Essays

Personal essays and memoir writing by Bo Laurent.

These are the pieces closest to the memoir: remembered lives, sustaining friendships, intellectual pleasures, and moments whose meanings took years to emerge.

Two lines of type. Above, in serif: '…C. Wiesemann and L. G. the dsd (2021)', with the garbled author name in black and the rest greyed. Below, in monospace: 'AU - dsd-LIFE Group'.

Nobody Proofreads a Kindness

What an AI did with Anne Fausto-Sterling’s reading list

Eighteen references arrived as pasted text. What came back had DOIs, a repaired corporate author, and two published corrections nobody had mentioned.

Aug 9, 2026

Bo Laurent

Four-panel meme reading '5 minutes after invention of' the wheel, books, complex gears, and computers, each with someone declaring that the whole world is that thing.

The Whole World Is a Railroad Network

Two panels the meme is missing, and what they suggest about the one we’re living in.

Aug 4, 2026

Bo Laurent

The Self-Referential Kangaroo

This Joke Has No Punchline.

Jul 31, 2026

Bo Laurent

Looking for the students of Mary Dell Morrison

Mary Dell Morrison taught mathematics at Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, and won a Presidential Award for it. I am trying to find the people who remember her.

Jul 30, 2026

Bo Laurent