digest

September 2026 Digest

Curated resources for non-fiction readers.

dril on posting. "posting is not good , it is a humiliation ritual that is similar to something a circuis animal would perform in exchange for pieces of food, it is complete and total submission to The Follower, it cheapens Life"

Welcome to the monthly newsletter! As a reminder, there are now two membership tiers: Ally ($2/mo or $20/yr) and Accomplice ($5/mo or $50/yr). Hosting ain't cheap, so consider supporting! You can also make a one-time donation.

This is a free post for all subscribers. Don't forget to check out my explainer post on why I switched to Ghost.

Hello loyal readers,

This month was a time for input rather than output. The journey of my life is to not be so damn hard on myself, so while I'm disappointed in how little I'm written for this blog in August, I'm learning to accept that sometimes I can write a lot and sometimes I can write a little. That's how creativity works, you silly engineer! Not by putting work units in and getting art units out, but by the ebb and flow of The Divine and what it needs from you at a given time!! I'm grateful for how many books I was able to read this month and that I was able to relax a bit more before the start of the semester.

If you've ever heard of a "Stitch & Bitch", where people get together with their craft projects and share about their lives, this past weekend I hosted my first-ever "Sauce & Goss", an original idea where people come over to help make tomato sauce and share gossip, the reward being a jar of said sauce by the end of the day. It was a success, as you'll be able to see from the photos below. As much as ever, I'm practicing gratitude for the things I have: good food and good company.

This month, I'm back to teaching Process Control and Green Chemical Engineering, so things like the state of higher education, the evils of the chemical industry, and sustainability will be on my mind. Get ready for more on that in my Annatations* posts in the coming weeks, but for now, I present to you a simple list of my favorite works of art from this summer. Happy reading!

Action Items

Massachusetts: We should all be against invasive ID checks, especially online where your data is prone to leaking into the wrong hands. Check out this page to ask your reps to stop MA House Bill 5366. The same site has resources for other states.
PlayStation 5 Owners: Stop updating your PS5 today! Watch this video for more info on how to fight back against Sony killing physical media. I'm also going back and updating my previous essay on the subject to include this action item.

Books!

Building off my interest in games-as-art-as-agency this summer, Critical Hits: Writers Playing Video Games (2023) features essays about everything from Disco Elysium to Halo, with topics ranging from the death of your father to taking your gender transition more seriously. Highly recommend if you love video games.
Camonghne Felix, Let the Poets Govern: A Declaration of Freedom (2026) is a collection of essays and poems that tell the story of how the author moved from writing campaign speeches for Democratic political candidates--most notably Elizabeth Warren's 2020 presidential run--to getting involved in more radical, grassroots activism. Basically (if reductively), the journey from liberal to leftist that we all must undergo at some point.
Alicia Kennedy, On Eating: The Making & Unmaking of My Appetites (2026) is a memoir from a vegan, Puerto Rican food writer where the narrative throughline is her relationship to food. Perhaps the best book I've read all summer!

Science

On the cover of Nature Human Behavior (briefing/paper), a new paper showing that LLMs actually get people's language to converge rather than expand.
A systematic review of AI showing that unguided use of AI (e.g. blind trust) unequivocally hurts learning, while guided use can lead to better learning outcomes.
A helpful bit of negative results, which should really be published more often: a survey of 467 students suggests that social phenomenon like fear of failure, lower self-esteem, and peer influence do not affect how likely a student is to use Gen AI on an assignment.
A working paper showing that students deeply dislike it when teachers use AI to develop course materials.
A preprint on how the ways we assess LLMs (benchmarks, etc.) are totally inappropriate.
An estimation that, because LLMs will allow Big Oil to expand their operations, the climate impact of AI is much higher than expected (briefing/paper).

News

UMass is helping build climate resilience with microgrids!
A Scientific American piece on how Open AI's math "breakthroughs" are actually plagiarized. WOW IT'S ALMOST LIKE IT'S LITERALLY ALL PLAGIARISM...!!!
It seems as though TurnItIn, while my university uses for basic plagiarism-checking, will now use all uploaded work to train its AI systems. Another horrible violation of student consent! I encourage faculty to turn this thing off.
In hopeful news, student conscientious objectors to AI are now popping up everywhere, from Colorado to Ontario. The kids are alright!

