Latest news with #essays
New York Times
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
An Instagram Poet With Hints of Interesting Darkness
A REBELLION OF CARE: Poems and Essays, by David Gate Last spring I became fascinated by a David Gate poem called 'Like Every Selfie.' As I was reading it I kept hearing music, at least in my mind. Pretty soon I realized I was hearing the sound of early Talking Heads, particularly the perky/menacing lyrics of songs like 'Don't Worry About the Government' and 'The Big Country.' Suddenly it was easy for me to imagine David Byrne shouting and jerkily dancing his way through 'Like Every Selfie,' with its exhortations to appreciate your friends while they are still here — 'Praise their haircuts' and 'Love their tattoos,' etc. This is how the poem ends: Don't wait for the eulogiesTo speak out loudThat your friends are preciousAnd they make you feel proud Yes to friendship: I suspect we all agree with that sentiment. As Byrne once put it, 'My friends are important.' But was I reading 'Like Every Selfie' the right way? By absorbing it as if it were a lost Talking Heads track, I began to wonder whether I was granting 'Like Every Selfie' extra layers — layers of ironic detachment, social critique, strangeness and humor — that the poem itself could not pretend to contain. This experience happened again and again as I plunged into 'A Rebellion of Care,' Gate's debut collection of poems and essays. I had questions of context, questions of tone. I kept asking, 'How are we supposed to interact with this?' I should cut to the chase here and point out that Gate is an Instagram poet. He is part of a movement of verse-posters who have achieved fame on social media — in part because they don't write like the poets of the literary and academic establishment. Radical simplicity and therapeutic bromides are the coin of the realm among the Instagram poets, which means that they — like Rod McKuen, the Yung Pueblo of the 1970s — are easy to make fun of. In 'A Rebellion of Care,' a compendium of his hits, Gate's poems make statements that you can't imagine disagreeing with. The title of the poem usually tells you what's about to go down, as in 'Stay Weird' ('Make your corner of this planet/as weird as you want to'), and 'Flower Power' ('What a world it is that insists/a man, such as I am, can never/appreciate a marigold'), and 'Friendship Will Save Us' ('Friendship is what will save us/so fall deeply in love with your friends'). Sometimes the poems come across like Influencer Beatitudes, sagely guiding us on how to live out loud … on social media. 'Never stop spamming the timeline,' Gate writes, 'with all the things that you love/if you live in a beautiful place/show me.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Globe and Mail
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Globe and Mail
Romanian Philosopher Adrian Gabriel Dumitru Unveils 21‑Part Kindle 'Philosophical Essays – Contradictory Perceptions' Series
Bucharest‑born essayist and spiritual thinker Adrian Gabriel Dumitru continues to explore the contradictions of human existence with his complete 21‑book Kindle series in the 'philosophical essays - Contradictory Perceptions' collection. Each volume weaves personal insight with philosophical curiosity, presenting a journey through life's paradoxes—free from gimmicks or self‑help shortcuts. A Deep Well of Reflections The series spans 21 thoughtfully crafted essays, each on Kindle and offered affordably (often free or at $0.99) through Amazon's platform. Sample titles include: Thinking Like Freud (Book 6), where Dumitru investigates how life's appearances often mask deeper psychological truths. The Desire of More Is a Fear (Book 7), which reframes ambition as an illness fueled by societal pressure. My Life in a Prison with Invisible Walls (Book 9), a meditation on the unseen barriers we create for ourselves. Life Seen as a…Quote (Book 10), an invitation to view existence as a living collection of poignant phrases. Doing Stupid Things… An Amazing Journey (Book 11), a playful reminder that mistakes often widen our view of life. Perceptions (Book 12), co-written with Arij Emaan, proposes that all experience is filtered through subjective lenses. The series continues through Book 21 — The Human Being… an Actor Having So Many Contradictory Roles — each part an invitation to pause and question habitual beliefs. The Heart of Dumitru's Writing Dumitru doesn't position himself as a guru. Instead, he draws readers into morning‑page–style ruminations—confessional, curious, and occasionally wry. His essays are self‑therapeutic exercises, crafted to examine illusions of freedom, the fear of lack, and the beauty in errors. One independent critic noted on 'I've wrote a lot about love. In fact all my books with essays are about love… Today I smile reading some of the things I've wrote… but I don't deny anything. Not anymore.' Romanian Roots, Universal Reach Born and raised in Bucharest, Dumitru returned to writing later in life, not chasing fame, but seeking clarity. His daily philosophical notes evolved into accessible Kindle volumes. They're not aimed at academic philosophers but at ordinary individuals wrestling with doubt, freedom, identity, and purpose. Though rooted in Dumitru's personal experience, his reflections have found resonance abroad—in North America and beyond—as noted by several regional news outlets. Why It Matters In a saturated spiritual‑essay marketplace, Dumitru's series stands out precisely because it's not polished. It's messy, authentic, and evolving—each volume a snapshot of his inner conflicts. Together, they offer a 21‑part portrait of a thinker accepting contradictions, inviting readers to do the same. Available exclusively on Amazon Kindle, the Contradictory Perceptions series is easy to access—and harder to forget. It's for anyone who's ever wondered whether their inner chaos might be the source of connection to something deeper. Available on Amazon Also available on Google Play Books and Apple Books Media Contact Company Name: Dezibel Media Contact Person: Adrian Dumitru Email: Send Email Country: Romania Website:
