Last month, I had a letter published in The New Yorker in response to Sheelah Kolhatkar‘s excellent profile of Abigal Disney.

Although I appreciate Disney’s efforts to radically examine her lifestyle and its impact, and how she’s organized with other ultra wealthy folk to call for higher income taxes and other strategies to address our profound income inequality in the States, my letter from the Jan. 27, 2020 issue responds to a notion floated by one of the Patriotic Millionaire members that a couple living on $500,000 a year in the United States might not be “truly wealthy.”

I recommend reading Kolhatkar’s piece to get a full picture of their efforts.

Last fall, I snapped a few photographs of Ben Denzer’s “20 Slices,” a new artist book at the University of Michigan Library acquired by art & design librarian Jamie Lausch Vander Broek. Vander Broek wrote an essay for Saveur about the book, and her work.

The photos, along with more stories about this delightful book made with Kraft American cheese singles, have been republished in Atlas Obscura, referenced on Vox.com, and are expected to be included in a new book out next year. (Details of which I’ll share when they’re made public by the author/publisher.)

It’s been fun to be a part, albeit small, of the storytelling around curious and unique literature.

Indeed, it would!

I’m thrilled to have my story, “Brand Values,” broadcast this week on Selected Shorts. The episode is hosted by Tony-award winning actor Denis O’Hare and contains a story by one of my favorite humor writers, Simon Rich — in addition to the very funny Doug Lawson.

Thank you to Selected Shorts for the opportunity, to Maulik Pancholy for so expertly adding a dramatic vitality to the story, and to the lovely editors at The Southampton Review (including Susie Merrell!) for first giving this silly story a chance in 2014.

You can also listen on air or on iTunes, SoundCloud, NPR.org, and elsewhere.

My story was reprinted as a featured TSR Classics story online. It’s a new series and in good company, with work by Billy Collins, Amy Hempel, and D.A Hosek.

I am pleased to announce that my short story, “Brand Values,” was performed by Maulik Pancholy (30 Rock, Star Trek: Discovery) as part of an evening of Selected Shorts. Special thanks to The Southampton Review for first publishing this story in 2014. Stay tuned for a recording of the broadcast!

Pancholy, by the way, does awesome work off-stage. He’s a committed anti-bullying advocate who has spoken out for broader representations for people of color in Hollywood and has been involved with several nonprofit social policy organizations. You might have heard about his resignation earlier this year from the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, after policies from the current administration proved to be “diametrically opposite” to the group’s principles—including, of course, the U.S. executive order restricting travel from six majority Muslim countries, and proposals to cut funding for Sanctuary Cities. Read more about the resignations.