Interruption And Coke

The Church Of Interruption

Sam Bleckley | 22nd November 2011

There are two conversational dogmas: the Church of Interruption and the Church of Strong Civility. Interrupters speak until interrupted, breaking in on others when they understand the point being made. Their counterparts speak briefly, using physical cues to indicate that they'd like to speak next. Everyone belongs to one or the other. Conversation is easy within each church, but hard across the divide (900 words)

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The Coke Factory

Turner Brooks | Paris Review | 4th February 2026

Account of a young architect's obsession with the New Haven, Connecticut, coke plant. It was 1966 and the J.M.W. Turner-esque cloud of steam that the factory produced — "so thick it looked like one could climb into it" — was mesmerising. He started making nocturnal visits to stare at the giant mechanised ovens, each seventy-five feet deep, that transformed coal into coke. Highly evocative writing (1,300 words)