Vogue
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Vogue
Maris Kreizman on Her Fiery New Book of Essays, ‘I Want to Burn This Place Down'
Before her timely, well-researched, and instantly memorable new book I Want to Burn This Place Down: Essays came out this week, Maris Kreizman was perhaps best known for her Tumblr blog-turned-book Slaughterhouse 90210 and her literary podcast, The Marist Review. Now, though, she's creating a new and more nuanced name for herself in publishing with a debut essay collection that makes a powerful (and pop-culturally savvy) case for a gradual political and personal shift to the left. Vogue spoke to Kreizman about the move from literary criticism to writing essays, the importance of salary-sharing and collaboration on the assistant level at not-yet-unionized publishers, and releasing a book about the power of socialism immediately after Zohran Mamdani's historic New York mayoral primary win. Vogue: You are, quite famously, a master reader. How does it feel to be read in this new way? Maris Kreizman: Oh, it feels so strange, I think particularly because I know better than most people how many books come out each and every week, and how quickly they go in and out of the spotlight, if they're so lucky as to get the spotlight in the first place. I'm just trying to grab people while I can and enjoy it. What did the research-gathering process for this book look like for you? It was doing a lot of reading, which I was thankfully doing anyway, so that made a lot of sense. It also involved getting more involved; I'm so glad I got to work a little with Mutual Aid Diabetes, and I'm on Authors Against Book Bans now, so I have a little taste of what activism means. Why do you think that we, as readers under capitalism, are so willing to rage at individual writers and at each other, instead of at the institutions that always let us down? It's so funny, because, I mean, part of it is social media, right? It's so much easier to gang up on a person there, but I also think it's comforting to have a face that you can give to a problem that makes it so that it feels like something that is fixable. When you start thinking about institutions not serving you, then it becomes about, Oh, we really have to start fresh.
Yahoo
28-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
ChatGPT could affect your critical thinking skills, study finds
MIT researchersconducted a study analyzing the impact using ChatGPT in writing tasks can have on brain activity. The study is part ofMIT's Media Lab project called"Your Brain on ChatGPT," which is designed to assess the cognitive effect of relying on large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT when authoring essays. Dig deeper Approximately 54 people between the ages of 18 and 39 participated in the study. The individuals were divided into three groups to compose several essays. RELATED: ChatGPT may be smart enough to graduate law school One group was allowed to use ChatGPT; the second, Google search; and the third, no AI tools at all. An electroencephalography (EEG) headset was used by the participants while writing to measure the participants' brain activity across 32 regions of the brain. Each patient drafted essays in three sessions and in a fourth session, some participants were reassigned. The individuals who used ChatGPT transitioned to writing unaided (called "LLM-to-Brain") while some who started the brain-only exercise used the LLM ("Brain-to-LLM") RELATED: ChatGPT outperformed doctors in diagnostic accuracy, study reveals The participants' essays were scored by both human teachers and an AI judge, and at the conclusion of the assignment, each person was interviewed following the sessions with researchers asking them about how much they felt they owned their writing. Researchers determined that of the three groups in the study, the ChatGPT users experienced the lowest brain engagement. The team concluded that their study has limitations that they document in their report and website and that more research is needed to better understand the use of ChatGPT in various parts of daily life. The Source Information for this story was provided by an MIT study, which is part of the MIT Media project "Your Brain on ChatGPT." This story was reported from Washington, D.C.
CTV News
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Regina Poet & Artist launches new Sketches
Regina Poet & Artist launches new Sketches In honour of pride month, Regina Poet and Artist Zachari Logan launches a new collection of sketches and essays . Get to know more about his projects here.
