Choose scrubbing incessantly at a patina of filth and skin oils, wondering why you couldn’t have picked beige or gray or any of a hundred other more forgiving colors— *Iggy Pop intensifies.*

Ewan McGregor voice: Choose white. Choose seeing every single scuff and smudge on your walls against the brightest backdrop possible. Choose a palimpsest of dingy fingerprints around your light switches and outlets that makes you contemplate the last time you washed your hands.

Who couldn’t use a full bath with three sinks next to another full bath with only a single sink, and a coat bath, and a—*checks notes*—Master Roksn…

Medieval archer Roy Scheider slowly backing into frame: “You’re gonna need a bigger bow.”

Gotta give your ancient texts that extra burst of umami flavor.

As a current resident, I endorse the above statement.

Trust me; you really don’t.

There is a moment at every Long Island party I’ve been to where someone in attendance plays the piano when they will start playing Piano Man and everyone will stop what they’re doing to sing along. It’s the obligatory Billy Joel interlude.

I started getting back into Aesop Rock a bit after a hiatus. “None Shall Pass” is a real banger, and I also enjoy his lyrical retelling of the crimes and death of Ricky Kasso, the “Say You Love Satan” killer, in “Acid King” (with Malibu Ken).

Here’s a quote from something I read recently that seems semi-relevant: “The cat can win any time it chooses. The mouse’s only hope is that it’ll prolong the game long enough to make a mistake.” Cunning may not be enough, but it’ll help you survive until the bigger party shows their weakness. (3/3)

Unless the point of your story is hopelessness or horror, it makes sense to give the tiny at least the possibility of success by whatever advantage they have, even if it is just their wits. I don’t know if that quite “balances the scales,” but most people love an underdog who beats the odds. (2/3)

It’s a tough needle to thread. A set-up as simple as one character wanting something from another creates a power dynamic, and even in ordinary life, that’s amplified and complicated by other factors (e.g., social status). One character being significantly bigger and stronger certainly counts. (1/3)

Read all about it in Stella’s new book, A Disquieting Pedagogy: Practicing Transformation in the English Classroom.

(Deep cut English teacher joke right there.)

“As you shrink, you have *less* height, and you are *fewer* inches tall. Do you see? No? We’ll have to keep going, in that case. Eventually it will sink in.”