{"version":"https://jsonfeed.org/version/1","title":"Micro.blog - Matthew Battles","home_page_url":"https://micro.blog","feed_url":"https://micro.blog/posts/mbattles","_microblog":{"about":"https://micro.blog/about/api","id":"1526187","username":"mbattles","bio":"Writer entangled in the nature of trees, meaning, memory, and deep time. Author of TREE (Bloomsbury 2017) among other books. Editor at Harvard's Arnold Arboretum. ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς·","pronouns":"","is_following":false,"is_you":false,"following_count":42,"discover_count":0},"author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://avatars.micro.blog/avatars/2023/49/1526187.jpg"},"items":[{"id":"89440484","content_html":"

@debcha ah, thanks for this reminder!

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/mbattles/89440484","date_published":"2026-05-02T09:37:24+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-05-02 09:37","date_timestamp":1777714644,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"89187464","content_html":"

@ablerism Marvelous! Congratulations to you all.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/mbattles/89187464","date_published":"2026-04-28T18:13:06+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-28 18:13","date_timestamp":1777399986,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"88944195","content_html":"

@ablerism Yes! The container is crucial, one wants to say. And sharing a sense of building/Bildung, a trajectory or way, feels right.

\n

When I think of all I don’t know about my students’ tissue of attention in any given moment, I’m filled with a wild wonder.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/mbattles/88944195","date_published":"2026-04-24T17:50:27+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-24 17:50","date_timestamp":1777053027,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"88928595","content_html":"

@ayjay I’ll admit to curiosity about the invitation to cultivate of habits of attentive work described at the top, however. I’m not sure it’s beyond assessment—or anyway, that its possible effects aren’t observable in shifting qualities of response. (The prompt-grooming bit is so much stuff.)

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/mbattles/88928595","date_published":"2026-04-24T13:58:32+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-24 13:58","date_timestamp":1777039112,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"88928059","content_html":"

Stumbling out of inspired/dismayed encounter with Whitehead this morning into Wendell Berry, a balm.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/2026/04/24/stumbling-out-of-inspireddismayed-encounter.html","date_published":"2026-04-24T13:49:06+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-24 13:49","date_timestamp":1777038546,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"88931336","content_html":"

From Wendell Berry, A Small Porch (XI): mbattles.micro.blog

","summary":"","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/2026/04/24/from-wendell-berry-a-small.html","date_published":"2026-04-24T13:42:58+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-24 13:42","date_timestamp":1777038178,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":true,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"88926819","content_html":"

@ayjay Nice! What a world she makes in voice.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/mbattles/88926819","date_published":"2026-04-24T13:28:51+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-24 13:28","date_timestamp":1777037331,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"88873709","content_html":"

@ablerism This recording (on cassette, natch) is one of dozens from Aadam Jacobs, who worked sound at shows around town from the eighties through the aughts, which the IA is digitizing. I wonder if Brian ever ran into Jacobs back in the day.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/mbattles/88873709","date_published":"2026-04-23T18:58:57+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-23 18:58","date_timestamp":1776970737,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"88873507","content_html":"

@ablerism Ha, that’s a wonderful detail. I wasn’t there, but gosh I should’ve been.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/mbattles/88873507","date_published":"2026-04-23T18:56:06+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-23 18:56","date_timestamp":1776970566,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"88870050","content_html":"

Joyous at the rediscovery that any given string of words might stir deep wonder at the gift of having been alive in time and place. A string of words like, “Tracy Chapman Live at Cabaret Metro 1988-05-7,” for instance.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/2026/04/23/joyous-at-the-rediscovery-that.html","date_published":"2026-04-23T17:54:45+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-23 17:54","date_timestamp":1776966885,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"88792073","content_html":"

@ablerism May it be the breaking open of something beautiful!

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/mbattles/88792073","date_published":"2026-04-22T16:49:49+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-22 16:49","date_timestamp":1776876589,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"88778949","content_html":"

Grateful for @willowbl00 on the beauty of impermanence and the horror of being turned into an LLM. It takes me to Middlemarch: “that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”

\n","summary":"","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/2026/04/22/grateful-for-willowbl-on-the.html","date_published":"2026-04-22T13:37:42+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-22 13:37","date_timestamp":1776865062,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"88737486","content_html":"

Iris Murdoch: “Our ability to act well ‘when the time comes’ depends partly, perhaps largely, upon the quality of our habitual objects of attention.”

\n

Beyond cognitive surrender, I wonder about a kind of moral surrender in turning over to chatbots innumerable tiny, everyday moments of discernment

\n","summary":"","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/2026/04/21/iris-murdoch-our-ability-to.html","date_published":"2026-04-21T21:43:00+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-21 21:43","date_timestamp":1776807780,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"88312571","content_html":"

@ablerism Doing a dive on this question, stumbled across Edgar Miller’s remarkable sculptural program for Jane Addams House in CHI—for the children’s wading pool!—recently restored for the National Public Housing Museum (which I didn’t know), and which seems remarkable, too).