Opinions

An excellent summary of trans 4chan users and their surprising impact on trans culture at large.
An essay on Mark Fisher and his cultural impact, particularly on younger generations.
A piece implying that "mom influencers", those who show their kids online, know exactly what they're doing when it comes to giving predators access to their kids. It's disturbing to see parents justify their actions with explanations like "well, it's just like bringing kids out in public" as they share topless photos of their toddlers to the tune of tens of thousands of "saves". Send the flood, already.
A humorous work that imagines what it would be like if we reported on other parts of the world in the same way we talk about Eastern Europe.

Watch History

The premiere of Teenage Sex & Death at Camp Miasma (2026) at my local independent theater was chock full of visibly queer and trans people, and apparently, my own therapist attended the 7:20pm showing while I was at the 7:30pm showing. If that isn't a high enough recommendation then I'm not sure what is. 10/10 will surely see several more times.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) was also very good, as far as MCU theme park rides go. I was delighted to find out that the movie was shot on location in real cities, rather than on some sound stage, which definitely contributed to the overall vibe. Sadie Sink was electric here, too. I still desperately await the third Spiderverse film, but this will do for now.
For some YouTube recs, start with Franchesca Ramsey's discussion of content creator finances re: the backlash to Jools Lebron asking for money for a dental surgery.
An explainer on "Woke 1 vs Woke 2" for the uninitiated (which is everyone).
A soon-to-be-retiring games essayist on the state of Gen Z, and I suppose Alpha as well.
T.X. Watson, a graduate student making an excellent essay series for an independent study, on why grad school is actively harmful to mental health.
A stunning art project where a walkable city is entirely made up of ASCII art. The entire "game" is made of HTML code, no engine required. I love humanity sometimes.
A quick explainer on an American game jam game that got big in Japan. I love cultural quirks like this, where an outsider stumbles upon a type of art that has huge appeal to an in-group.
An investigation on how newer cars spy on you. I hate humanity sometimes.
A brief piece covering some of the reasons why kids aren't reading anymore. The piece outlines a problem I've been talking about for a while, which is a bifurcation of learners: the top performers have been doing fine academically, but the bottom performers are doing much, much worse. A K-shaped recovery, if you will.
Finally, a feature-length piece on bisexuality in film (and why real-world bisexual activism doesn't get very far).

Gamer Girl Corner

Big Walk is a new multiplayer (I guess the kids call is "friendslop" now?) game from the makers of Untitled Goose Game. I've been playing it with some high school friends who I haven't talked to in a while and it was an excellent way to catch up. Check it out!
Baba Is You is a 2019 indie game that I was sure I would like given my penchant for puzzlers (I've previously named Animal Well and Blue Prince as my Games of the Year), though I ended up brushing up against. For all its charm, it falters at tutorialization to the point where I still don't understand how some of its late-game mechanics work. Give it a look, maybe you'll have a better time with it.
The first big Pokémon Pokopia update happened this past month and I really enjoyed it...for about two weeks. It was a welcome addition, don't get me wrong, but I feel the same thing happening to me now which happened to me with Animal Crossing: New Horizons back in June 2020. At a certain point, I simply became satisfied with how my in-game areas looked and how many items I've acquired. I completed the Pokédex in both the base game and the first expansion, which is enough for me to be satisfied. 210 hours of logged game time, with 30 of those hours dedicated to Bubble Basin, is nothing to sneeze at. If you like Pokémon at all, this is definitely worth your time.

Bops, Vibes, & Jams

I really can't pretend like I haven't been listening to the Denshattack! soundtrack on repeat. Some of my faves: "I Like The Way", "Take Me Higher", "Bullet Train", "I'm The Music", AND "HAPPY LUCKY".
One of my favorite bands, The Avalanches, are putting out their new album in October and I couldn't not be more excited. "Can't Get Over Losing You feat. Portraits of Tracy", the latest single, comes with some fantastic visuals in its video.
Kimaya Diggs, a Western Mass artist, has a new album on the way too. Listen to her latest singles such as "Dance with me" and follow her on Substack!