Alex Dobrenko

Small Talk will be more conversational, more casual and overall, pure beautiful stream of chaotic consciousness — undercooked brilliance and a total disregard for literary refinement.

The late historian Alan Bray, who wrote books both on homosexuality and on friendship put this eloquently: “The inability to conceive of relationships in other than sexual terms says something of contemporary poverty

Ballard says that having prominent, successful creative people with mental health issues that manifest in ways that are clearly unpleasant—and a society that allows them to be so—is a crucial yet diminishing thing for other people who are suffering. The problem with that, I offer, is that we end up romanticizing the idea of the “tortured genius” in... See more

But we also hoard ideas because if one suddenly succeeds, then we suddenly have to live up to the idea. A good idea alone is not terribly hard to come up with. But a break-through good idea, one that really hits and starts to spread, where many people want to know more... Well, suddenly that’s just another test, a test where you could very well... See more

“The world is so distressing and cruel right now, especially with what our leaders are saying, it’s almost like comedy and joy is like a flower that needs to be cared for, and it needs to be in a peaceful garden where someone is watering it and taking care of it. I think the answer is empathy, getting people to recognize what binds all human beings... See more