Michael Quinn
  • About
  • Book Reviews Quinn on Books Gay Sensibility
  • Critical Influences
  • Script Doctor
  • Personal & Reported Essays
  • Interviews
  • Contact

Michael Quinn

  • About/
  • Cultural Criticism/
    • Book Reviews
    • Quinn on Books
    • Gay Sensibility
  • Critical Influences/
  • Script Doctor/
  • Personal & Reported Essays/
  • Interviews/
  • Contact/
Book Collage Photo Credit Michael Quinn.JPG

Michael Quinn

Critical Influences

Michael Quinn

  • About/
  • Cultural Criticism/
    • Book Reviews
    • Quinn on Books
    • Gay Sensibility
  • Critical Influences/
  • Script Doctor/
  • Personal & Reported Essays/
  • Interviews/
  • Contact/

A blog that feels its way through the fog of ideas.

Short dispatches on the things that shape my ideas as a writer, critic, and human being.


November 10, 2025

Selena Gomez Is Giving Éponine Energy

November 10, 2025/ Michael Quinn
Selena Gomez Is Giving Éponine Energy

As a closeted teenager, I found expression for how I felt in Éponine’s unrequited love song “On My Own.” Decades later, I still hear that ache in the voices of Linda Ronstadt and Selena Gomez—singers with more than a little in common.

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November 10, 2025/ Michael Quinn/
art & identity, critical influences, cultural criticism, LGBTQ+, music, music criticism
May 01, 2025

Jen Ng’s Soundscapes of Williamsburg: Retracing Brooklyn’s DIY Past

May 01, 2025/ Michael Quinn
Jen Ng’s Soundscapes of Williamsburg: Retracing Brooklyn’s DIY Past

Community advocate Jen Ng believes "if you have the right people and the right kind of vision in mind, then that's a very magical combination for getting shit done.” In this interview, Jen reflects on her journey from AOL chat rooms to Williamsburg's DIY music scene.

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May 01, 2025/ Michael Quinn/
interviews, cultural criticism, art criticism, music criticism
interview, cultural criticism, brooklyn, diy, williamsburg, music history, indie music, jane's walk, mas, municipal arts society, Jen ng, soundscapes of williamsburg, memoir, todd p, sto len, Aaron tripp, ben running, nick ishmael, zola jesus, aol, chat rooms, Jane jacobs, 90s, monster island basement, trader joe's, mix tapes, chinese, immigration, domino park, sxsw, Mary lou lord, Elliott smith, public records, gowanus, showpaper, indie rock, k records, lois, lois maffeo

Critical Influences photo credit: Michael Quinn

© 2018-2025 Michael Quinn