Writer
David Grieder
Latest Content
Hermano Caminante
For this reason I will take my dog outside and let him brush gently with the minor perils of the world. If he might prick his nose on a cactus then I won’t stop him—how else should he learn? “Niebla”’s protagonist, Augusto Perez, likewise instructs his pet: “Did you ever think about this, Orfeo? No, because you’re still too young and you haven’t experienced life. And furthermore you are a dog.”
A Penny, For Your Thoughts
Pennies may be worthless on their own, especially in the machine of the economy. Alone they are no more special than something as coarse and quotidian as tears. We give things value by wedding them to our experience: with our words, our sighs, our stories. The French philosopher Alain Badiou explains (recently, in a fun video series!) that money has personal value only in the implied access it gives us to our various desires. He says that the limits of these desires are in turn related to the limits of our language.
Disjecta Membra
He’s off on another brisk morning jog by the Charles. When he pauses to lie down in the grass, twigs and critters catch in his hair. He has a full set of straight teeth, absenting those ultimate molars. How fine to be young—virile, puerile, here for a while. Everything is exactly right for a second-year Harvard student with a heart full of love, healthy and clear-headed, stretching his legs on a Sunday antemeridian to feed Pringles to the geese. So why the funk? Do you still want to be a pre-med? He don’t like these questions—so he runs. Ah: runs. Riverrun past Leverett and Mather and Updike’s environs.
'Instructions Not Included' Builds American Audience
Tuesday marked the end of Hispanic Heritage month, and as of that day “Instructions Not Included,” the Spanish-language film starring, written, and directed by Eugenio Derbez, has grossed almost $43 million, making history at the U.S. box office. The movie (released as “No Se Aceptan Devoluciones” in Spanish-speaking countries) is a comedy-drama about an Acapulco playboy turned devoted father, and it is currently the top-grossing Spanish-language film released in North America, edging out “Pan’s Labyrinth.”
Snap Crackle Pop
Interstate thirty-five doing eighty in an Audi A6, alright? You’re zipping north from San Antonio with a Dr. Pepper, tater tots, and instructions to keep the car immaculate. Sister is driving and you fidget shotgun. Together you giggle at a billboard prophesying the 2027 Apocalypse but for the most part it’s a dull dead shot to downtown Dallas. A periodic highway sign reads, “2214 Deaths on Texas Roads This Year.” You think: since January, how often is that? Do most of them occur on weekends?
The Love Song of An Awkward Prefrosh
Do I dare to eat these gummy peach rings? What about this Code Red Mountain Dew, these powdered donuts, this Big League Chew? Here are cakes and teas and ices, beef jerky and candy bars and Dos Equis. I stalk their stock, ruffle their wares, leave not a rack behind. Shaq smiles mirthfully from the pastel can of a new line of cream sodas by the Brooklyn-based Arizona Beverages Company. It feels vaguely oppressive. What kind of vittles are these?