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/mbattles/88312571","date_published":"2026-04-15T16:01:47+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-15 16:01","date_timestamp":1776268907,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"88308322","content_html":"

@mbattles The interiors of these post-office lobbies are wonderfully similar, which suggests there was a pattern book or published specification for post-office interiors in this time frame.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/mbattles/88308322","date_published":"2026-04-15T15:05:30+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-15 15:05","date_timestamp":1776265530,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"88308222","content_html":"

Lincoln in New Salem, Illinois, WPA mural inside the post office in my hometown of Petersburg, IL (62675), painted in 1938 by John Winters; The Reverend John Eliot Preaching to the Indians, painted by William Abbott Cheever in 1941, in the post office in Chestnut Hill, MA (02467).

\n
\n\"\"\"\"\n
\n","summary":"","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/2026/04/15/lincoln-in-new-salem-illinois.html","date_published":"2026-04-15T15:03:36+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-15 15:03","date_timestamp":1776265416,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":["https://assemblag.es/@matthewbattles/116409331550330965"]}},{"id":"87695961","content_html":"

@ablerism 👐

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/mbattles/87695961","date_published":"2026-04-06T13:20:17+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-06 13:20","date_timestamp":1775481617,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"87695909","content_html":"

Before the Vigil on Saturday, we saw Sirāt, which is brutal and so, so beautiful; last night, I watched Mary Magdalene, with Rooney Mara (excellent) and Joaquin Phoenix (a strange choice, but he won me over in the end). I’m haunted by their strange complementarity. Anyone else seen one or both?

\n","summary":"","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/2026/04/06/before-the-vigil-on-saturday.html","date_published":"2026-04-06T13:18:52+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-06 13:18","date_timestamp":1775481532,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":["https://assemblag.es/@matthewbattles/116357957956448994"]}},{"id":"87395554","content_html":"

@isaacgreene @jabel I love the Tolkien connections; Rilke, too, intersects with these energies in his Marian poems.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/mbattles/87395554","date_published":"2026-04-01T14:46:39+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-04-01 14:46","date_timestamp":1775054799,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"87344281","content_html":"

@ablerism Strange synchronicity at work here—just in the last half hour I’ve been looking at Fitzcarraldo very carefully. Didn’t know this title, though!

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/mbattles/87344281","date_published":"2026-03-31T19:32:23+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-03-31 19:32","date_timestamp":1774985543,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"86622411","content_html":"

@isaacgreene I found Kay Larson’s biographical account of Cage, Where the Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists nourishing and inspiring. (Cage’s disquisition on Basho’s haiku “Matsutake ia” is a great treat, too.)

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/mbattles/86622411","date_published":"2026-03-20T18:34:51+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-03-20 18:34","date_timestamp":1774031691,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"85910075","content_html":"

@ayjay 💫

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/mbattles/85910075","date_published":"2026-03-10T16:10:13+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-03-10 16:10","date_timestamp":1773159013,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"85906770","content_html":"

@isaacgreene ✋

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/mbattles/85906770","date_published":"2026-03-10T15:08:25+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-03-10 15:08","date_timestamp":1773155305,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"85646766","content_html":"

@isaacgreene It started to feel a little too much like a job to me!

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/mbattles/85646766","date_published":"2026-03-06T16:36:46+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-03-06 16:36","date_timestamp":1772815006,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"84930336","content_html":"

@isaacgreene Indeed; I hear that quality most keenly in On an Overgrown Path.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/mbattles/84930336","date_published":"2026-02-24T15:36:38+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-02-24 15:36","date_timestamp":1771947398,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"84927535","content_html":"

@andrewz in “Two Cheers,” @ablerism and I both wished for something more than the individual subject as both source and target of “calisthenics” who wants to drive fast as they like or cross the street at will. At least in what I’ve read so far (I strayed, too), love is missing. Is this fair of me?

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/mbattles/84927535","date_published":"2026-02-24T14:56:14+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-02-24 14:56","date_timestamp":1771944974,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"84926961","content_html":"

@ablerism I read this recent account of the Resistance in the NYT and felt like I got something stuck in my eye. The headline writer buried the lede: the operative word isn’t “fun,” but “beauty” and “joy.”

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/mbattles/84926961","date_published":"2026-02-24T14:48:44+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-02-24 14:48","date_timestamp":1771944524,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"84812745","content_html":"

@isaacgreene I love the notion of Leoš Janáček scribbling notation to catch melodies in the field—famously, the chickens of The Cunning Little Vixen come from this practice. I’ve long seen it as a charming kind of savantism, but I’m realizing it’s also woven into a world of printed/published music.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/mbattles/84812745","date_published":"2026-02-22T21:23:50+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-02-22 21:23","date_timestamp":1771795430,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"84598750","content_html":"

@ayjay Nice!

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/mbattles/84598750","date_published":"2026-02-19T16:51:01+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-02-19 16:51","date_timestamp":1771519861,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"84150430","content_html":"

How excellence can be a kind of cruelty.

