The Tangential

Don't be boring. Don't suck.

  • My Anti-Bucket List – Things I Pledge Never to Do

    My Anti-Bucket List – Things I Pledge Never to Do

    -Name my child after a character from Twilight -Fulfill the Minnesotan stereotype of making “a salad” that is mostly noodles and mayo -Keep a blog closely documenting my travels in France -Have a pet named Fluffy, Snowball or Fido -Say “the n word” when I’m hanging out with a bunch of white friends who I…

  • Best/Realest Tweets of the Week, 5/27-6/2/12

    Best/Realest Tweets of the Week, 5/27-6/2/12

    – Compiled by @JayGabler 0 likes

  • The Reality TV Guide to Handling Panic Attacks

    The Reality TV Guide to Handling Panic Attacks

    • Are you suffering from shortened breath and a racing heart? Congratulations, you’re about to get a lot of a-tent-ion! Good thing you prepped by wearing kohl eyeliner and dignified panties, just in case you end up passed out in a sexy doctor’s hands. • Don’t be scared. It’s ok to have panic attacks. You’re…

  • The Dangerous Charm of the Alt Bourgeoisie

    The Dangerous Charm of the Alt Bourgeoisie

    The Alt Bourgeoisie: you know the type. He appears in a piece of experimental theater staged in an abandoned shoe shop, then the next day he’s tagged in a pic slugging brewski with the bros down at the local sports bar. She paints abstract canvases with baby-doll heads cemented to the frames, then goes and…

  • Things I’ve Crossed Off My Bucket List

    Things I’ve Crossed Off My Bucket List

    Wear a scapular around your ankle for over two years in the belief that it will guarantee you a spot in heaven if you die in a state of mortal sin, a belief strong enough that you wear the scapular but not so strong that you wear it around your neck like you’re supposed to…

  • Popular “Life Goals” I’m Happy to Never Achieve

    Popular “Life Goals” I’m Happy to Never Achieve

    Run a marathon In my experience, marathon runners are a lot like Wisconsinites; they’re incredibly cool and fun, or they’re bragging know-it-alls. (“This is not cheese. Minnesota’s lakes just don’t compare. You think you can drink? I’m from Wisconsin.” “You just don’t get it until you’ve experienced that high around mile 18…it’s indescribable, I just…

A short history of The Tangential

The Tangential is a pop culture and creative writing blog launched in 2011 by three writers living in Minneapolis: Becky Lang (now Radecki), Jay Gabler, and Katie Sisneros. That was a golden age of irreverent confessional blogging, and over the first couple years we built a national following. Notably, we gained over 120,000 followers on Tumblr, where we were often associated with the provocative, extremely online writers in the movement known as alt lit. We created spinoff blogs including The Sport Hole, The Party Whip, The Tangential Ruins Minneapolis, and Tan Genitals. We hosted Minneapolis events and published three books.

We were having so much fun, in fact, that we never got around to monetizing. Oops! Well, we did have a little income from the books and events, and we became an Amazon affiliate. (This is your official disclosure that we subsidize our hosting costs via revenue from partner links.) Eventually, though, the editors and contributors who fueled the site’s early years largely moved on to other projects.

Today, The Tangential is run by Jay, who continues to publish criticism and other writing as well as to maintain the site’s catalog of posts — if only for, as we’ve always said, “the good of society.”

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