Author: Harrison

• August 22, 2024

  The 1720 Plague of Marseille, Unfolded (Part II)

  How did the 1720 plague of Marseille spread throughout the city? The second and final part of my investigation is now available for paid Usonian+ subscribers. [Link].
• August 21, 2024

  Tiger of the Week: Mark Davidson creates a virtual underwater experience in Catalina

  For Princeton Alumni Weekly, I spoke with Mark Davidson, who has created a unique cinematic experience in Catalina Island that showcases the underwater world. [Link].
• August 15, 2024

  On David Wallace-Wells’ “The Uninhabitable Earth”

  In The Uninhabitable Earth, David Wallace-Wells considers what the world will look like after warming—and employs cautious optimism in order to realistically engage with the future we’ve wrought. Read my latest post in my miniseries, Narrative Architecture, about storytelling choices and their impact on the work at hand. [Link].
• August 9, 2024

  “The Void and the Infinite,” paper on Doxiadis and Koolhaas, is now available from AISU

  My paper about Rem Koolhaas’ interpretation of Constantinos Doxiadis in the mysterious Lagos Handbook is now available in Volume 4 of the “Adaptive Cities?” collection in the Associazone Italiana di Storia Urbana (AISU). [Link]. Many thanks to AISU for including me in their conference in Turin in 2022.
• August 8, 2024

  Join me at the first-ever Usonian writing workshop

  UPDATE 8/18/24: The Usonian Writing Workshop has been POSTPONED until a later date. I’ll keep you apprised of updates. Somewhere on their writing journey, every writer hears that “Show Don’t Tell” is an absolute storytelling law. One version of that oft-quoted law states: you shouldn’t ever explain what is happening in a story (telling). Instead, you…
• August 1, 2024

  Natalie Bakopoulos on “Scorpionfish”

  This week in The Usonian, an interview with Natalie Bakopoulos on her recent novel “Scorpionfish”—an entrancing work set in Greece that unpacks the shared connections of its two protagonists. [Link].
• July 25, 2024

  Unpacking the 1720 plague of Marseille

  In this week’s exclusive Usonian+ post for paid subscribers, I begin an investigation into the origins and trajectory of the 1720 plague of Marseille, a tale with great relevance to public health today. [Link].
• July 18, 2024

  Thoughts on “Moby-Dick”

  Is “Moby-Dick” an adventure story, or a whaling encyclopedia? How should writers balance research vs. storytelling? This week in The Usonian, I set sail with Ahab and Starbuck on the Pequod to find out. [Link].
• July 11, 2024

  The return to Cyprus

  This June, I returned to Cyprus two years after my Fulbright year on the island. Read about my experience in The Usonian. [Link].
• July 4, 2024

  With thanks to the University of Cyprus

  I just got back from the Space Syntax conference at the University of Cyprus. It was a pleasure to co-present “Unpacking Islamabad: Integration and accessibility in pedestrian and vehicle networks of a Doxiadis-built “dynapolis” with Myrto Exacoustou at the event. Read the associated article [here].