\n","summary":"","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/2026/02/12/how-excellence-can-be-a.html","date_published":"2026-02-12T21:34:40+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-02-12 21:34","date_timestamp":1770932080,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":["https://assemblag.es/@matthewbattles/116059805218957708"]}},{"id":"83974774","content_html":"

@dwalbert What a beautiful project. I love your note about the dissonance on the nur, and finding yourself in that realization touching the composer across time.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/mbattles/83974774","date_published":"2026-02-10T15:22:25+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-02-10 15:22","date_timestamp":1770736945,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"83799513","content_html":"

@ablerism Oh, splendid!

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/mbattles/83799513","date_published":"2026-02-07T19:40:23+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-02-07 19:40","date_timestamp":1770493223,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"83667058","content_html":"

@isaacgreene This is compelling! You’re bringing to mind David Sudnow’s books on cognitive and experiential dimensions of playing jazz on the piano and writing on a typewriter (Ways of the Hand; Talk’s Body). They’re full of arresting notions and observations.

\n","url":"https://micro.blog/mbattles/83667058","date_published":"2026-02-05T21:31:03+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-02-05 21:31","date_timestamp":1770327063,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":true}},{"id":"83647543","content_html":"

The Great Hare: mbattles.micro.blog

","summary":"","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/2026/02/05/the-great-hare.html","date_published":"2026-02-05T16:49:44+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-02-05 16:49","date_timestamp":1770310184,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":true,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":["https://assemblag.es/@matthewbattles/116019055579733328"]}},{"id":"83646620","content_html":"

A bit of the song we made from this striking passage in WALDEN: mbattles.micro.blog

","summary":"","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/2026/02/05/a-bit-of-the-song.html","date_published":"2026-02-05T16:32:21+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-02-05 16:32","date_timestamp":1770309141,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":true,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":["https://assemblag.es/@matthewbattles/116018989604818122"]}},{"id":"83564721","content_html":"

Are other authors receiving these emails stinking of AI, with breathlesss this-not-that praise for their books, promising to get them more Amazon reviews, booktok mentions, Goodreads recs, etc.?

\n","summary":"","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/2026/02/04/are-other-authors-receiving-these.html","date_published":"2026-02-04T14:53:23+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-02-04 14:53","date_timestamp":1770216803,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":["https://assemblag.es/@matthewbattles/116012928963817997"]}},{"id":"83280753","content_html":"

Looking for a photo, I ran across this early demo of Sonnet 32 from my project setting the sonnets to song. Was playing around with iMovie for iOS, hence the strange crop (I couldn’t get it to do otherwise). I didn’t have the sestet yet. I hear a clarity and crispness that I want to rekindle.

\n

\n","summary":"","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/2026/01/31/looking-for-a-photo-i.html","date_published":"2026-01-31T12:14:27+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-01-31 12:14","date_timestamp":1769861667,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":["https://assemblag.es/@matthewbattles/115989655341305335"]}},{"id":"83238895","content_html":"

Plus ça change, plus Liriodendron.

\n
\n\"\"\"\"\n
\n","summary":"","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/2026/01/30/plus-a-change-plus-liriodendron.html","date_published":"2026-01-30T19:54:56+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-01-30 19:54","date_timestamp":1769802896,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":["https://assemblag.es/@matthewbattles/115985803288136544"]}},{"id":"83238470","content_html":"

Ian McKellen in 1979, workshopping Macbeth’s Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow soliloquy, is refreshing and inspiring: youtu.be/zGbZCgHQ9…

\n","summary":"","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/2026/01/30/ian-mckellen-in-workshopping-macbeths.html","date_published":"2026-01-30T19:49:57+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2026-01-30 19:49","date_timestamp":1769802597,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":false,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":["https://assemblag.es/@matthewbattles/115985783204819146"]}},{"id":"27392140","content_html":"

Oak-leaf hydrangea doing its bit, bearing its measure of light toward the solstice.

\n\"Single\n","summary":"","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/2023/12/05/oakleaf-hydrangea-doing.html","date_published":"2023-12-05T14:17:17+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2023-12-05 14:17","date_timestamp":1701785837,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}},{"id":"27354898","content_html":"

Hello, world. This morning’s message, delivered by willow leaflet: water is magnificent.

\n\"a\n","summary":"","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/2023/12/04/hello-world-this.html","date_published":"2023-12-04T18:33:25+00:00","author":{"name":"Matthew Battles","url":"https://mbattles.micro.blog/","avatar":"https://cdn.micro.blog/photos/96/https%3A%2F%2Favatars.micro.blog%2Favatars%2F2023%2F49%2F1526187.jpg","_microblog":{"username":"mbattles"}},"_microblog":{"date_relative":"2023-12-04 18:33","date_timestamp":1701714805,"is_favorite":false,"is_bookmark":false,"is_deletable":false,"is_conversation":true,"is_linkpost":false,"is_mention":false,"note":"","syndication":[]}}]}