Posts by author
Lauren O’Neal
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“Inside, I Still Feel Like I’m 15 to 18 Years Old”
Ever wonder why the high-school years are the focus of so many movies, books, and fun memories you can’t get over despite years of therapy? New York Magazine‘s Jennifer Senior (whose surname is presumably not intended as a pun) investigates the matter from…
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Board Games for the Bookish
Whether you prefer the strategic maneuvers of Animal Farm or the holiday cheer of A Christmas Carol, Flavorwire has the literary board game for you. After all, nothing screams “family fun” like sitting down to reenact The Shining.
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A Different Kind of Travel Writing
For a website about money and personal finances, The Billfold publishes some really heartfelt stories. This one, by Sarah Todd, is about the “just been slimed in my heart” feeling of realizing your passport has expired the day before you…
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Weekend Rumpus Roundup
Look at all this cool stuff we posted on the Rumpus this weekend! Just look at it! “Near the end of my time at my job, my manager would say: The work you do, when you do it, is excellent.”…
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Better Books, Better Brains
If you’ve ever felt like reading good literature gives you more comfort and insight than any self-help book ever could, you’re probably onto something. Scientists at the University of Liverpool recently conducted a study indicating that the brain “lights up”…
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The New Young Folk Singer You’re Gonna Want to Hear
It may have taken Jessica Pratt five years to get her debut album released after she recorded it, but judging by the well-deserved welcome mat critics are rolling out for her, it may have been worth the wait. SF Weekly‘s…
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The Right to Bear Tacos
What would you do if you happened to witness a car crash that injured no humans but mortally wounded a black bear? If you’re Jackson Landers, you finish the bear off with a hunting knife (!), skin it (!!), and…
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When Fiction Won’t Let You Lie to Yourself
Why do we incorporate our personal lives into works of fiction? And how do we know when to stop? In a post for the New York Times‘s “Draft” series, “about the art and craft of writing,” Rumpus columnist Peter Orner recalls…
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Better Living through Storytelling
One of the hardest parts of developing artificial intelligence, writes Frank Bures for Poets & Writers, is trying to teach computers causality: how and why one thing follows from another. Humans don’t have to be taught: We see causality constantly, incessantly,…
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“The Pleasure and the Purpose of Writing”
All class is a privilege, even the lowliest have a vernacular that is all their own that they use to keep people in and keep people out. I like to use a lot of vernaculars next to each other in…
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A Library Without Books
This should be interesting: a judge in San Antonio, Texas, is opening a library without books. Or rather, there will be books, but only digital ones, which patrons can read on e-readers in the library or at home. Since “[t]he…
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Seven Short Stories About Drones
“Mrs Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself. Pity. A signature strike leveled the florist’s.” This and six other “short stories” (i.e., tweets) about drones by Teju Cole are gathered in a Storify for your reading ease.