March 7, 2026

Five for Friday 742

Happy Friday,

This edition of Five for Friday is a bit different. In honor of The Marginalian celebrating nineteen years this week, I am sharing ten of my favorite posts from the website over the years.

On Being Contrarian.

On Vladimir Nabokov and his passion for butterflies.

We live in an Immense World of color.

In Defense of Boredom.

E.B. White on why he wrote Charlotte’s Web.

How do we know what we know?

James Baldwin on resisting the mindless majority.

How to live with mystery in a culture obsessed with certainty.

Kierkegaard muses about boredom.

Finally, a recent favorite; Rudyard Kipling on writing.

Congratulations, Maria!

Currently reading: The Impossible Country: A Journey through the Last Days of Yugoslavia by Brian Hall

Have a creative weekend.


Wheat no. 1; Bearded wheat no. 2. Blackwell, Elizabeth. 1739. Scottish.