Carlo Rotella

Nov 1, 2024 | vqronline.org | Meera Subramanian |Carlo Rotella |Sarah Khatry |Bethanne Patrick

This issue presents a collection of nonfiction held together by the first-person singular, that lynchpin pronoun that can be the conduit to some larger idea, or the confidences of an inner life. Andrew Hudgins offers a wry diary of the days following his wife’s foot surgery. Meera Subramanian recounts her experience donating a kidney to a friend’s boyfriend, someone who ignored his poor health until it led to crisis.

Nov 1, 2024 | vqronline.org | Carlo Rotella

In music, as in just about everything else, time is the final container. It’s the biggest Russian doll because everything goes in it and it doesn’t necessarily go in anything. You can play in time without playing in harmony—by keeping the beat, for instance—but when you play in harmony you inevitably play in time as well, since the notes you play ring true only in relation to other notes sounded before, after, and at the same time.

Jul 16, 2023 | strangersguide.com | Carlo Rotella

A transit of Venus or Mercury occurs when one of these planets passes between Earth and the sun and is therefore visible to observers on Earth as a dark spot moving across the face of the sun. Early astronomers used such transits to estimate how far they were from the nearest star. In this way, the movements of relatively small bodies, discrete moving parts of the dynamic whole, might be used to imagine the scale of the solar system or, indeed, of the universe.

Feb 15, 2023 | nytimes.com | Carlo Rotella

Jan 26, 2023 | hilobrow.com | Carlo Rotella