Jameson Draper
@jamdraper.bsky.social
writer, enjoyer of gin and good books, michigan native, maryland resident. @jamdraper on twitter, @draper on substack.
Walt Whitman, 1846.
Happy Opening Day.
Happy Opening Day.
March 27, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Walt Whitman, 1846.
Happy Opening Day.
Happy Opening Day.
My favorite part of Matsumoto's work is its singularity. I think it's rare for filmmakers to develop an entirely new visual language, which he did.
"It's not for you that this rain falls."
"It's not for you that this rain falls."
February 20, 2025 at 9:34 PM
My favorite part of Matsumoto's work is its singularity. I think it's rare for filmmakers to develop an entirely new visual language, which he did.
"It's not for you that this rain falls."
"It's not for you that this rain falls."
Do you guys think Bantam Books would honor this coupon? It’s only been expired 50 years.
February 7, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Do you guys think Bantam Books would honor this coupon? It’s only been expired 50 years.
Finally reading (struggling?) through Gravity’s Rainbow.
This weird thing happens to me with Pynchon— it seems I barely get what’s going on, yet the passages are seared in my mind for days after reading. It sticks to the subconscious in a way that I haven’t experienced with any other writer.
This weird thing happens to me with Pynchon— it seems I barely get what’s going on, yet the passages are seared in my mind for days after reading. It sticks to the subconscious in a way that I haven’t experienced with any other writer.
January 24, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Finally reading (struggling?) through Gravity’s Rainbow.
This weird thing happens to me with Pynchon— it seems I barely get what’s going on, yet the passages are seared in my mind for days after reading. It sticks to the subconscious in a way that I haven’t experienced with any other writer.
This weird thing happens to me with Pynchon— it seems I barely get what’s going on, yet the passages are seared in my mind for days after reading. It sticks to the subconscious in a way that I haven’t experienced with any other writer.
Dostoevsky— there’s beauty in simply existing.
January 7, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Dostoevsky— there’s beauty in simply existing.
Reading The Brothers Karamazov for the first time.
December 18, 2024 at 8:28 PM
Reading The Brothers Karamazov for the first time.
Russell’s recommendation of the day.
December 13, 2024 at 7:34 PM
Russell’s recommendation of the day.
Satantango is a nihilistic masterpiece that tackles the existential question and the search for purpose in the face of hopelessness. Like if 1984 was a good book. Adorned with biblical passages about sunsets and rain and mud and spider webs, it’s Faulknerian in nature. A must-read.
December 10, 2024 at 6:55 AM
Satantango is a nihilistic masterpiece that tackles the existential question and the search for purpose in the face of hopelessness. Like if 1984 was a good book. Adorned with biblical passages about sunsets and rain and mud and spider webs, it’s Faulknerian in nature. A must-read.
I made sure to eat good while home for Thanksgiving. I love Detroit.
December 3, 2024 at 4:07 PM
I made sure to eat good while home for Thanksgiving. I love Detroit.
Maryland’s Eastern Shore is a little pocket of the country where, sometimes, life doesn’t seem analogous to the trends of the rest of the nation. 2024 waterfowl festival in Easton.
November 11, 2024 at 7:43 PM
Maryland’s Eastern Shore is a little pocket of the country where, sometimes, life doesn’t seem analogous to the trends of the rest of the nation. 2024 waterfowl festival in Easton.
“A book is not an isolated being: it is a relation-ship, an axis of innumerable relationships. One literature differs from another, prior or posterior, less because of the text than because of the way in which it is read…” - Borges on literature & why it’s more than just the correct syntax of words.
November 11, 2024 at 5:49 PM
“A book is not an isolated being: it is a relation-ship, an axis of innumerable relationships. One literature differs from another, prior or posterior, less because of the text than because of the way in which it is read…” - Borges on literature & why it’s more than just the correct syntax of words.
Friday afternoons on the Patapsco.
November 8, 2024 at 6:16 PM
Friday afternoons on the Patapsco.
Got a really cool 1949 edition of Dostoyevsky’s “The Gambler” today from the library.
November 7, 2024 at 10:55 PM
Got a really cool 1949 edition of Dostoyevsky’s “The Gambler” today from the library.
