Minor American writer. Not data-driven or trauma-informed.
Joined June 2014
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23 Aug 2022
Today is publication day for The End of Solitude. 42 essays, 29 years: my greatest-hits album.
Laura Kipnis: “seek[s] out the largest of questions.”
Franklin Foer: “morally rigorous, perfectly stylish, and a joy to read."
us.macmillan.com/books/97812…
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5/27, last info session of the year for Tivnu, the Jewish social justice gap year in Portland OR: hands-on internships, adventures in the Pacific Northwest, friendships that last a lifetime, vibrant and inclusive Jewish living. Financial aid available.
us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi…
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I have a new piece out today in Persuasion, a tour of the why, what, and how of liberal education. I call for the wholesale reconstruction of the undergraduate curriculum and a fundamental shift in the professoriate's conception of its purpose.
persuasion.community/p/how-t…
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For Jewish high school seniors contemplating a gap year, Tivnu, the first and still the only domestic Jewish gap year program, is holding a virtual info session this Thursday.
zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_…
tivnu.org
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I'm honored to announce that I've been selected as one of this year's Guggenheim Fellows. The award will support the writing of my current project, a historically situated memoir about being Jewish in modernity. #guggfellows2026
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My friend Blake Boles's new book, Dirtbag Rich, just dropped. I read it, loved it, blurbed it, and I encourage you to get it. Here's what I said:
"For everybody, young and not so young, who yearns to stop running the maze and start building a life...
blakeboles.com/dbr/
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"...that’s more authentic, ecstatic, surprising, alive, Blake Boles is here to point the way. Blake has walked the walk, hiked the hike, and danced the dance. He offers counsel that’s both practical and spiritual, in writing that’s sharp, energetic, and heartfelt...
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"....Put this book in your backpack and hit the great wide road."
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New episode dropped today for a popular parenting podcast. It's all about Excellent Sheep and features a passionate, energetic host who clearly read it with great attention. If you're interested in an introduction to the book, this would be a fine choice.
pod.link/1448210728/episode/…
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New podcast appearance, a bracing discussion of campus politics, Democratic politics, etc. (Title a bit misleading.)
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…
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New podcast episode on The End of Solitude, my essay collection:
thesanfranciscoexperiencepod…
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Applications opened today for this year's sessions of the Matthew Strother Center for the Examined Life, the seven-day, technology-free intellectual retreat that I'm involved with. The program is life-changing, free, and open to anyone age 22 or over.
matthewstrother.org/applicat…
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Portland people: I will be giving a talk next month at PSU. It is free and open to the public, and there will be Q&A.
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Virtual info session for Tivnu, the only domestic Jewish gap year program. 1/29, 8:30 E. Hear from alumni, parents, & staff about what makes Tivnu a transformative experience rooted in service, Jewish community, & building a better world. $ aid available.
bit.ly/3YHMdSt
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12 Dec 2025
Virtual info session Tues for Tivnu, the immersive, intensive, 9-month, hands-on, social-justice-oriented Jewish gap year program in Portland OR. Communal Jewish living & learning, making a concrete difference in people's lives. Financial aid available. zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_…
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11 Dec 2025
I have a new piece out today in Persuasion, a set of observations based on a four-week trip I made to Israel in October and November for the book I am currently writing.
persuasion.community/p/notes…
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6 Sep 2025
An interview I recorded earlier this year for Book TV on C-SPAN 2. It's about The End of Solitude, my essay collection. Apparently I've become a weird-looking man. Not sure how that happened.
c-span.org/program/book-tv/t…
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4 Sep 2025
I have a new interview out in The Republic of Letters, the inordinately fun new literary Substack started by my friend and former student, the bold and prolific Sam Kahn. Intimacies are shared, scenes are gone behind, declarations are made.
therepublicofletters.substac…
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17 Jun 2025
Great new podcast episode with a really smart host who is both left-liberal and Calvinist. We talk about my post-election piece (the exhaustion of the liberal establishment, etc.) but lots of interesting directions, including several spates of Jew talk. giveandtake.fireside.fm/293
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26 May 2025
New podcast episode. A chill, unpredictable conversation about eros and the left, incels, the life and death of the artist, all prefaced by a bit about Portland vs. the Northeast vs. the Midwest.
kenilgunas.substack.com/p/bi…
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18 May 2025
New podcast appearance on Andrew Keen's Keen On America. We discuss the themes of my recent post-election piece in Salmagundi: the exhaustion of the liberal establishment and what can be done about it.
keenon.substack.com/p/episod…
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