Tabula Rasa: Volume Six

www.newyorker.com

A project meant not to end.

John McPhee on His Childhood Appearance in The New Yorker

The New Yorker

New Takes on the classics. Throughout our centennial year, we’re revisiting notable works from the archive. Sign up to receive them directly in your inbox.The first piece I ever read in The New Yorker was by Rogers E. M. Whitaker,…

Tabula Rasa

The New Yorker

This is the third article in the “Tabula Rasa” series. Read Volume One and Volume Two. Edward Abbey was a walking Profile subject. In 1972, I came close to acting on that fact, but in the ensuing years never got to it, as with all the other story ideas in this reminiscent montage.

Tabula Rasa

The New Yorker

This is the fourth article in the “Tabula Rasa” series. Read Volumes One, Two, and Three. In a cogent sense, I have spent, at this writing, about eighty-eight years preparing for Wordle. I work with words, I am paid by the word, I majored in English, and today I major in Wordle.

How Reading John McPhee’s Book on Tennis Helped Me Write About Skateboarding

Literary Hub

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” –Arthur Ashe * Years ago, when I was still a budding fiction writer, I published an essay about how hard skateboarding is to write about.

Tabula Rasa

The New Yorker

Edward Abbey was a walking Profile subject. In 1972, I came close to acting on that fact, but in the ensuing years never got to it, as with all the other story ideas in this reminiscent montage.