Sam Stephenson
@sfstephenson.bsky.social
Writer. From Washington, NC. Tar Heel. Now based in Bryan, TX. 2019 Guggenheim fellow in nonfiction. Next book about jazz pianist Bill Evans and his wife Ellaine Schultz Evans. samstephenson.org
Pinned
A New Texan Finds Comfort on Matagorda Bay
A writer discovers how Houston’s influence stretches across the Gulf Coast
texashighways.com
Earlier this year I wrote an essay about my first three years living in Texas with my family. Piece has some of biography from my life in North Carolina, plus a subtle troll of the Texas fish and game culture.
texashighways.com/culture/essa...
texashighways.com/culture/essa...
Earlier this year I wrote an essay about my first three years living in Texas with my family. Piece has some of biography from my life in North Carolina, plus a subtle troll of the Texas fish and game culture.
texashighways.com/culture/essa...
texashighways.com/culture/essa...
A New Texan Finds Comfort on Matagorda Bay
A writer discovers how Houston’s influence stretches across the Gulf Coast
texashighways.com
November 23, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Earlier this year I wrote an essay about my first three years living in Texas with my family. Piece has some of biography from my life in North Carolina, plus a subtle troll of the Texas fish and game culture.
texashighways.com/culture/essa...
texashighways.com/culture/essa...
Because of tip on this forum last night from @johnlingan.bsky.social, I bought this download of Bill Orcutt's new album this morning, burned it onto CD, and cranked it driving around in my car today. Surprising, beautiful, and moving music.
billorcutt.bandcamp.com/album/how-to...
billorcutt.bandcamp.com/album/how-to...
How to Rescue Things, by Bill Orcutt
7 track album
billorcutt.bandcamp.com
November 16, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Because of tip on this forum last night from @johnlingan.bsky.social, I bought this download of Bill Orcutt's new album this morning, burned it onto CD, and cranked it driving around in my car today. Surprising, beautiful, and moving music.
billorcutt.bandcamp.com/album/how-to...
billorcutt.bandcamp.com/album/how-to...
I picked up this CD by Joan Shelley recently. It is outstanding. The tune "Who Do You Want Checking In On You" kills me.
joanshelley.bandcamp.com/album/real-w...
joanshelley.bandcamp.com/album/real-w...
Real Warmth, by Joan Shelley
13 track album
joanshelley.bandcamp.com
November 11, 2025 at 5:41 PM
I picked up this CD by Joan Shelley recently. It is outstanding. The tune "Who Do You Want Checking In On You" kills me.
joanshelley.bandcamp.com/album/real-w...
joanshelley.bandcamp.com/album/real-w...
Reposted by Sam Stephenson
Monday's not even over, but here's your Tuesday post for Degenerate Art! I wrote about going to the No Kings events in DC Saturday, why they're an important step (a beginning!), and what to do next, if you're trying still to figure it out. I also opine on why the NYPD et al. put out those releases.
What just happened?
The No Kings marches and what they mean.
degenerateart.beehiiv.com
October 21, 2025 at 3:45 AM
Monday's not even over, but here's your Tuesday post for Degenerate Art! I wrote about going to the No Kings events in DC Saturday, why they're an important step (a beginning!), and what to do next, if you're trying still to figure it out. I also opine on why the NYPD et al. put out those releases.
I wish Springsteen had kept this band together longer, like maybe 10 to 15 years, before he went to back to E Street Band.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hybi...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hybi...
Bruce Springsteen: In Concert - MTV Plugged | Full Concert
YouTube video by Front Row Music
www.youtube.com
October 19, 2025 at 3:16 AM
I wish Springsteen had kept this band together longer, like maybe 10 to 15 years, before he went to back to E Street Band.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hybi...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hybi...
I read this slim potent book twice in one day this week. Next day I read it back to front. Some deep stuff in here. Tremendous thinking and writing. Gonna be one I keep close by on small shelf of inspiring mainstays.
October 18, 2025 at 12:16 PM
I read this slim potent book twice in one day this week. Next day I read it back to front. Some deep stuff in here. Tremendous thinking and writing. Gonna be one I keep close by on small shelf of inspiring mainstays.
This is why the Rays have the 3rd most wins in MLB since 2008, in a metaphoric nutshell:
www.nytimes.com/athletic/670...
www.nytimes.com/athletic/670...
