The best new writing I'm almost certain to encounter this week

Monday 10/20/25

Speaking of Lilah...

I'm heading out to run stairs now, but as I was getting ready to leave, my sister sent me something Lilah wrote in a journal they keep for school. At the end of each week, there's a Friday Letter that the recipient may then respond to. Here's what Lilah wrote last Friday:

And here was my response to my sister:

I feel the same way. This is what happens when you're smart, and all the more so in 2025's America, where there are fewer intelligent kids in the class than in the past, and fewer with any interest in reading, because they were not read to by parents who don't know how to parent, and often try and get a screen to do their parenting for them. You have a kid or two way ahead of everyone else, and they want to race forward but have to wait for the other kids. But she's right, she says it well, and she cares. And that book does suck.

"I wish we could be reading something exciting once in a while but we never do."

She could be talking about MFA programs.

I like Lilah.