The Impatient Reader | Rainey Knudson | Substack

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American 250

12. Martha Earl Sampler

“Remember me.”

Jan 16 • Rainey Knudson

11. Wilson Bentley Snowflake Photographs

A universe that is patterned, generous, and infinitely inventive

Jan 15 • Rainey Knudson

10. Eddie Murphy’s Delirious Suit

He was swinging for the fences.

Jan 14 • Rainey Knudson

9. The Waas’go Legend Totem Pole

A cautionary tale of not-good-enough

Jan 13 • Rainey Knudson

8. Lady Elaine Fairchilde

Let’s make the most of this beautiful day.

Jan 12 • Rainey Knudson

MFAH 100

MFAH 100 talk & book signing!

Gary Tinterow and I will chew the fat

Sep 3, 2025 • Rainey Knudson

100. The Art Guys, SUITS: The Clothes Make the Man

This wild American experiment is worth our attention, and our love.

Dec 31, 2024 • Rainey Knudson

99. Herman Detering, Beyond the Hedges

Houston has a way of disarming people who have no intention of staying.

Dec 30, 2024 • Rainey Knudson

98. Kapriman Post for a Ceremonial House

How can something look so different to one set of cultural eyes from another?

Dec 29, 2024 • Rainey Knudson

97. Melvin Edwards, Redemption

It’s so easy to get swept into the river of the things we might worship.

Dec 28, 2024 • Rainey Knudson

Recent posts

9. The Waas’go Legend Totem Pole

A cautionary tale of not-good-enough

Jan 13 • Rainey Knudson

8. Lady Elaine Fairchilde

Let’s make the most of this beautiful day.

Jan 12 • Rainey Knudson

7. The Indiana Jones Boulder

It’s the anti-Sisyphus.

Jan 9 • Rainey Knudson

6. Everlast Aluminum Handbag

It was a substance for hope.

Jan 8 • Rainey Knudson

5. The Maid of the Mist

She rescues the experience.

Jan 7 • Rainey Knudson

4. Wayne Thiebaud, Cakes

Our world has not exhausted its meaning.

Jan 6 • Rainey Knudson

3. Lyda Newman’s Hairbrush

Change the everyday, and you change life itself.

Jan 5 • Rainey Knudson

2. Babe Ruth’s "Called Shot" Jersey

Why we love the spectacle of his excellence

Jan 2 • Rainey Knudson

1. Lower Pecos Rock Art

6,000-year-old visions well beyond some basic impulse to survive

Jan 1 • Rainey Knudson

My 2025 Music Playlist

Songs I liked this year

Dec 29, 2025 • Rainey Knudson

What Do We Want from Antiquity? (750 words)

Our nation turns its lonely eyes to Rome.

Dec 27, 2025 • Rainey Knudson

Announcing The American 250

The stuff of America

Dec 24, 2025 • Rainey Knudson

Poetry

10. Olivia Newton-John, Xanadu

Perhaps Xanadu is not a place, but a state of being.

Feb 12, 2025 • Rainey Knudson

6. Shakespeare, Full Fathom Five

Notes on the sea change.

Feb 7, 2025 • Rainey Knudson

The Girls Who Deceive Themselves (574 words)

A Room with a View of Sex and the City of Philadelphia Story of Pride and Prejudice

Aug 29, 2024 • Rainey Knudson

Hurricane Beryl Frogsong (173 words)

With froggy hurricane audio!

Jul 8, 2024 • Rainey Knudson

Notes from a Forgotten Artist (98 words)

If what I made disappeared, could I still speak to you somehow?

Nov 28, 2023 • Rainey Knudson

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