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George Washington Carver’s 43 Bulletins

I don’t know about you, but I find myself consistently reminded of the limits of my own knowledge of the world—and of the ways I limit myself by narrowly defining my own taste. For instance, last weekend my partner asked me if I wanted to go to the California African American Museum, to see their show on George Washington Carver. I agreed out of agreeableness, but then as we started driving over there I got cold feet. I was feeling stressed about a big work project. I was worried the toddler would miss his all-important nap. Plus, I explained to… Read More »George Washington Carver’s 43 Bulletins

Choose the Form of the Destructor!

Dear Readers, In the climax of Ghostbusters (1984), Gozer the Gozerian—played by Slavitza Jova as an androgynous club girl with red eyes and a flat top—roars at the four titular heroes, “The Traveller has come! Choose and perish!” “What do you mean, choose?” asks Dan Aykroyd’s character, the feckless Ray. “We don’t understand!” “Choose!” says Gozer. “Choose the form of the Destructor!” Bill Murray’s character, Peter Venkman, immediately understands what Gozer means: “Whatever we think of—if we think of J. Edgar Hoover, J. Edgar Hoover will appear and destroy us, okay? So empty your heads, don’t think of anything. We’ve only got… Read More »Choose the Form of the Destructor!

A photograph of a gate opening in a hedge.

Making an Entrance

Dear Readers — It’s September. Two weeks till equinox means sunset is arriving 83 seconds earlier every day. The moon wanes, rising an hour later each night—this morning it rose at 2:18am. Thursday it will rise at dawn, and the sun will only illuminate its far side, and we will call it a new moon. Meanwhile the schoolchildren have already started the school year, leaving at the same time every morning. Our world is rich with change. Here in West Hollywood it’s been muggy, which means that my apartment is rich with breeze. I (Jasper Nighthawk, a writer) come to… Read More »Making an Entrance

A photo of an orange traffic cone with a white flower pushed in the top.

Copaganda Comes for E-Bikes

Dear Readers — High summer, all the doors and windows thrown open, a bouquet of dahlias and snapdragons and yarrow on the table, blackberry pancakes mixed and ready for the griddle, two houseflies and one fruitfly sharing space on a brown-spotted banana, and the baby fussing in his crib, wishing to rise half an hour before his nap is “officially” supposed to end. He falls into babbling for a minute, then returns to plaintive moaning. If he doesn’t quiet down soon, I will get him up. Then sometime later perhaps I will be able to return to this installment of Lightplay and… Read More »Copaganda Comes for E-Bikes

A close-up photo of red and pink flowers.

Healing a Space

Dear Readers —  Since sending out the last Lightplay three weeks go, I’ve been regretting not sending you an update on the jacaranda tree that grows outside my office window. Or, should I say, that used to grow there. In the very first issue of Lightplay that I (Jasper Nighthawk, a writer) sent out, all the way back in May 2020, in the depths of COVID lockdown, I included a picture of that jacaranda tree, its blossoms a vibrant purple against the yellow insulation of the half-constructed building beyond it. In May, 2021, for Lightplay 014, I took a photo from the same vantage… Read More »Healing a Space

Travelogue 5: A Hill With A View

Dear Travelogue Readers —  For this installment of the travelogue it’s obvious to me that the pictures I took tell a different and more interesting story than my words would. What is there for me to say? I climbed a hill. It was steeper than it looked. Halfway up it snowed for a bit, and I hid with some Nederlanders under a boulder next to a blasted monastic building. Eventually the others turned back. The view was very beautiful at the top. Thanks for reading my travelogue — expect another installment about the printing monastery at Derge in the next day or… Read More »Travelogue 5: A Hill With A View

A photo of a rental scooter draped with a pink fabric, leaning against a lightpole on a city street.

Begin Again

Dear Readers — Early May, three years ago, I started sending this letter out. I sent it every Sunday for seven weeks in a row. It felt like a miracle—but one of those small miracles, like having a beloved bar at the corner of your block, or the first time you kiss someone who really knows how to kiss. The miracle was your attention. The miracle was to write and be read and appreciated. The miracle was to be read by my community: college friends, family, acquaintances, old work friends, people met travelling, writer pals, former teachers, my ex-therapist, the… Read More »Begin Again

Night/Light

A few months ago, an old friend and I went out for a night walk through my hometown. This city of 7,000 souls is perched over the Pacific Ocean, with redwood forest to the east and coastal plain to the north and south. A quiet town and generally peaceful, especially on a still June evening. We talked some and walked in companionable silence some, too.  As we walked across town and back, the half-dark streets kept revealing different hues of light, different shades, different scenes. Slowly, they cohered into a composite picture of this town, in this country, in this… Read More »Night/Light

An image of a raven soaring over Los Angeles

We Need A National Gun Violence Memorial

Two months ago, as I worked on this essay, I wrote the middle parts and left a simple placeholder—“[some kinda hook]”—where this introduction would go. It’s not unheard of to write the opening last, and unfortunately, in this case, I knew a hook would present itself in the news soon enough. When you write about gun violence in the United States of America, there’s always a next time. Right on cue, horror struck. On the New York City subway, a gunman started shooting his handgun and didn’t stop until 29 people were injured. Miraculously, no one died. Still, the event… Read More »We Need A National Gun Violence Memorial