I’ve been having a wonderful autumn.
October 28, 2024 at 7:03 PM
I’ve been having a wonderful autumn.
I just finished what I now consider Cormac McCarthy’s magnum opus. Not sure why this one doesn’t get as much love as Blood Meridian or The Road. Stunningly bleak and beautiful and transcendental. Late-20th century hybrid of William Faulkner and Walt Whitman.
March 26, 2024 at 4:17 PM
I just finished what I now consider Cormac McCarthy’s magnum opus. Not sure why this one doesn’t get as much love as Blood Meridian or The Road. Stunningly bleak and beautiful and transcendental. Late-20th century hybrid of William Faulkner and Walt Whitman.
Former White House Counsel Len Garment on Richard Nixon, and presidents as a whole.
November 28, 2023 at 5:39 PM
Former White House Counsel Len Garment on Richard Nixon, and presidents as a whole.
I wrote a bit about Breezewood— the dumbest highway interchange I’ve come across— and why I still appreciate it.
Subscribe so I can keep writing: draper.substack.com/p/on-the-bre...
Subscribe so I can keep writing: draper.substack.com/p/on-the-bre...
November 28, 2023 at 3:52 PM
I wrote a bit about Breezewood— the dumbest highway interchange I’ve come across— and why I still appreciate it.
Subscribe so I can keep writing: draper.substack.com/p/on-the-bre...
Subscribe so I can keep writing: draper.substack.com/p/on-the-bre...
Despite a name that belongs in the Bad Vibes rafters, Dulles Airport in DC is stunningly beautiful. My first time here since childhood.
Eero Saarinen was really in his bag for this one— a true monument to modernism and the future.
Eero Saarinen was really in his bag for this one— a true monument to modernism and the future.
November 6, 2023 at 7:14 PM
Despite a name that belongs in the Bad Vibes rafters, Dulles Airport in DC is stunningly beautiful. My first time here since childhood.
Eero Saarinen was really in his bag for this one— a true monument to modernism and the future.
Eero Saarinen was really in his bag for this one— a true monument to modernism and the future.
An excerpt from “Poem while on Hold with NBA League Pass Customer Support” by Andrew Weatherhead:
November 2, 2023 at 4:23 PM
An excerpt from “Poem while on Hold with NBA League Pass Customer Support” by Andrew Weatherhead:
Don’t have a reason to share this other than the simple fact that I love it.
October 26, 2023 at 3:27 PM
Don’t have a reason to share this other than the simple fact that I love it.
Excerpt from Vladimir Nabokov’s first novel, “Mary”, when he was living in Germany in the 1920s. A little less textured than his later work, it’s cool to see a young writer understand their signature style.
He was about my age (26) when this book was finished.
He was about my age (26) when this book was finished.
October 23, 2023 at 2:10 PM
Excerpt from Vladimir Nabokov’s first novel, “Mary”, when he was living in Germany in the 1920s. A little less textured than his later work, it’s cool to see a young writer understand their signature style.
He was about my age (26) when this book was finished.
He was about my age (26) when this book was finished.
Why did the Arizona Diamondbacks ever change their iconography? The turquoise and purple pinstripe vest jerseys were iconic and unique, and now their jerseys look like boring Create-a-Team uniforms.
October 18, 2023 at 3:36 AM
Why did the Arizona Diamondbacks ever change their iconography? The turquoise and purple pinstripe vest jerseys were iconic and unique, and now their jerseys look like boring Create-a-Team uniforms.
“things whose perishing had been arrested by their power to make her love them”
Denis Johnson’s swift and direct style is so beautiful to me.
Denis Johnson’s swift and direct style is so beautiful to me.
October 6, 2023 at 4:18 PM
“things whose perishing had been arrested by their power to make her love them”
Denis Johnson’s swift and direct style is so beautiful to me.
Denis Johnson’s swift and direct style is so beautiful to me.
Some good food I’ve been eating lately.
October 4, 2023 at 3:20 PM
Some good food I’ve been eating lately.
For my first Bluesky post I would like to introduce my son
September 19, 2023 at 7:17 PM
For my first Bluesky post I would like to introduce my son