I Can Lead You to a Pot of Gold If You Just Give Me a Lift to My Buddy Craig’s Place in Denver

Jesus Christ, top of the morning man, I’m wiped. Thanks for picking me up. I don’t do this too often y’know, hitchhiking. People usually don’t stop... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

The Filibuster Is Important, Except When It Does Not Benefit Me, and Then It Is Bad

“Senator Mitch McConnell on Tuesday bluntly warned Democrats who are considering weakening or eliminating the filibuster to push through progressiv... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

A Short History of the Norse-Irish Slave Trade for Bostonians

Art by Matt Smith- - -Now thing is, back in those dahk medieval times, Ireland was a biggah fuckin’ shitshow ’en the Big fuckin’ Dig evah was n’ ... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Remote Student While Teaching in a Hybrid Classroom

IAmong eighteen black squares,the only moving thingwas my cursor.III was of thirty mindslike a laptopwith thirty tabs open.IIIA student’s ... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Fist Fight at the Old Writers’ Home

You can take your story arc and shove it, Madeline. You’re just a book agent who hasn’t had a sale in decades. You don’t even have an MFA. When I w... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

An Amazon.com Warehouse Worker’s Book Recommendations

Firefly Lane by Kristin HannahI’ve been pulling this one from the shelves a lot. I only have 11 seconds between loading up each item, but through... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Sherlock Holmes in the Case of How Did THAT Guy Qualify for the Covid Vaccine?

“Watson!” bellowed Sherlock Holmes from the Chesterfield, handing me his laptop. “What do you make of this?” It was thrilling to hear the old excit... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Literary Gun Devices, Chekhov’s and Otherwise

Chekhov’s Gun states that a gun introduced in the first act must be fired by the last.Stephen King’s Gun: A gun introduced in the story must later... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

The Guy Holding “THE END IS NEAR!” Sign Would Like a Word

Hey, everybody. I think I’ve seen a lot of you in several different cities. I usually look a little rough, and my THE END IS NEAR! sign has always ... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

The Literary Agent Manifesto

The following was discovered (it hardly bears mentioning) beneath a huge pile of unread manuscripts in a literary agent’s office. - - -We, the lit... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Five Ways I’m Learning to Love My Body Again While Being Publicly Shamed for Adultery in Puritan New England

I don’t know when it started for me, but I have criticized my body for as long as I can remember. Maybe it was the way the girls at school used to ... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

I’m the Package You Impulse-Ordered Three Days Ago and No, I’m Not Going to Make You Feel Any Better

It’s hard being a package. Sometimes we’re out in the cold for a really long time. Sometimes someone puts a bomb in us. Sometimes someone thinks th... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Huddle Close, Children, That I May Tell You What It Was Like to Eat at a Restaurant

Come, ye children, huddle close to my warmth — not closer than six feet, mind! There you are. It gives an old crone such as myself vast pleasures t... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

The Periodic Table of Coronavirus: Elements of a Year We’ll Never Forget

Click table to enlarge. | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

An Open Letter to White Expat Men That I Have Met While Living in China

Dear White Expat Men That I Have Met in China,Perhaps it is unfair of me to generalize. After all, not all of you are like this. I don’t want to m... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Oprah’s Tell-All Interviews with Other Princesses

Ariel (The Little Mermaid)OPRAH: So when you struck the deal with Ursula to go to land, were you silent or were you silenced?ARIEL: … the latter... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Things I Have to Say to My Male Colleagues Versus Things They Say to Me

“As I said last week, this is very simple, I never touched anyone inappropriately…no one ever told me at the time that I made them feel uncomfortab... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Help, I Live in a Quiet English Village Where Nothing Ever Happens!

OPERATOR: Hello, what is your emergency, please?CALLER: Help! I live in a quiet English village where nothing ever happens.OPERATOR: What is your... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

I’m Your Child’s New Interlocking Block System and I’m Incompatible With Every Other Block They Own

Congratulations, parents. I have come into your home as a birthday/Christmas/Daddy-hasn’t-been-around-in-a-while present. Consider it a blessing. I... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

What Guys Say vs. What They Really Mean

What he says: “I’ll call you.”What he means: “I’m going to text you. In a week. Maybe.”What he says: “Can we talk about this later?”What he mea... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Sorry to Play Devil’s Advocate, But It’s the Only DVD I Own

Hey, I hate to be that guy. I really do. I hear what you’re saying, but I’m just going to have to play Devil’s Advocate here, because it’s movie ni... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Like the Minimum Wage, I Also Haven’t Changed Since 2009 and It’s Working Out Super Great for Me

I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz about raising the minimum wage, which hasn’t changed since 2009. I also haven’t changed since 2009, and why would I... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Duolingo for Decoding Racist Dog-Whistling

LEVEL 1: DOG WHISTLE OVERVIEWDUO THE OWL: Translate the following from Racist Dog Whistle to English:Voter ID laws are important to avoid voter... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, by Sophocles

ACT I, SCENE IEXT. THEBES TOWN CENTER. Evening. The gazebo at town center stands empty but for two cloaked young women, from a distance, perhaps ... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

