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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   795 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 29, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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So, what are you reading?

I'm reattempting Burnham's The Machiavellians. Feeling a need to revisit the roots of neoconservative thought.

Last week I also read Jack Kerouac's Tristessa, his account of his platonic relationship with a Mexican prostitute and morphine addict. I'd never read anything by Kerouac, and on paper his writing style (stream-of-consciousness narration peppered with overwrought religious adjectives and a lackadaisical attitude towards punctuation) sounds like everything I hate about experimental prose. But I was surprised to find it oddly compelling, such that I read this (admittedly very short) book in two days. It helps that, unlike in On the Road, Kerouac doesn't commit any serious misdeeds or act as an accessory to anyone else's: he comes off as genuinely protective of the title character, and it's darkly amusing how this bumbling gringo gets exploited and ripped off by just about every Mexican he meets.

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