Stu Sternberg awarded Rays employees with significant bonuses after selling the team: Sources
Sternberg sold the Rays in late September and issued significant bonuses to all full-time employees of the team.
www.nytimes.com
October 10, 2025 at 9:49 PM
This is why the Rays have the 3rd most wins in MLB since 2008, in a metaphoric nutshell:
www.nytimes.com/athletic/670...
www.nytimes.com/athletic/670...
In car in College Station TX this morning, listening to radio, a PSA for event at George H.W. Bush Presidential Library. 35th anniversary of Bush 41 signing Americans with Disabilities Act, led by GOP Sen. Bob Dole. Can you Imagine Trump/GOP today supporting a big bill to help handicapped people?
October 9, 2025 at 2:01 PM
In car in College Station TX this morning, listening to radio, a PSA for event at George H.W. Bush Presidential Library. 35th anniversary of Bush 41 signing Americans with Disabilities Act, led by GOP Sen. Bob Dole. Can you Imagine Trump/GOP today supporting a big bill to help handicapped people?
My favorite bookstore in Houston this morning.
October 7, 2025 at 5:25 PM
My favorite bookstore in Houston this morning.
New letterpress edition of my 2018 Jason Molina essay being published in December by The Brother in Elysium of Holyoke, MA. This collaboration (first printing of 200 copies in 2019) is a favorite collaborations I've been lucky to have. Pre-sale available here
thebrotherinelysium.com/shop/love-an...
thebrotherinelysium.com/shop/love-an...
Love and Work: Lyric Research on Jason Molina — The Brother In Elysium
Sam Stephenson 2019 / 2025 Love and Work is a meditation on the life and music of the Ohio-born musician Jason Molina (1973–2013). In this work, Stephenson uses his wandering, associative, perhap...
thebrotherinelysium.com
October 6, 2025 at 2:01 PM
New letterpress edition of my 2018 Jason Molina essay being published in December by The Brother in Elysium of Holyoke, MA. This collaboration (first printing of 200 copies in 2019) is a favorite collaborations I've been lucky to have. Pre-sale available here
thebrotherinelysium.com/shop/love-an...
thebrotherinelysium.com/shop/love-an...
Nixon carried 49 states (!) in November 1972 with historically low voter turnout. Playboy magazine's November 1972 issue sold 7.2M copies, the peak monthly circulation in their history. (I love research).
October 1, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Nixon carried 49 states (!) in November 1972 with historically low voter turnout. Playboy magazine's November 1972 issue sold 7.2M copies, the peak monthly circulation in their history. (I love research).
I want to put in a word for Bendowa Books, a wonderful online seller of carefully curated rare books based in Holyoke, MA. The owner of Bendowa, Jon Beacham, is also a world class letterpress printer.
bendowabooks.com
bendowabooks.com
Bendowa Books
Bendowa Books is a bookstore specializing in used, out of print, and new books. Areas of focus include Poetry, Literature, Art, Architecture, Photography, Counterculture, Chinese and Japanese Art and ...
bendowabooks.com
September 25, 2025 at 7:07 PM
I want to put in a word for Bendowa Books, a wonderful online seller of carefully curated rare books based in Holyoke, MA. The owner of Bendowa, Jon Beacham, is also a world class letterpress printer.
bendowabooks.com
bendowabooks.com
Reposted by Sam Stephenson
“I am not a partisan for any party, but I am a partisan for democracy. When something or someone threatens free and fair elections or fundamental rights, I will not shy away from coverage even if it means coming off as a partisan.”
open.substack.com/pub/gelliott...
open.substack.com/pub/gelliott...
When identity politics Trumps the Constitution
The First Amendment is the latest casualty of the Republican Party's identity politics, and Trump's cult of personality. What can stop him?
open.substack.com
September 19, 2025 at 12:11 PM
“I am not a partisan for any party, but I am a partisan for democracy. When something or someone threatens free and fair elections or fundamental rights, I will not shy away from coverage even if it means coming off as a partisan.”
open.substack.com/pub/gelliott...
open.substack.com/pub/gelliott...
My latest Interlibrary Loan caper. Free, I have this book for 6 weeks. One of the great services our culture provides. Book came from a library in Corpus Christi, 204 miles from my house. If MAGA new about this service, they would seek to do abolish it, and call it socialist.
September 18, 2025 at 9:09 PM
My latest Interlibrary Loan caper. Free, I have this book for 6 weeks. One of the great services our culture provides. Book came from a library in Corpus Christi, 204 miles from my house. If MAGA new about this service, they would seek to do abolish it, and call it socialist.