I Am a Neanderthal and I Resent Being Compared to Incompetent Governors

“White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday defended President Biden calling the decision of two GOP governors to lift mask mandates as ‘Nea... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Why I’m Selling My 4-Bed, 3-Bath, 37-Moving-Bookcase Home

I am looking for someone — anyone —to purchase my biggest mistake, my most brutal nightmare, the godless creation of my worst impulses: my 4-bed, 3... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Moms: The Vacation of Your Dreams Awaits You In This Dentist’s Chair

Are you stressed? Worn out? Astonished by the enormous number of mothers who have dropped out of the workforce in the last year since the Coronavir... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Signs You Might Be the Heroine of a Rom-Com Novel

You’re an author with writer’s block, so your agent sends you to her villa in Tuscany for a month-long vacation to help you find your inspiration.... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Okay, Let Me Just Share My Screen… Ah, Nope. Okay, You’re Looking At My Savings Account Now. That Is Not Good.

Not sure how that happened. I did not think my personal stuff was connected to this. So strange. And just a note, this is not my main bank account.... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

I’m All For Letting the Free Market Decide Things Unless It Decides to Stop Publishing Racist Children’s Books

“Now 6 Dr. Seuss books are cancelled too? When history looks back at this time it will be held up as an example of a depraved sociopolitical purge ... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Casting Notice for the Next Great British Bake Off

Casting Notice for the Next Great British Bake Off | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

It’s Me, Your Former Junior High School Bully, and I’m Sorry to Inform You That Karma Hasn’t Caught Up With Me Yet

Remember me? The girl who turned all your friends against you in seventh and eighth grade? The one who orchestrated daily loogie hockings to a chor... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

A Graduate School Rejection Letter As Written by My Anxiety Disorder at 3 AM

Dear Applicant,Thank you for your interest in our graduate English program. We regret to inform you that your Imposter Syndrome was woefully misdi... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Literary Alternatives to Social Distancing

Miss Havisham-ingYou’ve been quarantining for twenty years and you’re experiencing major FOMO (Fear Of Marital Overtures). You take all the usual ... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Christopher CrossFit FAQs

What is Christopher CrossFit?Christopher CrossFit is an adult-oriented fitness program for men, women, and bodacious cowboys that focuses on stren... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

March Is Teacher Self-Care Month!

All of the administrators at Northvale County Public Schools are committed to work-life balance for all of our teachers and staff during these tryi... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

No, Our Company Is Not “Anti-Union,” We Simply Believe That It Is in Our Best Interest to Quash Any Attempt by Our Employees to Collectively Bargain on Their Behalf

Team, it looks like there has been some concern lately regarding the company’s internal operations and the circumstances surrounding several recent... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

The Cure’s “Friday I’m in Love” for Nihilists

I don’t care if Monday’s blue. God is dead. Or if Tuesday is utterly desaturated to the point where all choice is arbitrary, Wednesday too. Thu... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

As a Staunch Defender of American Liberty, I Refuse to Let Trans People Infringe on My Rights as a White, Straight, Cisgender Congresswoman from Georgia

“Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is facing sharp criticism after she posted an anti-transgender sign outside of her office, directly across the hall fr... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

You’re Having a Bad Trip, Charlie Brown!

“Oh, go on! Try it!” his friends taunted. “We always knew you were a blockhead but, we never knew you were a chicken — bawk bawk bah-gawk!” they cl... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

714 Epidemiologists on When We Can Resume Fixating on Petty Bullshit?

“Even with coronavirus vaccines on the way, many epidemiologists do not expect their lives to return to pre-pandemic normal until most Americans ar... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Famous Philosophers in Quarantine

Aristotle: Believes everyone else in his pod is either too cautious or too reckless.Mill: Studiously reads economists’ SSRN preprints to form opin... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

A Grizzled, Months-Old Chrome Tab Welcomes a Fresh-Faced New Tab to My Browser Window

Hey there, youngblood. You must be the new recruit. Welcome to this Chrome window. Well, don’t just stand there with your bookmarks hanging out. Co... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

I Oppose the Democrats’ Plan to Lower Child Poverty. If Kids Want to Eat, They Should Work In Filthy Factories Like They Did in the Good Old Days

“Sending $250/$350 per month/per child to everyone, with no work requirement, is welfare. Being pro-family means being pro-work.” — Sen. Marco Rub... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Are You Preparing Dinner for Children, or Starring in a Post-Apocalyptic Drama?

1. Every single day, the sun hangs low on the horizon, and its slanting rays fill you with dread at the horrors to come.2. You’re not sure how you... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Frequently Asked Questions by Middle-Aged White Pundits About When it’s Appropriate to Use a Particular Racial Slur

Q: When is it appropriate for me, a middle-aged white guy who hosts a podcast, or writes op-eds, or posts as a prominent blogger with a healthy Twi... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

Beaver of Fine Arts: “Your Self Portrait Was Due Yesterday”: Student Reactions According to Their Zodiac Sign

Beaver of Fine Arts: "Your Self Portrait Was Due Yesterday": Student Reactions According to Their Zodiac Sign | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago

In Remembrance of Lawrence Ferlinghetti

All of us here at McSweeney’s mourn the passing of Lawrence Ferlinghetti. He was our north star and compatriot in this small but feisty world of Sa... | Continue reading


@mcsweeneys.net | 3 years ago