This week in The Usonian, read an interview with literary translator Lizzie Buehler on “The Disaster Tourist,” a fascinating climate thriller from Korean author Yun Ko-eun. Check out the interview featuring insight into Lizzie Buehler’s process and the themes of the novel.
As always, thanks for reading!
“Cities are, by definition, the places where people find creative solutions to the dilemma of living together.”
I’m pleased to publish one last (!) interview this year—this one with the amazingly erudite Bruce Clark, whose new book “Athens: City of Wisdom” tells the story of the fabled city all the way from antiquity to present.
Do check out the interview and the book, which might just be a perfect last-minute stocking stuffer for your friendly neighborhood history buff or philhellene. Thanks for reading, and happy holidays!
In this week’s newsletter, I discuss the deep history behind the Cyprus problem in The Cyprus Files, the limited-run newsletter series from The Usonian. This is the second post in “The Two Nicosias” series; you can read the first post here. Thanks for reading about this important topic.
As the pandemic resurges to the top of the news, learn about how the situation is being handled in Cyprus, in the latest post in my newsletter series, The Cyprus Files.
Stay safe out there. Thanks for reading.
I was pleased to be a guest once more on the “Film at Fifty” podcast, which discusses films from 50 years ago.
On this episode, I join host Brian Rowe for a discussion of the extremely popular TV movie Brian’s Song (1971), which featured lauded performances by Billy Dee Williams and Jimmy Caan as football players for the Chicago Bears who form a lasting friendship despite their on-the-field rivalry and different backgrounds.
Though aspects of the film haven’t aged well, it’s still worth talking about due to the strong performances of the famous leads.
Listen to the episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
I’m honored to have my review of Melissa Anderson’s book Inland Empire (2021) quoted by The Daily, the official blog of the Criterion Collection.
Check out my review of Inland Empire (and the David Lynch film of the same name) in the November issue of The Brooklyn Rail.
I’m honored to be featured alongside my amazing classmate Pria Louka in the Princeton University Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies website. Check out the profile on our Fulbright projects here.
To catch updates from my Fulbright grant period in Cyprus this fall, you can follow my newsletter, The Usonian, for dispatches from the island.
I am honored to have been interviewed about my suspense aesthetic for the Flying Ketchup Press blog.
My short story, “Falling,” inspired from Frank Lloyd Wright’s construction of Fallingwater, will be published in Flying Ketchup Press’ “Tales from the Deep” anthology this coming June. Please support this innovative publisher based in Kansas City, Missouri.
Check out the interview here.
(Art by Alex Eickhoff, to be featured in Flying Ketchup Press’ “Tales from the Deep” anthology).
Many thanks to The Nassau Weekly for publishing a follow-up essay to a piece I wrote on the refugee crisis in Greece four years ago, a crisis which has recently entered an even more precarious phase given the Coronavirus. Thanks also to the Nass for inviting me to speak at their virtual open mic earlier this month. Read the new piece, “The End of Moria? Looking back on migration-crisis reporting in Greece as a college student,” here.
Please consider donating to The Nassau Weekly at http://nassauweekly.com/donate/ to keep this important Princeton campus publication afloat in these uncertain times.
Since the pandemic began, we’ve all had Zoom calls and Zoom meetings. They have their challenges—but what about a Zoom dissertation defense? That was the scenario faced by four Princeton Geosciences Ph.D. candidates this past spring.
It was an honor to be asked to write the cover story for this year’s issue of The Smilodon, the newsletter of the Princeton University Department of Geosciences which traces its history back to 1927.
“Guyot Hall under Quarantine” spotlights the experience of four Princeton Ph.D. candidates who received their doctorates during the COVID-19 lockdown. Taking center stage is their spectacular research—from tracking earthquakes in the most remote reaches of the South Pacific to studying the potential for life on Mars.
In this issue of The Smilodon, it was also a pleasure to write my third article profiling a quirky Princeton mineralogist (the first two, about a Mayor-Mineralogist and Hamilton’s duel doctor, were published in Princeton Alumni Weekly).
“Archibald MacMartin, the Musical Mineralogist” traces the life of a mysterious alumnus who left Princeton with 2,500 exemplary minerals in its collection—as well as founded the first independent music periodical in New York.
You can access a PDF of the issue, featuring both articles, at this link. Thanks for reading, and stay safe and well!
Harrison Blackman 