A Brief History of What Is Even Going On Here

FIRST IT WAS A SHOW

The HOW I LEARNED SERIES was a live, monthly storytelling and reading series that ran for a decade in New York from 2009 to 2019, and featured writers and performers holding forth on a different theme every month.

Guests included Alexander Chee, Ayo Edebiri, Mira Jacob, Anna Sale, Hugh Ryan, Starlee Kine, Jami Attenberg, Isaac Fitzgerald, Aparna Nancherla, Dodai Stewart, Taylor Negron, Maggie Estep, Nick Flynn, and many, many more.

The series was born on the Lower East Side at Happy Ending, that beloved, sticky-floored, fire hazard (RIP). Then there were shows at The Bowery Electric, Housing Works, and Caveat in lower Manhattan, Union Hall in Brooklyn, and Le Chat Noir in New Orleans.

It was hailed in New York Magazine, Electric Lit, CBS New York, the New York Times, Tin House, Brooklyn Magazine, The Village Voice, Time Out, and more, including one guy who recognized me on the street that one time.

Then life happened. And Covid happened. Everything else was the before times.

NOW IT IS A MAGAZINE

In July 2025, HOW I LEARNED was resurrected and re-formed into what you’re looking at right now. (Is it a magazine? Is it a newsletter? A blog? A Sub***ck? Who even knows. What does “it” mean, et cetera.)

HOW I LEARNED stories are personal narratives with an evocative spin on existential ideas. Stories about both the horror and the hilarity of being in the world.

Short nonfiction by new, emerging, and established writers drops once a week in FEATURED ESSAYS. MY NEXT GHOST, LAST THING I’LL SAY, and DREADLINE are all sub-sections of HOW I LEARNED written by me.

AND THIS IS ME

My name is Blaise Allysen Kearsley. I’m a writer, teacher, and coach.

If you’re still here, you may or may not be wondering how I produced and hosted a show for 10 years. I don’t know. I’m an awkward introvert with a self-image problem and confusing personal style. But, I guess, with the right cocktail and a great crowd on a good hair day, I’ll get up and tell a story about my bad-decision making almost anywhere.

There will be a How I Learned show in the future, but I’m really excited to see how this venture evolves as an online outlet for writers and artists. I am thrilled and grateful that you’re here.

Read, share, and subscribe, won’t you? Then, let’s all get off the internet for a bit. We can meet back here later.