Silas Lapham
banner
silaslapham.bsky.social
Silas Lapham
@silaslapham.bsky.social
Fulbrighter, American, African American, Southern literature. medium.com/@interminablerambling
[Opinions are my own]
The Political Power of Punk: Dead Kennedys’ “Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables”

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been reading some books from the 33 1/3 series, specifically Nick Attfield’s on Dinosaur Jr.’s 1987 album You’re Living All Over Me and Michael Stewart Foley’s on Dead Kennedys’…
The Political Power of Punk: Dead Kennedys’ “Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables”
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been reading some books from the 33 1/3 series, specifically Nick Attfield’s on Dinosaur Jr.’s 1987 album You’re Living All Over Me and Michael Stewart Foley’s on Dead Kennedys’ 1980 album Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables. Each has been thoroughly engaging, and Attfield’s writing serves, in a lot ways, as a master class on writing about music while Foley’s does an excellent job on detailing the national, state, and local politics and culture that lead to the formation of the Dead Kennedys and their debut album.
interminablerambling.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Callie is wishing me a happy birthday today! If you’d like to join Callie in helping me celebrate, consider donating to your local food bank. @weratedogs.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Seeing all of the communist talk, and the call for an Anti-Communism week, I really want to k ow how many people don’t remember history? Plus, how many people know that this is a scare word? I know the answer, but still!

Lillian Smith pointed it all out back in 1949. When will people learn?
November 9, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by Silas Lapham
Taught Flannery O’Connor’s “A Late Encounter with the Enemy” a few weeks back, and there is a lot packed in this story, especially calling out the Lost Cause narrative.

interminablerambling.medium.com/the-lost-cau...
The Lost Cause in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Late Encounter with the Enemy”
When I started thinking about my American literary survey course this semester, I knew I wanted to have a story by Flannery O’Connor…
interminablerambling.medium.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Reposted by Silas Lapham
Here it is, my 249th #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the last week. Add more below in comments, please share as widely as possible, & enjoy, all! 🗃️

blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...
#ScholarSunday Thread 249 (11/9/25) – Black and White and Read All Over
Here it is, my 249th #ScholarSunday thread of great public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the last week. Add more below in comments, please share as widely as...
blackwhiteandread.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Taught Flannery O’Connor’s “A Late Encounter with the Enemy” a few weeks back, and there is a lot packed in this story, especially calling out the Lost Cause narrative.

interminablerambling.medium.com/the-lost-cau...
The Lost Cause in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Late Encounter with the Enemy”
When I started thinking about my American literary survey course this semester, I knew I wanted to have a story by Flannery O’Connor…
interminablerambling.medium.com
November 9, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Good to hear @matthewboedy.bsky.social today.
November 8, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Better late than never. In this week’s episode, @underapurplesky.bsky.social and I talk about Zohran Mamdani, critical thinking, possums, and dogs!

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...
Socialism, Scare Words, and the Stories We Tell Ourselves
Podcast Episode · This Ain't It · 11/07/2025 · 52m
podcasts.apple.com
November 8, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Reposted by Silas Lapham
This is the facility that I and many others have been protesting. We’ve been hit, thrown, gassed, and shot with pepper bullets but none of that holds a candle to what is being done to people *in* the actual facility.

Read this thread. Don’t look away. Keep your eyes and the pressure on Broadview.
A family friend was telling us about what her husband shared about his experience in Broadview before he was deported back to Mexico. She's been sharing to friends and family because she's just in disbelief & horror what her husband told her. She wasn't able to talk to him until he was in Mexico.
November 7, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Fears of Invasion in Pornsak Pichetshote and Alexandre Tefengki’s “The Good Asian”

Last post, I looked at the first few pages of Pornsak Pichetshote and Alexandre Tefengki’s The Good Asian, specifically the ways that the pages foreground a lot of the themes throughout the series. Today, I want to…
Fears of Invasion in Pornsak Pichetshote and Alexandre Tefengki’s “The Good Asian”
Last post, I looked at the first few pages of Pornsak Pichetshote and Alexandre Tefengki’s The Good Asian, specifically the ways that the pages foreground a lot of the themes throughout the series. Today, I want to continue that examination by looking at the first page of issue #3. These pages, likes the first two in the series, highlight the historical aspects of…
interminablerambling.com
November 6, 2025 at 2:00 PM
I just read Albert Camus’ “Creating Dangerously,” and it’s a powerful essay on te power and role of art in society.

