Category Archives: Writing

“Actually”

Posted on March 19, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

“Actually” by Joy Williams from 99 Stories of God The child wanted to name the rabbit Actually, and could not be dissuaded from this. It was the first time one of our pets was named after an adverb. It made us … Continue reading →

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like a shadow or a friend

Posted on March 16, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

KINDNESS by Naomi Shihab Nye Before you know what kindness really is you must lose things, feel the future dissolve in a moment like salt in a weakened broth. What you held in your hand, what you counted and carefully … Continue reading →

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Fat-Headed Censors

Posted on March 14, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

You would have to have been living under a basket to avoid the recent brouhaha over the re-editing of classic books by so-called sensitivity readers and editors. Here in the Colonies we’ve been through this with the books of Dr. … Continue reading →

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Your Brain on Reading

Posted on March 11, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

How humans process and learn from written words. 1 Located in the parietal lobe, the angular gyrus facilitates communication between different parts of the brain, permitting humans to simultaneously recognize, understand, and remember words on a page. 2  The fusiform gyrus is important in … Continue reading →

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The good news is that you are alive

Posted on March 10, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

“The Good News” by Thich Nhat Hanh They don’t publish the good news. The good news is published by us. We have a special edition every moment, and we need you to read it. The good news is that you … Continue reading →

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Does English Need New Punctuation

Posted on March 8, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I find that written English communication lacks the exact punction marks to clearly express tone, meaning, or emotion. Well, I was glad to discover that the Progressive Punctuation movement is addressing the problem. According to … Continue reading →

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A screaming comes across the sky

Posted on March 1, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

A screaming comes across the sky. It has happened before, but there is nothing to compare it to now. It is too late. The Evacuation still proceeds, but it’s all theatre. There are no lights inside the cars. No light … Continue reading →

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Stoicism is all the rage

Posted on February 26, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

Permanent Link to this Comic: https://existentialcomics.com/comic/484 Support the comic on Patreon!    

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everything at heaven’s gate is broken up into its component parts

Posted on February 25, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

“A Society of Scoundrels” by Franz Kafka Translated by Michael Hofmann There was once a society of scoundrels, or rather not scoundrels per se, just ordinary, average people. They always stuck together. When one of them had perpetrated some rascally … Continue reading →

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The Poetry of Coffee

Posted on February 24, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

As an amateur coffee roaster, I have been accused of being mildly obsessed with the magical elixir. So my antenna is always up for books about coffee. But I was not prepared to stumble upon a one-of-a-kind, single copy poetry … Continue reading →

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