Birbiglia has checked all the boxes for humor, but he has done more. He has let us come inside his worries, his family, his fears, and his love. He has made it easy to take a sideways glance at the end of everything.

These 15 beats are present everywhere that there is good storytelling. Blake Snyder didn’t make the rule that stories have to be about a protagonist’s personal transformation. He simply noticed that an audience won’t feel complete unless it happens.

Nothing is more lonely than having an important memory with a person that they can’t recall

Believing that we would have acted differently than the townspeople is precisely the enduring (if unreasonable) pleasure of An Enemy of the People

Maybe I’m just too grumpy; maybe I’m too old. I was tired, I don’t want to be up at midnight and waving my arms. Or maybe if the crowd had grown frenzied I would have too. But I don’t think so. I think you can only feel it if the performer really brings herself.

The leaders of these companies don’t need to be despots (or demons) in order for us all to summon our collective will to make healthier, happier, and more secure online spaces.

I’m going to offer this as a bit of a conviction: Complexity is not to be feared. Nor analysis, context, reconsideration, any of it. We don’t lose the ability to morally condemn just because we have come to a more nuanced explanation.

Her reviews are still incredibly fun to read. She was insightful, and could offer critique that was howlingly on-point, sharp, and funny

I’m still not sure how 404 million works of fiction get sold every year in this country, but I’m more sure how worthy an endeavor it all is. Go support authors and buy books!