NoMo SoHo

“The newspaper industry . . . has flubbed its chance to propel itself into the future.”—Harper’s 

There's suffering on the very best of dates.

Do not consent to unromantic states.

Fall clarifies—life complicates.

Can we consume what we've got on our plates?

We thought we could—doing little good

In circumstances just barely understood.

Playing with fire, up against the wire,

Born-again, polymorphous perverse,

Am I a stand-in for tomorrow's bad, or worse?

When the news comes on, I turn off my radio.

There’s so much that I just don’t want to know

In these final days of the Anthropocene.

Believing what you want's the way to go!

This is our stop now—the Skivalocene.*

*From Ancient Greek σκύβαλον (skúbalon), dung, offal, stuff thrown to the dogs, trash + καινός (kainós), new.

Epigraph quote: Media critic Jack Shafer in discussion at the NoMo SoHo Hotel, New York, July 23, 2025, “Why Doesn’t Anyone Trust the Media?” Harper’s Magazine, November 2025.

Tuesday, November 11, 2025