Humbly Asking for your Vote

In a fun and frivolous contest

Vote for me (and Timbuk 3)

Sebastian Stockman @substockman

Just saw an undergrad in an “I SURVIVED PROM 93” t-shirt and that’s stolen valor imo

I spent too much time in January and February writing a too-long essay about a song for the annual “March Xness tournament.”

It’s a funky, fun idea run by writers Ander Monson and Megan Campbell. They choose a theme (this year it’s one-hit wonders of the 1980s), select a bunch of songs (read about the process and see this year’s bracket here), then writers (selected mostly by lottery) choose a song to defend — or not! — in an essay. The song/essay pairs are seeded in a March Madness-style bracket. The “games” are decided by online voting over a 24-hour period.

So, if you could do me a favor and click here to read my essay on Timbuk 3’s “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades)” and Allison Dushane’s on “Pac-Man Fever” then vote, I’d appreciate it! My essay is less about the song than it is about the late Cold War and the TV show “Head of the Class.” But, with apologies to my opponent, I’m not asking you to vote for the essay or song you prefer. I’m asking you to vote for mine.

Yes, I actually own this.

Once again, that link is here. This guy thanks you for it.

Come for the essay; stay for the author photo.

Other stuff I wrote, Janet Malcolm edition

Since I last wrote in this space, I’ve also published my first review for The Washington Post on my enduring fave Janet Malcolm and her posthumous memoir, Still Pictures. (NB: that’s a “gift link” to my review, so it shouldn’t be paywalled or count against your monthly limit).

In other Malcolm news, my long Majuscule essay on Malcolm, from 2021 received a nifty honor:

NU English 📖 @english_nu

Congratulations to Sebastian Stockman, who's essay "Freud, Facts and Folly: Janet Malcolm on the Uncertainty Beat" earned a "Notable" mention in Best American Essays 2022! majusculelit.com/freud-facts-an… #nuwrites @NUCSSH

majusculelit.comFreud, Facts, and Folly - MajusculeJanet Malcolm on the Uncertainty Beat Turtle Bay, Midtown Manhattan. A Sunday in June, the early 1980s. Robert Gottlieb comes home from the flea market and wanders into his backyard garden. The publishing icon finds his family where he expects them, at lunch in the adjoining backyard garden of Janet…

Future plans re: this particular endeavor

Still other writing notes: this newsletter got me a paying gig in the Penn alumni magazine.

Sebastian Stockman @substockman

Excited to have this piece adapted from my newsletter running in the @PennGazette

thepenngazette.comMister Fix-It?In the realm of plumbing, there’s no outrunning the shadow of ancient defeats.

April 2 will mark a year since my father died. In that year, not counting today’s dispatch, I have published … three newsletters, one about Dad, one about getting older, and one about Dad’s favorite team (which team, of course, went on to win the Super Bowl. Though I still think they should change the name).

I plan to return to a more regular publishing schedule, though I’m not quite sure what that looks like, yet. Definitely not weekly. Probably more like one or two a month? In the meantime, if you think anyone might be interested in what I write here, why not share it with them? I’m thisclose to 500 subscribers.

And now, I’m off to the AWP conference in Seattle. Who knows? Maybe I’ll write another letter on the plane.

Sebastian Stockman @substockman

Yesterday we ended the year we lost Dad/Grandpa Larry with a visit to his bench at @missourivalley’s Hall of Fame Plaza, right next to the football stadium. A place he loved to spend time when he wasn’t in the classroom.