Perfection Is the Devil, by @ajkeen open.substack.com/pub/keenon… “Perfection is the devil. Growth means a greater capaciousness, not a narrowing and an optimisation.” — Daniel Smith Don’t feel bad about feeling bad. That’s the message of Daniel Smith’s therapeutic new book, Hard Feelings: Finding the Wisdom in Our Darkest Emotions. Smith — psychotherapist, anxiety memoirist, married Brooklynite — wants to rescue boredom, envy, shame, and regret from the category of emotions that are supposed to shame us. The things that bore us most — raising children, long marriages, breakfast with your spouse for the two thousandth time — are also the most meaningful. Boredom, Smith argues, is the price we pay for meaning. Our darkest emotions aren’t quite as dark as we fear.

Guys, @morbidorigin wrote another wise, sharp, and heartfelt book. It’s called HARD FEELINGS and it’s personal—about what to do with and how to think about dark emotions (his, mine, yours)—and it’s out now.

“Boredom is the price we pay for a life rich with meaning.” This is a lovely point about the value of something we often deride as valueless, from @morbidorigin. theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0…

Last month, The Atlantic published an article explaining how a child can die of measles years after infection. Gift link: theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0… 1/2

“That I loved my daughter was never in doubt. My problem was that I didn’t much like being a father,” @morbidorigin writes. “From a life of freedom and agency I had entered a life of white-noise machines, parenting manuals, and fatigue.” theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0…

The Atlantic has published an excerpt from my forthcoming (3/3) book HARD FEELINGS. It's about boredom, and meaning, and being a parent. theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0…

This is quite an exchange with @DavidAFrench about whether we are witnessing the emergence of a "dual state."

Excited to be joining @TheAtlantic in September!

An excellent book, as it happens!

The Inflation Reduction Act has spurred huge investment in America. $165 billion of that investment has gone into red districts, compared to $54 billion of investment in blue districts.

Four years ago, the effort by Trump and his allies to overturn the election results was chaotic and haphazard. Even his supporters complained it wasn't more effective. "This will have to become another crusade of ours," wrote one conservative scholar. wsj.com/politics/elections/d…

Really enjoyed this novel @helencphillips

Please read this powerful piece from @DrEugeniaCheng on her childlessness; many of the comments are thankfully--and rightfully--expressions of gratitude and support!

In @WSJ, #OfBoysAndMen author and American Institute for Boys and Men president @RichardvReeves argues that in this election, male voters will choose which model of #masculinity will take them forward and offers suggestions on how each party can do better. wsj.com/politics/elections/o…

Always grateful for @MonicaHesse washingtonpost.com/style/pow…

Octavia Butler’s 1993 dystopian novel “Parable of the Sower” begins in July of 2024. Climate change is turning the globe into a hellscape with droughts, fires and calamitous weather events. Racial and class inequities have soared, women’s rights are under threat, and white nationalism and radical fundamentalism are taking hold. In the book’s sequel “Parable of the Talents” (published in 1998), a presidential candidate named Jarret, who wants to purge the country of those who don’t share his brand of militant Christianity, issues this call: “Help us to make America great again.” His opponent, Smith, is right when he calls him out as “a demagogue, a rabble-rouser, and a hypocrite.” But Smith is “such a tired, gray shadow of a man,” that Jarret is “able to scare, divide, and bully people” into electing him and quickly sets about implementing his fascist agenda.

Most shocking chasm heading into conventions: per new @NBCNews poll, just 33% of Dem voters are satisfied w/ their party's presidential nominee, vs. 71% of GOP voters.

On the Alice Munro revelations, the great @jonathaneig writes: "Is it honest to write a biography that focuses on the art without exploring the mysteries of the artist’s life? Is it responsible? Who does the biographer work for? His subject? His reader?" wsj.com/arts-culture/books/b…

Is dying at home always a good thing? Does it always ensure ease and dignity? I’m very excited to share my debut essay for the Wall Street Journal examining how our healthcare system makes a peaceful death at home out of reach for too many. wsj.com/health/healthcare/mo…

"If Biden loses to Trump, the nation Biden believed in does not outlive him. A different America replaces it, one where the presidency can be contested by violence, with judicially conferred immunity for an attempted seizure of power."