This is one of few books I still have from high school. Public school in town of 10K people in coastal N.C. My great English teacher assigned me this book to read before watching movie (book sadder, deeper). He next assigned me The Magic Barrel and was forever hooked on Malamud.
September 17, 2025 at 3:09 PM
This is one of few books I still have from high school. Public school in town of 10K people in coastal N.C. My great English teacher assigned me this book to read before watching movie (book sadder, deeper). He next assigned me The Magic Barrel and was forever hooked on Malamud.
This 2005 book, "Findings" by photographer Hiroshi Watanabe, is spellbinding. I can't stop looking at it. 61 square, black and white images spanning the globe from the US (mainland plus Alaska and Hawaii), Japan, Ecuador, Iceland, Burma, Spain, Tahiti, India.
September 14, 2025 at 6:57 PM
This 2005 book, "Findings" by photographer Hiroshi Watanabe, is spellbinding. I can't stop looking at it. 61 square, black and white images spanning the globe from the US (mainland plus Alaska and Hawaii), Japan, Ecuador, Iceland, Burma, Spain, Tahiti, India.
Springsteen NYC 2000 is back on Youtube which I appreciate. But gives me new opportunity to feel deep remorse at incessant close-ups & cute over-editing of 99% of concert videos. Please let some images breathe. I'd love to get hold of raw footage and oversee a recut.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1USJ...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1USJ...
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band: Live in New York City | Full Concert
YouTube video by Front Row Music
www.youtube.com
September 13, 2025 at 3:23 AM
Springsteen NYC 2000 is back on Youtube which I appreciate. But gives me new opportunity to feel deep remorse at incessant close-ups & cute over-editing of 99% of concert videos. Please let some images breathe. I'd love to get hold of raw footage and oversee a recut.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1USJ...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1USJ...
Reposted by Sam Stephenson
White supremacy in a nutshell.
www.qasimrashid.com/p/a-white-ma...
www.qasimrashid.com/p/a-white-ma...
September 12, 2025 at 7:30 PM
White supremacy in a nutshell.
www.qasimrashid.com/p/a-white-ma...
www.qasimrashid.com/p/a-white-ma...
Reposted by Sam Stephenson
I want you all to just watch how quickly mainstream media moves on from this story now.
September 12, 2025 at 7:10 PM
I want you all to just watch how quickly mainstream media moves on from this story now.
GOD GOLD GUNS. And hair style. That pretty much covers it. Texas!
September 11, 2025 at 3:49 PM
GOD GOLD GUNS. And hair style. That pretty much covers it. Texas!
The process of art must always go where the most uncertainty lies. So that beauty when its found, as it rarely is, has a touch of the marvelous about it, the unknown. Masterpieces are only beautiful in a tragic sense, like a starfish lying stretched dead on a beach in the sun - Wm Carlos Williams
September 8, 2025 at 4:03 PM
The process of art must always go where the most uncertainty lies. So that beauty when its found, as it rarely is, has a touch of the marvelous about it, the unknown. Masterpieces are only beautiful in a tragic sense, like a starfish lying stretched dead on a beach in the sun - Wm Carlos Williams
Been cranking this CD in my car this week. Holy interplay between piano (Angelica Sanchez) and drums (Chad Taylor). Subtle and sizzling music.
August 29, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Been cranking this CD in my car this week. Holy interplay between piano (Angelica Sanchez) and drums (Chad Taylor). Subtle and sizzling music.
Reposted by Sam Stephenson
It's Friday! Your assignment this weekend: Hang out in a bookstore or library. Spend time with the books. Chat with the booksellers & librarians. Enjoy the community. This is activism. Your presence energizes these spaces & these spaces need energy. Have a great weekend!
August 29, 2025 at 1:27 PM
It's Friday! Your assignment this weekend: Hang out in a bookstore or library. Spend time with the books. Chat with the booksellers & librarians. Enjoy the community. This is activism. Your presence energizes these spaces & these spaces need energy. Have a great weekend!
Dear World, if you've never streamed WKCR out of NYC before, the next three days are a good time to do it. 72 hours of the music of Charlie Parker and Lester Young. Special note for the posthumous shows of Phil Schaap, who was one of a kind, a true American and NYC original.
August 26, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Dear World, if you've never streamed WKCR out of NYC before, the next three days are a good time to do it. 72 hours of the music of Charlie Parker and Lester Young. Special note for the posthumous shows of Phil Schaap, who was one of a kind, a true American and NYC original.