Erin Langner
@erinlangner.bsky.social
essayist. museum editor. playlister. www.erinlangner.com
I wrote about remembering and forgetting unstable moments, Eva Hesse, + Kate Zambreno’s FOAM for Zona Motel zonamotel.substack.com/p/review-foa...
REVIEW: Foam by Kate Zambreno
How does a midcentury artist who died of a brain tumor at age 34 and who never had children relate to a birthing scene?
zonamotel.substack.com
I wrote about remembering and forgetting unstable moments, Eva Hesse, + Kate Zambreno’s FOAM for Zona Motel zonamotel.substack.com/p/review-foa...
REVIEW: Foam by Kate Zambreno
How does a midcentury artist who died of a brain tumor at age 34 and who never had children relate to a birthing scene?
zonamotel.substack.com
My book is the finalist for the Washington State Book Award! This is exciting to me for many reasons but especially because Washington is the first place I’ve lived that I truly love and feel allegiant to, so it is very special to be recognized as a Washington writer 🥹
These people are wildly racist, smug, and gleeful about their destructive actions.
Trump Officials Propose Sale of ‘Woke’ Painting by Kehinde Wiley (Gift Article)
The State Department recently removed the painting of Dominicans from a U.S. embassy, noting it was by the artist who made Barack Obama’s presidential portrait.
nytimes.com
In 2023 while in NOLA, a Lyft Driver and I had a conversation about leaving home. It led to him telling me about his terminal diagnosis. “An editor told me once that if you want to understand a war, interview the grave diggers. I’d add that if you want to understand a city, interview the drivers.”
Mister Anthony
oxfordamerican.org
I wrote about Burtynsky, Watkins, the Superfund site where I grew up, and the way past and future landscapes shape one another for Craft Literary www.craftliterary.com/2026/07/15/m...
Manufactured Landscapes by Erin Langner - CRAFT
Uranium Tailings #12, Elliot Lake, Ontario. I was searching for an image of mill tailings. Burtynsky, of course, I thought when I found it. The photograph shows black, barren trees, thin and broken li...
craftliterary.com
Keep an eye on this space... Submissions open in ONE WEEK! (Bonus points if you now have that song stuck in your head.) Check out the guidelines at forget.cool/submissions and share with your writer friends!
I often think of how more people are employed by art museums than by coal mines now.
Bloomberg News@bloomberg.com · 4mo agoPresident Donald Trump is preparing to use Cold War-era authorities to dole hundreds of millions of federal dollars to support coal-fired electricity as well as US exports of the fossil fuel
Time sensitive: this is the last day to submit comments opposing the Bureau of Land Management's clearcutting of Oregon's ancient forests. This is a tool that educates you on just how diabolical it is, and it helps you submit your comment. morethanjustparks.com/oregon-old-g...
BLM Announces Plan to Fell Oregon's Last Great Forests
There's a kind of forest in western Oregon that you feel before you understand. The BLM just gave the timber industry permission to tear it all down.
morethanjustparks.com
Celine Dion is a formidable opponent for my @marchxness.bsky.social essay on Kristin Hersh's "Hips and Makers" -- but I'm not giving up yet! Look at this great photo I dug up from Billboard, of Kristin and Michael Stipe shooting the song's video! Read and vote here! marchxness.com/sweet16-dion...
“It made me think about how moments turn into memories, and how memories are like a song that’s performed differently each time it’s played.” I adore the melancholy of this line, this essay, this song.
Cheryl Graham@cherylgraham.bsky.social · 7mo agoVote for my Kate Bush essay today! marchxness.com/sweet16-bush... @katebushmusic.bsky.social
Over the moon to have my Mariah essay on @memoirland.bsky.social Memoir Monday in so much amazing company AND back for round 2 against a most excellent Ani song + essay TODAY. read + read + vote!!
March Xmas 2026@marchxness.bsky.social · 7mo agoIt's Monday! It's the last day of round 2! ☕🎶 Listen, read, VOTE! marchxness.com#/2ndround-ca...
Ok, how did I miss this one by @erinlangner.bsky.social ? Such a beautiful mix of personal essay and deep-dive music writing. “A fractured self is sometimes the only kind that can survive the disconnect between how we expect the world to be and how it ends up being.” marchxness.com/2ndround-car...
3/16, 2nd Round: (5) Mariah Carey vs (13) Ani DiFranco — March Sadness 90s Edition
marchxness.com
Over the moon to have my Mariah essay on @memoirland.bsky.social Memoir Monday in so much amazing company AND back for round 2 against a most excellent Ani song + essay TODAY. read + read + vote!!
March Xmas 2026@marchxness.bsky.social · 7mo agoIt's Monday! It's the last day of round 2! ☕🎶 Listen, read, VOTE! marchxness.com#/2ndround-ca...
“I turn on one track repeat, dig my nails into my palms, let myself dissolve. Eventually I don’t exist outside of this song, this tender cave of feeling. “ I mean, these lines alone are such a gut punch, it seems impossible to vote otherwise.
Lela Scott MacNeil@lelascottmacneil.bsky.social · 7mo agoHelp my Alanis Morissette essay about grief and rage and the Hard Rock Cafe make it to the sweet sixteen of 90s sadness? It's the saddest thing I've ever written, and that should count for something.
Also, this stunner: “This gentle memory takes it from a song of mourning to a song of celebration. The two things we hold at once at once when we grieve.”
