Archive - Chris Cocca: Writing & Other Bad Takes

You Can't Spell Toxic Without X

Extended Mix, with Appeals to Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius

Apr 3 •

May 2023

On this Day in 1970 (Or, When We Gave a Damn About Mass Shootings)

53 years ago today, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young recorded “Ohio,” Neil Young’s response to the Kent State killings 18 days prior. It seems almost…

May 22, 2023 •

Future Shock, Chesterton, Columbo

Corroding our Spotless Machines in the Light of the Utterly Reasonable Moon

May 1, 2023 •

April 2023

Machines and Modernists: A Few Stray Thoughts on Writing for One's Organic Self

Previously We were talking about the difference between common sense and wisdom, and I ended with the not-so-radical and not-so-original thought that we…

Apr 28, 2023 •

Echo Chambers, Common Sense: Leaving Twitter for the Gym

What Have You Done for Me Lately? It’s been a while since my last update. I don’t know that I’ve stopped writing in some big sense or that I feel some…

Apr 25, 2023 •

February 2023

Miscellany: John Kruk, Meatballs, Trains; Zelensky's Power Fleece

Just a few things. I invited John Kruk to go with me to a Springsteen show in Philly this summer. I don’t know John Kruk, but, thanks to Twitter, I…

Feb 20, 2023 •

November 2022

A Demographer's Lament: Democrats are Losing the Working Class

Ruy Teixeira is jilted. But is he also right?

Nov 8, 2022 •

It's Still the Economy

Democrats need an economic message as the GOP doubles down on trickle-down.

Nov 3, 2022 •

October 2022

Rejection Letters and Inside Baseball

A short read parsing rejection letters, remembering Bart Giamatti, and learning from the Phillie Phanatic.

Oct 10, 2022 •

My Fellow (Italian) Americans

We Owe Ourselves More Than Columbus

Oct 7, 2022 •

Poetry at the End of the World

I first learned about Francis Fukuyama’s “end of history” thesis in an undergraduate international relations class in 1999 or 2000. We also learned…

Oct 6, 2022 •

September 2022

Highways and Hunger

A short reflection on the ecology of the PA Turnpike; Two Springsteen shows 14 years apart show what little progress we've made on food security.

Sep 30, 2022 •

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