Serials

Scribbles from Italy: Intelligence

By Vian Andrews | 2023 March 24

Vian Andrews is out in the olive orchards, clearing brush from under the trees and thinking about ChatGPT and the future of artificial and other kinds of intelligence. The latest passage from Andrews’ journal about life in the Umbrian countryside, “Scribbles from Italy.”

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Reality Hunger: A Manifesto / b / mimesis

By David Shields | 2023 March 24

A tour through the history of writing. From David Shields’ 2010 manifesto, “Reality Hunger.” Time for a second look.

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The Sussex Variations, or Two Boars (Ch. 4): Concentration, and Testicles

By Brian Fawcett | 2023 March 19

Brian Fawcett learns about the gory details of life on the farm. Ch. 4 of “The Sussex Variations.”

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The Sussex Variations, or Two Boars (Ch. 3): Females and Males

By Brian Fawcett | 2023 March 13

Brian Fawcett learns about males and females, both human and porcine, on a pig farm in Sussex, England in the early 1960s.

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Scribbles from Italy: The Thing About Sex; Standards of Measurement; Simplifications; No Oil…

By Vian Andrews | 2023 March 12

Vian Andrews hiking and thinking in the Umbrian countryside, amid olive groves in the rain and “sentieri” paths between mountain hamlets.

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The Sussex Variations, or Two Boars (Ch. 2): Stress, Distress, and the Sussex Downs

By Brian Fawcett | 2023 March 5

Brian Fawcett’s “Sussex Variations, or Two Boars,” Ch. 2. People feel distress. So do pigs. Living and learning on an English farm.

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The Sussex Variations, or Two Boars (Ch. 1): Luck, Generosity and the Rules

By Brian Fawcett | 2023 February 27

Brian Fawcett, age 18, from northern British Columbia, arrives at his uncle’s and aunt’s pig farm in Sussex, England, and comes-of-age as two 400-pound boars charge into battle.

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Scribbles from Italy: The Big Valley, Here’s to the Big Brain, No Turn Around, Breeding Ground…

By Vian Andrews | 2023 February 26

Vian Andrews’ dispatches from the Umbrian countryside welcome the light and rage against its dying.

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Scribbles from Italy: The Centre of Things, Last Days in Canada, And So It Begins

By Vian Andrews | 2023 February 12

Canadian writer Vian Andrews and his wife moved from Vancouver to Umbria in Italy. Here are his “scribbles” from a new place in the world.

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