E.M. White, load-bearing grad student
@emwhite.sadbutbuildingworlds.blog
Pen name. Writes dark and challenging fiction; would write more if life weren't so dark and challenging.
Also a magpie for fine stories and essays, particular about coffee and tea, and a year-round summer camp counselor for two cats.
Also a magpie for fine stories and essays, particular about coffee and tea, and a year-round summer camp counselor for two cats.
Found this elsewhere online, am sharing it for fellow Iliad enjoyers
November 24, 2025 at 5:10 AM
Found this elsewhere online, am sharing it for fellow Iliad enjoyers
Ah, yes, it's the natural consequences of my previous behavioral patterns (and of being one person spread too thin over too much bread, which hey, you're not supposed to do that to people!)
November 22, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Ah, yes, it's the natural consequences of my previous behavioral patterns (and of being one person spread too thin over too much bread, which hey, you're not supposed to do that to people!)
It's the beginning of the end of the semester here, which means more department socials at my workplace where I also study. And thet in turn means a lot of exchanges going something like this
November 20, 2025 at 5:16 AM
It's the beginning of the end of the semester here, which means more department socials at my workplace where I also study. And thet in turn means a lot of exchanges going something like this
Someday soon we're gonna have to add the dubious working class background defense to the list of inadmissable legal defenses, right up there with the Nuremburg defense
November 17, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Someday soon we're gonna have to add the dubious working class background defense to the list of inadmissable legal defenses, right up there with the Nuremburg defense
Movie night, long overdue.
But suffice to say this was a weird, surreal year in which to re-watch Dr. Strangelove.
But suffice to say this was a weird, surreal year in which to re-watch Dr. Strangelove.
November 16, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Movie night, long overdue.
But suffice to say this was a weird, surreal year in which to re-watch Dr. Strangelove.
But suffice to say this was a weird, surreal year in which to re-watch Dr. Strangelove.
"Sir, a second Joyce Carol Oates post has hit—"
November 11, 2025 at 5:19 AM
"Sir, a second Joyce Carol Oates post has hit—"
![The Mamdani slogan template, but it says,
[large, all-caps text at the top] The car's on fire and there's no driver at the wheel
[italics] and
[smaller text, underlined] the sewers are all muddied with a thousand lonely suicides / and a dark wind blows
(Lyrics are from The Dead Flag Blues by Godspeed You! Black Emperor)](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2kxlfdmnga6hei2gidt2uluv/bafkreibuylkwct6ceyhgbeccptzo47lew4ytkjvgr5saxvpybddheekmr4@jpeg)
November 9, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Sounds pretty wholesome to me, I dunno
November 7, 2025 at 1:20 AM
Sounds pretty wholesome to me, I dunno
Black cat blep forces reporting in
November 6, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Black cat blep forces reporting in
November 4, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Just opened up issue 1 of @goblins-galaxies.bsky.social, and I know which story I'm gonna read first
November 4, 2025 at 5:03 AM
Just opened up issue 1 of @goblins-galaxies.bsky.social, and I know which story I'm gonna read first
Me when I'm budgeting for my next overseas trip:
November 3, 2025 at 1:59 AM
Me when I'm budgeting for my next overseas trip:
Happy Halloween to the local cemetery and its groundskeepers.
November 1, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Happy Halloween to the local cemetery and its groundskeepers.
Did someone say PhD candidates??
October 29, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Did someone say PhD candidates??
Once again, the Brassica oleracea principle of plant cultivation applies to everything
October 27, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Once again, the Brassica oleracea principle of plant cultivation applies to everything
Much deserved!
And seemingly, the award committee has a sense of humor, too. Choose your (wife) character, etc.
And seemingly, the award committee has a sense of humor, too. Choose your (wife) character, etc.
October 26, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Much deserved!
And seemingly, the award committee has a sense of humor, too. Choose your (wife) character, etc.
And seemingly, the award committee has a sense of humor, too. Choose your (wife) character, etc.
Just sharing one of the default states here
October 24, 2025 at 3:03 AM
Just sharing one of the default states here
My order for this year's Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy just came in, and something about the color scheme feels very @speculativeinsight.bsky.social to me
October 21, 2025 at 5:05 AM
My order for this year's Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy just came in, and something about the color scheme feels very @speculativeinsight.bsky.social to me
Well,
October 20, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Well,
Something something the scourge of populism in our politics today
October 19, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Something something the scourge of populism in our politics today
Illiterate and then some
October 19, 2025 at 2:54 AM
Illiterate and then some
Choose your, uhh, fighter?
October 14, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Choose your, uhh, fighter?
I found this passage in particular simply marvelous:
![Excerpt from the essay linked in the quoted skeet:
We are in a cultural moment that demands purity of characters, particularly characters in romantic narratives (whether the romantic storylines are primary or secondary). In book reviews, readers bemoan the “problematic,” and unequal power dynamics make them “uncomfortable.”[1] This insistence on only the most upstanding and unblemished unions erases all possibility of person-making, which is to say, growth and change. Instead, we end up with narrative corn syrup: an uncomplicated, saccharine meal that goes down fast but is, at the end of the day, unsatisfying.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2kxlfdmnga6hei2gidt2uluv/bafkreia5pufv3g4xz3lz2kkqplwscbzm23n657cq4ajgkzxlcq2noofeeu@jpeg)
October 14, 2025 at 10:41 PM
I found this passage in particular simply marvelous:
Thank you, YouTube's AI™, for explaining the comments on this video to me. No way I could've puzzled this one out using my meat-based hardware alone
October 13, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Thank you, YouTube's AI™, for explaining the comments on this video to me. No way I could've puzzled this one out using my meat-based hardware alone
When you tell the New Age types that 90+% of them were farmers in many of their past lives:
October 11, 2025 at 5:34 PM
When you tell the New Age types that 90+% of them were farmers in many of their past lives: