In this post I’ll be sharing some of my favorite newsletters and publications I’m using to make myself a better, more professional writer. If you have any other suggestions, let me know! Your value as a writer is determined by your output, but your input sets the stage for your work. Just like that guy… Continue reading Read more, talk better, be read, be better
Author: Ben van Loon
Writer, Researcher, Chicagoan
New post at Medium: “My Year in Christian Discipleship $chool”
This week I posted my first story on Medium, “My Year in Christian Discipleship $chool.” It has taken me more than a decade to be able to tell this story, about what I did between high school and college. A lot of moving parts, some noble intentions, and a shitload of bankrupt beliefs. I thought the man was… Continue reading New post at Medium: “My Year in Christian Discipleship $chool”
Tuck your shirt in, act like a professional
If you were to ask me ten years ago what I’d be doing now, it wouldn’t involve copywriting, public relations, and corporate reputations. Back then my future was communes, arts bacchanals, and late-night graffiti runs. But here I am; button-up shirts, dress boots, the word “executive” in my job title. And even though the white collar… Continue reading Tuck your shirt in, act like a professional
What I watched in 2015
The Year of Our Lord 2015 was a busy media year for me. On top of writing a graduate thesis project on 1980s counterculture and cult film, I spent roughly six months freelancing from my living room couch. Which meant a lot of hours sitting in my underwear, inoculating myself against emotional vacillations with hours… Continue reading What I watched in 2015
New piece at PopMatters
I have a new piece up at PopMatters: “Pro-Apocalyptic, or, Why We’re Bored With the Post-Apocalyptic.” It’s about FOX’s Last Man on Earth and our cultural obsession with the end. Here’s an excerpt: The second season of FOX’s post-apocalyptic comedy, Last Man on Earth, is now underway, and though its 27 September premiere was met with mixed… Continue reading New piece at PopMatters
New piece at The Guardian
I have a new op-ed featured at The Guardian today, “How did I stay normal when I was home-schooled? I watched a lot of TV.” Like the title says, the piece is about my upbringing as a homeschooler, and the importance TV played in making me ‘normal’—whatever normal means. The editors chopped the last two paragraphs,… Continue reading New piece at The Guardian
Books, Brian Dettmer, Jorge Borges, and “Antisocial Media”
The universe is a library, existing ab aeterno—from time immemorial—in Borges’ allegory of “The Library of Babel.” The library is an infinite architecture of hexagonal galleries whose shelves creak under the weight of books dusty and bound with gloom of incomplete knowledge. Leagues of searchers patrol these galleries, seeking the Total Book; the perfect medium… Continue reading Books, Brian Dettmer, Jorge Borges, and “Antisocial Media”
Is your last name Dover?
My life was Star Wars and Sour Patch Kids until I got my first job at 15. I made $6.65 an hour bagging groceries, pushing carts, and mopping shit off the bathroom walls at the Pick ‘n Save on Silvernail Road in Pewaukee, Wisconsin. Because I was home schooled, this job, my church youth group, and… Continue reading Is your last name Dover?
New Mexico, 2015
From two weeks spent in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. One of my favorite places in the world.
Exploring the Fourth Dimension
For a total amount of time that adds to maybe three weeks a year, Chicago’s weather is fit for human life. When I’m not working on a job, or combating another endemic bout of seasonal depression, I use these brief hours to walk. Usually without a destination in mind. Mostly just to explore, and hopefully,… Continue reading Exploring the Fourth Dimension
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