Lisa wrote a big end-of-year post with the great title, “Ode to a horny universe.” I of course love the part of the newsletter that gives it its title, an essay about gooning, gooning discourse, Heated Rivalry, and the braindead-but-sexy-or-is-he TikToker William White. It includes both the term “no-nut nirvana” and,
… maybe every book is about seeking a state of pleasure that lasts forever or as long as possible, sticks in the mind, draws your attention back to it, gives the rest of your life a vaguely sick-making shimmer, a nasty secret that gets you through the rest of everything?
Lit-gooners of the world, unite!
I also loved the meditations in the post about the strange work of running an MFA program while being a writer oneself. I nodded intensely at the part about how in 2025 it was not only hard to write, it was hard even to find time and energy to attempt to write:
If I am staring at the blank page, freaked out, I have already won.
