Gold foil illustration of stars

Faces in a Crowd

Catching Glimpses of Humanity from a Distance
a crowd of people looking to the left

We all have our little solipsistic delusions, ghastly intuitions of utter singularity: that we are the only one in the house who ever fills the ice-cube tray, who unloads the clean dishwasher, who occasionally pees in the shower, whose eyelid twitches on first dates; that only we take casualness terribly seriously; that only we fashion supplication into courtesy; that only we hear the whiny pathos in a dog’s yawn, the timeless sigh in the opening of the hermetically-sealed jar, the splattered laugh in the frying egg, the minor-D lament in the vacuum’s scream; that only we feel the panic at sunset the rookie kindergartner feels at his mother’s retreat. That only we love the only- we. That only we need the only-we. Solipsism binds us together.... That we feel lonely in a crowd; stop not to dwell on what’s brought the crowd into being. That we are, always, faces in a crowd.

David Foster Wallace – Girl with Curious Hair

Ledsome

Cover image for the Ledsome word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Scrough

a person working on the sidewalk

Kinchy

Cover image for the Kinchy word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Siso

Cover image for the Siso word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Pax Latrina

Cover image for the Pax Latrina word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Latigo

aerial view of a city at night

Poggled

a person studying a book with a magnifying glass

Star-Stuck

a man walking towards a door with a large question mark

Fygophobia

Cover image for the Fygophobia word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Routwash

Cover image for the Routwash word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Eigenschauung

Eigen-schauung

Cover image for the Eigenschauung word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Hobsmacked

Cover image for the Hobsmacked word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Anthrodynia

Cover image for the Anthrodynia word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Pâro

Cover image for the Pâro word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Lockheartedness

Cover image for the Lockheartedness word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Holiette

Cover image for the Holiette word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Hemeisis

Cover image for the Hemeisis word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Gaudia Civis

a close-up of a gear

Star-Stuck

a man walking towards a door with a large question mark

Anaphasia

Cover image for the Anaphasia word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Querinous

Cover image for the Querinous word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Bareleveling

Cover image for the Bareleveling word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Lackout

Cover image for the Lackout word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Mottleheaded

Cover image for the Mottleheaded word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Achenia

a close-up of a bottle with an organic object inside

Aulasy

a blurry image of a house on the road

Leidenfreude

Cover image for the Leidenfreude word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows