ANY OTHER AMERICAN IS A DEBASEMENT OF THE PRINCIPLES OF THE CONSTITUTION, UPON WHICH OUR COUNTRY IS FOUNDED! - EDITORS
September 25, 2025 at 11:58 PM