Essay: Sure enough

Hello! Continuing with the “let’s write essays” theme — you’ll soon be able to go to a category page and read them all, I’m working on it — I present the one I just did right now in about 20 minutes. I, actually, think it’s a little unfocused. But, the ending is fantastic. (This isn’t just a way to get you to read the whole thing.)

As usual, feedback would be appreciated. Some things you may want to keep in mind before reading this: I don’t just blog; I do write stories for the Weekly in addition to my daily dose of newspaper typos. And be safe driving home tonight. That doesn’t have anything to do with the essay, I just think it’s a good thing to keep in mind. Click through to continue.

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Essay: Anatomy of a title

This will be a short one, but I hope you’ll like it. Or at least find it interesting. The other day, on Attytood, Will Bunch wrote “we have no idea what that means, either,” when referring to the title “Philadelphia Will Do.”

Oh, come on, Will, live a little! (Note: I have no idea what that means, either.) I don’t complain that the “Philadelphia Daily News” doesn’t come out on Sunday, do I? (There was a letter complaining about that a few years ago in the paper. If only I had been blogging then.)

Where was I? Oh, right, the title. After the jump, the explanation an d the ridiculous way I came across it. If you haven’t read it already, you can check out this essay from Monday, which provides a little bit of background on me and the site.

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Essay: We let you kids

Welcome, friends. Monday, I posted an essay about how I came to be blogging for PW, and the feedback was pretty much all positive — yay! — and, you know, puppydogs and rainbows and all that jazz.

I’m going to be doing more of them, hopefully three a week to start, but we’ll see where the creative process takes me. I really enjoy doing these, and if you have feedback, either e-mail me or post in the comments — I’d obviously appreciate it.

And so, today’s little story is about me, and West Philly and my middle-class insecurity. I’d be interested to hear your responses, if you think I’m just being a little too much of a product of my Penn education or, you know, if you think I’m just a big tool. Whatever your reaction, I hope you enjoy. After the jump.

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Essay: An introduction

Um, hi. It’s me, Dan. I run this site and write all the crazy stuff you’ve been reading (hopefully) over the past few months. How are you? You don’t have to answer. As you may know, this blog was originally my personal site that I just did in my spare time. And when I blogged just on my own time, all I really wrote was essays. It was fun. And I miss doing it.

I’m going to start writing essays again, right here on the blog, and though it doesn’t really fit with the theme/motif/personality I’ve been cultivating over the past few months, I think it’s okay. After all, it is a blog. It’s not like I’m hurting anyone by being myself. Maybe the site will eventually turn into all essays. (Though I doubt it, there are unintentionally funny headlines to mock.)

After the jump, an essay I’ll call “An introduction,” for lack of a better idea.

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