interminablerambling.medium.com/the-role-of-...
The Role of the Artist in Interesting Times: A Look at Albert Camus’s “Creating Dangerously”
Almost two years ago to the day, I finally read Albert Camus’ The Stranger. I had come across, somewhere, a discussion of the novel’s…
interminablerambling.medium.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:56 PM
The Walls That Separate Us in Pornsak Pichetshote and Alexandre Tefengki’s “The Good Asian”

I first read Pornsak Pichetshote and Aaron Campbell’s Infidel about five years ago, and after reading it, I decided to teach it in my “Monsters, Race, and Comics” course. Since I first read Infidel, I have…
The Walls That Separate Us in Pornsak Pichetshote and Alexandre Tefengki’s “The Good Asian”
I first read Pornsak Pichetshote and Aaron Campbell’s Infidel about five years ago, and after reading it, I decided to teach it in my “Monsters, Race, and Comics” course. Since I first read Infidel, I have picked up anything that Pichetshote has written, from Man’s Best and The Sandman Universe: Dead Boy Detectives to his writing and editorial work on…
interminablerambling.com
November 4, 2025 at 2:00 PM
This type of morning.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnPo...
The Muslims - "Illegals" (Full Album Stream)
YouTube video by Epitaph Records
www.youtube.com
November 4, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Reposted by Silas Lapham
A poem I wrote some months ago showed up at my door today in the first issue of the relaunched Southerly magazine.
November 4, 2025 at 6:00 AM
Somebody has their babies and is ready for bed.
November 3, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Reposted by Silas Lapham
I feel the terror in my bones when I hear of Trump and the Republicans building camps in the desert for homeless people. I was homeless 10 years ago. My own grandfather, a millionaire, refused to help me.

The experience inspired our Mother’s Day 365 program where we pay women’s rents and mortgages
November 2, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Reposted by Silas Lapham
Barring breaking news or other events, I will be on @msnbc.com with @ahylton26.bsky.social at 7:45 ET to talk Fuentes, Carlson, and the civil war on the right about . . . (checks notes) whether Nazism is bad.
a man with long hair is standing in front of a sign that says fire extinguisher
ALT: a man with long hair is standing in front of a sign that says fire extinguisher
media.tenor.com
November 2, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Earlier this week, I read Ágota Kristóf’s “The Illiterate.” It is a small memoir where Kristóf details being a refugee from Hungary, moving to Switzerland. It reminds me so much of Amy Tan's essay "Mother Tongue" in the way that it talks about language.

medium.com/@interminabl...
Ágota Kristóf’s “The Illiterate” and the Loss of One’s Self
A few days ago, as I am wont to do on occasion, I walked through the stacks at my local library, immediately making a line towards the…
medium.com
November 2, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Reposted by Silas Lapham
The hardest part of building a new home for our public scholarship to get off of Substack is rebuilding our communities.

If you are or have ever been a fan of my Review Roulette or @americanstudier.bsky.social's #ScholarSunday threads and AmericanStudier blog, please subscribe to keep getting them!
November 2, 2025 at 1:50 PM
As of yesterday, over 40 million people lost access to SNAP. The rhetoric surrounding this especially from Christian nationalists, is horrendous. In the latest episode @underapurplesky.bsky.social and I discuss all of this.
November 2, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Kinda think they missed the whole point of Gatsby, but not surprised.

interminablerambling.medium.com/the-master-r...
November 1, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Reposted by Silas Lapham
On the latest episode of "This Ain't It," @underapurplesky.bsky.social and I talk about the current situation in regard to serves such as SNAP. @matthewboedy.bsky.social @kerileighmerritt.bsky.social @bradleyonishi.bsky.social

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/f...
Feeding the Poor: SNAP Cuts, Faith, and the Cost of Compassion
Podcast Episode · This Ain't It · 10/31/2025 · 46m
podcasts.apple.com
October 31, 2025 at 11:52 AM
On the latest episode of "This Ain't It," @underapurplesky.bsky.social and I talk about the current situation in regard to serves such as SNAP. @matthewboedy.bsky.social @kerileighmerritt.bsky.social @bradleyonishi.bsky.social

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/f...
Feeding the Poor: SNAP Cuts, Faith, and the Cost of Compassion
Podcast Episode · This Ain't It · 10/31/2025 · 46m
podcasts.apple.com
October 31, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Silas Lapham
REV. BLACK (who was shot in the head with a pepper ball): “If this is what they’re doing to pastors, journalists, teachers, mothers, and the elderly gathered to sing and pray outside ICE facilities… what might they be doing to our neighbors who are behind those walls?”
October 31, 2025 at 2:33 AM