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A Life in Posts

Journey through Samuel R. Delany's curated moments

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1940s

Family Photo 2
1948

Family Photo 2

Photo of Chip and Aunt

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Family Photo 3
1948

Family Photo 3

Photo of Chip with Family

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1950s

Family Photo
1950

Family Photo

Photo of Chip and Aunts

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1960s

Fall of Towers Book Cover
1962

Fall of Towers Book Cover

Book Cover First Edition

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City Thousand Book Cover
1964

City Thousand Book Cover

Book Cover First Edition

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Babel 17 Book Cover
1966

Babel 17 Book Cover

Book Cover First Edition

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Storme Photo
1966

Storme Photo

Photo of Storme Delarvier

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Einstein Book Cover
1967

Einstein Book Cover

Book Cover First Edition

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1970s

Dhalgren Book Cover
1975

Dhalgren Book Cover

Book Cover First Edition

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Triton Book Cover
1977

Triton Book Cover

Book Cover First Edition

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2010s

Facebook Post Screenshot
2016

Facebook Post Screenshot

Chip Selfie

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Facebook Post De Bord
2016

Facebook Post De Bord

Society of the Spectacle

In his book COMMENTS ON THE SOCIETY OF THE SPECTACLE (1988), Guy Debord presents a meditation on what I would call "misinformation." He begins by calling it "unanswerable lies." He also associate it with "disinformation" and goes to "the fabulous realm of unverifiable stories, uncheckable statistics, unlikely explanations and untenable reasoning." It is filled with extraordinary insights: Because so many ecological elements--the ozone layer, a population of starfish that suddenly begin to tear themselves to pieces in the presence of one or another pollutant, or a plant that goes extinct somewhere in South America--have no attested market value, "it is highly dangerous to base an industrial strategy on environmental imperatives." Climate change deniers do have market value--which is why we will go on manufacturing them, all over the world. "Where disinformation is named, it does not exist. Where it exists, it is not named." Considering it was written when it was, it is an uncanny analysis of what has produced much of our present problems, in terms of isolation, and terrorism, and general malaise. With its 1967 prequel, THE SOCIETY OF THE SPECTACLE, a consideration of the defuse and concentrated forms of "spectacular power," these are two extraordinary performances.
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Facebook Post Gay Pride
2019

Facebook Post Gay Pride

Gay Pride in Giovanni's Room

Leaving Giovanni’s Room on Gay Pride Day . . .
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