57 Incredible Reasons I Loved the Brick House in 2022

WE STARTED THE Brick House two years ago as a cooperatively-owned platform—a place of our own, where writers and artists can publish entirely free from the interference of owners, advertisers, investors, platforms, or anyone else.

Popula is just one of our publishers; the others are Awry, FAQ NYC, Hmm Weekly, No Man Is An Island, Olongo Africa, Preachy, Sludge, and Tasteful Rude.

I am so proud of this weird place, which is unlike any other publishing concern in the world, and I thank you so very much for coming round to read it—and, if you can, for making a donation to our continued experiments in protecting, and practicing, real press freedom.

(This list of things I loved about the Brick House in 2022 is long, but incomplete… I just had to stop at 57 because I got sleepy.)

In 2022, the Brick House:

1. Published editor-in-chief Tom Scocca’s new book, 19 Folktales, with illustrations by Jim Cooke
2. Tussled with some goons from the Authors Guild
3. Started our own Mastodon instance, thelife.boats
4. Mourned Angelo Badalamenti with Alex Pareene
5. Revealed fossil fuel and defense investments made by Progressive Caucus Rep. Ro Khanna’s wife, after a promise to divest
6. Reflected on the passing of Sacheen Littlefeather with Myriam Gurba
7. Launched our first podcast: Populacast!
8. Made this video, dir. Rafael Shimunov, about protecting libraries, and presented it at the Internet Archive’s Library Leaders Forum in San Francisco
9. Ventured online with Anandi Mishra’s Indian parents
10. Opened the new Shopula! with beautiful posters, zines, books and stuff
11. Figured out what was on the (weirdly empty) bookshelves at Puck
12. Experienced a New Orleans hurricane with Andru Okun and The Celebration Gator
13. Defended the right of babies to fly first class
14. Were introduced by Ernest Nweke to a soccer legend of 1970s Nigeria
15. Offered for sale at Shopula the first book from Brick House member OlongoAfrica’s new imprint: The Nigerian travel classic An African Abroad, reprinted for the first time since 1963
16. Reflected on the mirror with Agri Ismaïl
17. Wondered, with The Fine Print, whether or not Sam Bankman-Fried would show up for that New York Times DealBook conference (he did)
18. Wondered what the hell Blake Masters was aiming at
19. Foolhardily rented a haunted apartment in Montreal with Nathan Munn
20. Went on the most extraordinary walk with Hamza Moshood
21. Got real mad at James Bennet
22. Got real mad at Tom Cotton and Jonathan Chait
23. Got real mad at Josh Barro
24. Couldn’t even believe that Matt Levine piece about crypto
25. Got a couch in Taipei
26. Spoke Spanish
27. Observed that Mastodon is fun
28. Talked with George Saunders about achieving his heart’s desire
29. Conducted experiments in microtipping at MozFest
30. Learned about the connections between Taiwan and Ukraine from Brian Hioe
31. Mourned Diana Spencer with Henry Wismayer
32. Marveled at Mariam Adetona’s solar generator
33. With Olaoluwa Oni, considered questions of “savagery” and British colonialism posed by Ṣóyínká’s Death and the King’s Horseman
34. Published a stirring defense of digital ownership rights from Eve 6’s Max Collins
35. Enjoyed a spectacular conversation between Max Read and Tom Scocca on the politics of Andor
36. Reported on Oakland’s amazing “Democracy Dollars” program to fight election finance corruption
37. Published an oral history on the suicide epidemic in a former Wyoming Boomtown, by J.J. Anselmi
38. Went to the movies with No Man Is An Island
39. Got a nuanced perspective on Giorgia Meloni from our Italian friend, Mattia Salvia
40. Discovered $3.5 million in oil money secretively contributed to big jerks Sinema, Cuellar et al.
41. Mourned Parade Magazine with Joe MacLeod
42. Mourned the death of the dog Wang Wang with Brian Hioe
43. Celebrated Halloween with Anna Merlan
44. Published a fine, searing essay on racism and Star Trek by Donald Earl Collins
45. Published Kate Harloe’s Mediaquake series, which asks the big questions about journalism, capitalism and the future of both
46. In partnership with OptOut, demanded that corporate media stop taking fossil fuel money
47. Challenged readers to determine the difference between Harry Siegel and an AI
48. Lost and regained our illusions with Trevor Alixopulos
49. Read sequels with Jason Katzenstein
50. Considered the Taco
51. Visited New York City with Ken Layne!
52. Fell into a freezing river with Danuta Hinc (and in love again with her prose)
53. Took a tour through the antiquities of Luxor with Chris Barker and learned about the future and meaning of tourism in Egypt
54. Learned what Amla fruits are in a beautiful comic from Ita Mehrotra
55. Learned about the history of the Slavic Christian Church from Casey Taylor
56. Interviewed New York’s first responders
57. Hosted Tom Scocca’s defense of digital archiving, presented at the Internet Archives’ Library Leaders Forum in San Francisco

IF you want this wild cornucopia to continue pouring forth (YES), please consider a donation!!

Thank you for making it to the bottom of this list! and best wishes for a happy New Year.

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