Most of the time my thoughts aren't long enough for a blog post. My shortform notes get posted on Threads, Mastodon, and Bluesky, and also wind up here.
The third in my monthly essay series about the 13 year run of Punk Planet. This time around, Year Three and the first cover story we ever ran, about the Democratic and Republican National Conventions in 1996, wholly relevant once again.
Read "Alone in a Crowd. Punk Planet: Year Three" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/2024-07-31-ppy3/
posted at 7:00PM on July 30, 2024
In honor of Steve Albini's birthday today, here's an excerpt from an interview with him Punk Planet #26, in which he talks about how he approaches his life. Happy birthday Steve, miss you.
Read "Thank you, Steve Albini" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/2024-07-22-albini/
posted at 7:00PM on July 21, 2024
I'm writing an essay a month marking the 30 year anniversary of Punk Planet. This month, Year Two. If the first year of Punk Planet was about figuring out the function of the magazine, the second year was about the form.
Read "Do What You Want, 'Cos This is the New Art School. Punk Planet: Year Two" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/2024-06-30-ppy2/
posted at 7:00PM on June 29, 2024
For the last year I've been working with Akilah Hughes to make Rebel Spirit, a podcast about her quest to change her high school mascot from the Rebels, named after the confederacy, to the Biscuits, a part of Southern heritage that everyone can get behind. It's been an infuriating, hilarious, and extraordinary journey and one I'm so excited to finally let you into.
Read "Rebel Rebel" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/2024-06-19-rebelsprit/
posted at 7:00PM on June 18, 2024
30 years ago this month the first issue of Punk Planet magazine came out. It's incredible that one issue came out let alone 80 over the following 13 years. It started so small and grew to become my whole life. In honor of the 30 year mark, I'm writing 13 essays, one of each year of the magazine, starting with Year One.
Read "30 Years of Punk Planet: Year One" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/2024-05-31-ppy1/
posted at 7:00PM on May 30, 2024
This week I gave a talk at the 11ty International Symposium on Making the Web Real Good. It was about Question Mark, Ohio and about how the web is still a place of endless possibility. I've adapted the talk into a blog post for you.
Read "Building a Town that Doesn't Exist" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/2024-05-10-doesntexist/
posted at 7:00PM on May 9, 2024
I ended the indictment.fyi newsletter tonight and I feel a little guilty about it, so as penance, maybe, or out of a feeling that if I've taken something out of the world maybe I should also put something back in, here's three things I've been particularly excited about lately. Here's three for flinching.
Read "Three For Flinching" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/2024-04-14-three-for-flinching/
posted at 7:00PM on April 13, 2024
Fresh out of college and in need of a job I landed in the production department of the Chicago Reader. Now, 30 years later, I'm back to help rebuild its legacy on the web.
Read "I'm Back with Scars to Show" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/reader/
posted at 6:00PM on February 27, 2024
I've loved the typeface Cooper Black long before I knew what it was. Big, bold, and forever it's over 100 years old and still makes me so happy every time I see it. I made a simple patch to celebrate Cooper Black, the greatest of typefaces.
Read "Cooper Black, A Love Story & A Patch" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/cooperblack/
posted at 6:00PM on January 7, 2024
I'm quitting 2023. After 364 days, today will be my last day. My tenure here has not been a good one and I requested an exit interview with HR so that 2023 can understand why I'm leaving and perhaps, how it might do better in the future.
Read "2023, The Exit Interview" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/2023exit/
posted at 6:00PM on December 30, 2023
2023 was a lot of hard things, but losing Sinead O'Connor and Pee-Wee Herman within a few days of each other felt especially cruel. At the tail end of a difficult year I wrote a small offering to the mystic and man-child that meant so much to those of us that grew up different.
Read "Feel So Different, Remembering Sinead O'Connor and Pee-Wee Herman" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/peeweesinead/
posted at 6:00PM on December 27, 2023
I thought Shane MacGowan was unkillable. If he hadn't died by now, the logic went, with all the drinking and drugs and living harder than most, maybe he never would. HBut, of course, he did.
Read "A Man You Don't Meet Every Day, Remembering Shane MacGowan" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/shane/
posted at 6:00PM on November 29, 2023
When I was younger I tried to build artist/musician/weirdo Laurie Anderson's tape-bow violin from a single sentence description. While I never got it to work quite right, it taught me everything I know about asking "why."
Read "Let X Equal X" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/tapeloop/
posted at 7:00PM on November 2, 2023
I wrote some thoughts on the lonely year that has transpired since Elon Musk took over Twitter.
Read "Year of the Living Dead" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/twitter365/
posted at 7:00PM on October 25, 2023
It's been a minute since I last updated my blog. But that hasn't been because I haven't been doing stuff. In fact, quite the opposite.
Read "Best Laid Plans" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/july/
posted at 7:00PM on July 10, 2023
Every job I've ever stuck with, I've done so because it's felt like a never-ending series of puzzles to solve.
Read "Puzzles All the Way Down" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/puzzles/
posted at 7:00PM on May 10, 2023
Today I'm excited to announce the start of a wholly new, super ambitious project in collaboration with the novelist Joe Meno. Welcome to Question Mark, Ohio.
Read "Believe in Mystery" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/violetbookman/
posted at 7:00PM on April 20, 2023
I've had better months than March 2023, but now that it's basically over I thought I'd take take stock of some of the good work I got done amid the awfulness.
Read "It's All Over But the Crying" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/march/
posted at 7:00PM on March 29, 2023
Earlier this year I wrote about how 2023, for me, is about trying. And then I made a patch to remind myself of that. And people wanted one, so now I've made them and you can get one.
Read "Trying — a patch for you" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/trying-patch/
posted at 6:00PM on February 22, 2023
I wrote about chatbots and magic and a turn-of-the-century spirit medium who spewed images of people from beyond the grave from her mouth. No, really.
Read "Use Your Illusion" on my blog: https://dansinker.com//posts/illusions/
posted at 6:00PM on February 19, 2023
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