note to self, look up 'containers' on /archives/, there are a couple of posts i didn't reference, that look like they go deeper into some bits. might update the post after revisiting
This one felt like watching a river remember it used to be a spine.
There’s something satisfying about the way you’re peeling structure off the wall like it’s not a prison anymore, but a skeleton key. Not “signposting” as in making a map *for* the reader — but as a way of holding your own attention long enough for the ideas to become magnetic again. That’s not outlining. That’s laying track for something that *wants* to move.
The jigsaw metaphor was a quiet killer. Structure not as rigidity, but as *surface area management for intuition*. Beautiful. And this line:
> “I think I’ve been naively or arrogantly assuming that just because I can freestyle good twitter threads, it means I should be able to freestyle good essays.”
Yes. The collapse rate of threads-into-essays is astonishing. Threading is improv. Essaying is architecture. You can’t just stack bricks made of vibes and expect a cathedral.
Also appreciated the “structure-as-a-service” allergy callout — feels like a whole shared genre of resistance. Not even to being helped, but to being *containered*. Which maybe loops all the way back to your insight about creative hubris: the refusal to hire help is often the ego insisting it should be able to hold everything itself.
Anyway. This was less a blog post and more a quiet essay on apprenticeship — not to a genre, but to one’s own attention. Glad to see this arc unfurling. Hope you keep climbing the 7–12-step spiral.
i liked this format! i’m going to mention MBTI to give language to the type of itch it scratched in my brain & i hope that will clarify my message rather than obscure it by making me sound like an astrology girl 😭
that aside, this really satisfied the Ne part of my brain! i’m not someone who’s good at/ partial to paying attention to the structure of things, so take this w a grain of salt. but i actually felt different from a previous commenter who said this felt like a forward stride. i felt like this was more sprawling (in a fun, good way) than my felt sense of ur twitter threads. in comparison to ur other essays tho, not sure
to be frank, the essay reads like a filler episode, which is fine cuz i love reading your style regardless of how it’s structured. kinda reminds me of how Community started off kinda mundane and cliche in the first season with its character dynamics and the college setting, despite it being known nowadays for being meta bombastic and hyperreal
it seems to me like narratively you basically *have* to begin mundane before you can get to the hyperreal, otherwise the hyperreality is just confusing and overwhelming 🤔
yea i love how the mundanity of the campus grounds makes a good setting for orienting a viewer around the paintball saga or the pillow/blanket fort episode, plus you can just go back to hovering a random class if it gets *too* crazy
I’m so curious to see what you mean by “7-12 good thoughts with a throughline.” To me, this sounds like what most essays aim to achieve (i.e., a particular theme with one thought/example leading to the next to support that theme), but it seems like maybe you’re referring to something different? I’ve only started reading your writing within the past few months, so perhaps I don’t have all the necessary context to understand, but regardless I’m excited to see what you write next!
note to self, look up 'containers' on /archives/, there are a couple of posts i didn't reference, that look like they go deeper into some bits. might update the post after revisiting
This one felt like watching a river remember it used to be a spine.
There’s something satisfying about the way you’re peeling structure off the wall like it’s not a prison anymore, but a skeleton key. Not “signposting” as in making a map *for* the reader — but as a way of holding your own attention long enough for the ideas to become magnetic again. That’s not outlining. That’s laying track for something that *wants* to move.
The jigsaw metaphor was a quiet killer. Structure not as rigidity, but as *surface area management for intuition*. Beautiful. And this line:
> “I think I’ve been naively or arrogantly assuming that just because I can freestyle good twitter threads, it means I should be able to freestyle good essays.”
Yes. The collapse rate of threads-into-essays is astonishing. Threading is improv. Essaying is architecture. You can’t just stack bricks made of vibes and expect a cathedral.
Also appreciated the “structure-as-a-service” allergy callout — feels like a whole shared genre of resistance. Not even to being helped, but to being *containered*. Which maybe loops all the way back to your insight about creative hubris: the refusal to hire help is often the ego insisting it should be able to hold everything itself.
Anyway. This was less a blog post and more a quiet essay on apprenticeship — not to a genre, but to one’s own attention. Glad to see this arc unfurling. Hope you keep climbing the 7–12-step spiral.
Let’s see where it leads.
i liked this format! i’m going to mention MBTI to give language to the type of itch it scratched in my brain & i hope that will clarify my message rather than obscure it by making me sound like an astrology girl 😭
that aside, this really satisfied the Ne part of my brain! i’m not someone who’s good at/ partial to paying attention to the structure of things, so take this w a grain of salt. but i actually felt different from a previous commenter who said this felt like a forward stride. i felt like this was more sprawling (in a fun, good way) than my felt sense of ur twitter threads. in comparison to ur other essays tho, not sure
I love the way you hold the readers hand like we are walking through your thought processes in real time
to be frank, the essay reads like a filler episode, which is fine cuz i love reading your style regardless of how it’s structured. kinda reminds me of how Community started off kinda mundane and cliche in the first season with its character dynamics and the college setting, despite it being known nowadays for being meta bombastic and hyperreal
it seems to me like narratively you basically *have* to begin mundane before you can get to the hyperreal, otherwise the hyperreality is just confusing and overwhelming 🤔
yea i love how the mundanity of the campus grounds makes a good setting for orienting a viewer around the paintball saga or the pillow/blanket fort episode, plus you can just go back to hovering a random class if it gets *too* crazy
this one had the energy of a forward stride vs the meandering with ambiguous pace of your usual posts
mmm that’s a very useful characterization, thank you!!
I’m so curious to see what you mean by “7-12 good thoughts with a throughline.” To me, this sounds like what most essays aim to achieve (i.e., a particular theme with one thought/example leading to the next to support that theme), but it seems like maybe you’re referring to something different? I’ve only started reading your writing within the past few months, so perhaps I don’t have all the necessary context to understand, but regardless I’m excited to see what you write next!
I suppose functionally it’s the same thing haha