Amy Rossi@mossyair.bsky.social · 7mo agoReasons to vote for "Go Rest High On That Mountain": - in terms of Sadness, it is quite sad, lyrically and sonically - in terms of 90s, well, the video - today, Vince Gill firmly and clearly said if you use AI to make art, you go to sleep knowing you did *nothing* marchxness.com/2ndround-gil...
The ending of this @erinlangner.bsky.social essay hits this mama's boy/girl dad in the right spot: between yearning for one more moment and hope for what the day will bring.
March Xmas 2026@marchxness.bsky.social · 7mo agoMARCH SADNESS 90s NEW GAMES ARE UP THREAD (4/4): Mariah Carey, "Without You" / @erinlangner.bsky.social VS Crash Test Dummies, "Superman's Song" / Erin McReynolds: Read, Listen, Vote by 9am 3/11: marchxness.com/1stround-car...
Ahh, this is so tight! Last chance to read + vote for my essay, Mariah-loving friends!
March Xmas 2026@marchxness.bsky.social · 7mo agoToday's games are close! Your vote could do it MARCH SADNESS 90S EDITION DAY 8 SCORES, 150’ to play Soul Asylum 93, Patty Loveless 78 Blink-182 99, Nick Cave 81 GnR 127, Kershaw 66 Mariah 62, Crash Test Dummies 53 Last day of the first round games finishes up at 9am AZ time 3/11 at marchxness.com
So close. If you were ever gonna vote for me now is the time, little under 2.5 hours to go. Only you can make me a Cinderella story…
March Xmas 2026@marchxness.bsky.social · 7mo agoToday's games are close! Your vote could do it MARCH SADNESS 90S EDITION DAY 8 SCORES, 150’ to play Soul Asylum 93, Patty Loveless 78 Blink-182 99, Nick Cave 81 GnR 127, Kershaw 66 Mariah 62, Crash Test Dummies 53 Last day of the first round games finishes up at 9am AZ time 3/11 at marchxness.com
It seems that I remain allergic to Crash Test Dummies, but I dig Erin M's @marchxness.bsky.social essay on "Superman" & grief for decency. @erinlangner.bsky.social's look back at Mariah Carey & the sad history of "Without You"—which I didn't know; yikes—is also quite good. Get those votes in!
March Xmas 2026@marchxness.bsky.social · 7mo agoMARCH SADNESS 90s NEW GAMES ARE UP THREAD (4/4): Mariah Carey, "Without You" / @erinlangner.bsky.social VS Crash Test Dummies, "Superman's Song" / Erin McReynolds: Read, Listen, Vote by 9am 3/11: marchxness.com/1stround-car...
MARCH SADNESS 90S EDITION DAY 8 HALFTIME SCORES Soul Asylum 80, Patty Loveless 70 Blink-182 88, Nick Cave 67 GnR 111, Kershaw 54 Mariah 52, Crash Test Dummies 43 Last day of the first round games finishes up at 9am AZ time 3/11 at marchxness.com
"Daydream" was the first CD I owned so I admit I'm biased here... Still, I'm finding so many quotes to love in @erinlangner.bsky.social's essay: "A fractured self is sometimes the only kind that can survive the disconnect between how we expect the world to be and how it ends up being."
March Xmas 2026@marchxness.bsky.social · 7mo agoMARCH SADNESS 90s NEW GAMES ARE UP THREAD (4/4): Mariah Carey, "Without You" / @erinlangner.bsky.social VS Crash Test Dummies, "Superman's Song" / Erin McReynolds: Read, Listen, Vote by 9am 3/11: marchxness.com/1stround-car...
"Other people’s words create space to forge a separate self—one away from the story that everyone believes to be yours. " Erin Langer's @marchxness.bsky.social essay about Mariah Carey's "Without You" captures why covers can be so great: marchxness.com#/1stround-ca...
March Sadness 90s Edition
A yearly March Madness-style tournament of essays about songs we love (and occasionally loathe)
marchxness.com
My essay on all of the SERIOUS sadness bound up in Mariah Carey’s “Without You,” now live! Vote vote! Special thanks to the #lambs who put together a truly impressive magazine archive (covers included w. essay!)
March Xmas 2026@marchxness.bsky.social · 7mo agoMARCH SADNESS 90s NEW GAMES ARE UP THREAD (4/4): Mariah Carey, "Without You" / @erinlangner.bsky.social VS Crash Test Dummies, "Superman's Song" / Erin McReynolds: Read, Listen, Vote by 9am 3/11: marchxness.com/1stround-car...
I wrote about the first national book banning bill, which effectively seeks to erase trans people. At the end I include a link to let your reps know that you oppose this bill and all it stands for. lithub.com/why-we-must-...
Why We Must Fight to Stop HR 7661 Before It Destroys the Lives of American Children
Lately I’ve been calling my House rep and screaming about one zillion things, and maybe you have too. But today I want to talk about one thing in particular you should add to your list: H.R. 7661 i…
lithub.com
“Enough with the paintings of ships. Enough with the Romantic American landscapes. Enough with the proto-charcuterie board still lifes. We have plenty. And for the love of god, please stop adding portraits of random aristocrats with weird noses.”
The Needling@theneedling.com · 7mo agoReverse Art Thieves Won’t Stop Adding Paintings to Frye Art Museum: tinyurl.com/4whhmx9r
The March Sadness 90s Edition First Round Game Schedule (brackets due by end of day 2/28): marchxness.com/schedule
