Sky O’Brien

is deputy editor at Dispatches Magazine. He lives in Elsah, Illinois.

Contributions

Dream Tonight of Peacock Tails

Sky O’Brien

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December 13, 2024

“They’ll take the park,” she said... as she looked up at the houses on Telegraph Hill. “I’ve seen it happen. In Pasadena.” —Sky O'Brien

Dispatches at the DNC

Sky O’Brien

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Marius Sosnowski

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August 29, 2024

Marius Sosnowski & Sky O'Brien's coverage of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.

Willis Barnstone

Sky O’Brien

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Marius Sosnowski

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July 17, 2024

"Good poetry is always song... Song precedes writing."—Willis Barnstone

Through a Screen, Darkly

Sky O’Brien

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February 16, 2024

"There’s something reverent, even religious, about all these layers. The screen’s protector—its image—is elevated to the status of artwork."—Sky O'Brien

On Oppenheimer

Steve Wasserman

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Jamie Aylward

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Sky O’Brien

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Jeff Hewitt

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October 13, 2023

Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer," as discussed by the editors and friends of Dispatches magazine—rants, raves, reviews and more.

Sarah Schulman

Sky O’Brien

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September 5, 2023

"I’m never questioning the artist making what they want to make, but we have to look at why certain things are elevated and other things are repressed."—Sarah Schulman, by Sky O'Brien

In Conversation: Susan Chen

Sky O’Brien

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August 13, 2023

"As a painter, I’m always trying to ask, How can I say the most with the least amount... How do you edit things out? " —Susan Chen

Alfredo Jaar

Sky O’Brien

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July 26, 2023

"And that’s what we do as artists. We insert ideas into existing ideological circuits." —Alfredo Jaar, by Sky O'Brien

Steinberg's Tantric Universe

Sky O’Brien

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May 19, 2023

“Steinberg’s line is full of gaps, and, therefore, invites the finest bliss."—Sky O'Brien on Joe Milutis on Roland Barthes on Saul Steinberg

The End of the World Smells Like Tomato Soup

Sky O’Brien

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November 3, 2022

"The restaurant was full. I looked down at the evening sun poking through my Monet mashed potato." —Sky O'Brien

Postpostpostpostpostpostwar

Sky O’Brien

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October 28, 2022

"There’s no such thing as postwar. War is the mother of the modern state... haunting the present like an after-hours ghost." —Sky O'Brien

The Art of War

Sky O’Brien

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May 10, 2022

"If Monet hadn’t been so ambitious—Clear Morning with Willows is 42 feet long—I might have found God." —by Sky O'Brien

The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Sky O’Brien

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December 20, 2021

"From characters wrestling with legacies of Khmer Buddhism to the Communist regime to West Coast technologism, nothing was safe from his sardonic wit..."

Lost, Damned, & Confused

Sky O’Brien

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July 18, 2021

A dispatch from the South West forests outside of Perth, in Western Australia.

We're Not Done Yet

Sky O’Brien

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May 12, 2021

“A nonconformist to the end, the New York Times reported that Ferlinghetti died of lung disease, not the virus. He was 101 years old. The lawyers had taken their time." —Sky O'Brien

Searching for Solace

Sky O’Brien

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January 16, 2021

The Decameron Project, new fiction commissioned by The New York Times Magazine, reviewed by Sky O’Brien.

Vigil in Perth

Sky O’Brien

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November 10, 2020