Author’s Note

I work in a senior technical role managing IT infrastructure at a public university, and a good share of what I do now is build and use tools like this one. The enterprise IT services I manage are the kind that, by any reasonable staffing model, should each have a team of twenty to thirty people behind them. Years of budget cuts left most of them with one or two, and in my case a single person running several services at once.

That arrangement makes real service improvement nearly impossible. There is no slack, no time, no second pair of hands. What has changed is that AI now writes code that would otherwise be a full-time job for a medium-sized team, the kind of team management is never going to give me. So I build the team I do not have out of tools like this. This guide is one of them, pointed at writers rather than servers, but it comes from the same place: do the work of many with the time of one.

It’s also important to say that I’ve worked as a journalist, a copywriter, an editor, a creative director, and written plenty of fiction. Tools like this aren’t usually made by people with that experience, and technical people often make presumptions about how such tools will be used by creatives that are wrong.

Overview

If you write a Substack of any size, you will eventually accumulate more posts than you can re-read with fresh eyes, and typos will calcify. A name gets misspelled in one piece and correctly spelled in another. A date or a claim slips through. This guide describes a repeatable workflow for pulling an entire publication into a single text file and having Claude proofread and fact-check every piece in one pass, then return an editable report you can work from directly.

The workflow has two stages. Stage one exports every post into one file (scraping). Stage two points Claude at that file with an editing prompt. Stage one is the only part with moving pieces.

Prerequisites

A paid Anthropic account. That’s it.

Claude Pro is $20 per month, and for this kind of work it pays for itself quickly. The free tier runs a lighter default model and caps usage well before a publication-sized job gets finished.

Pro will give you access to the full model lineup, including the strongest (and latest) model, plus enough headroom to scrape, parse, and analyze a decent number of posts in one sitting.

If you run this constantly across a very large archive and hit limits, the Max tiers at $100 and $200 per month buy more headroom, but most individual writers will never need them.

Model Selection and Configuration

Proofreading and fact-checking is exactly the kind of task where model quality shows. You want the model catching a subtle subject-verb disagreement buried in a long clause and noticing that a claim in paragraph three contradicts one in paragraph nine.

Use the most capable model available (currently Claude Opus 4.8), and set its reasoning effort to “high” (sometimes shown as extended thinking). Select the model from the model picker at the top of the chat. The effort or thinking control sits in the same menu or in settings.

The trade-off is speed. High-effort Opus is slower and uses more of your usage budget than a quick chat. That is the correct trade here. A fast, shallow pass that misses errors is worse than no pass at all, because it gives you false confidence. Let it think, and go make yourself a coffee and have a smoke and let it cook.

Setup: Exporting Your Posts

Free posts

Every Substack publication exposes a public archive that lists its posts, and each post has a public address. Claude can page through the archive, pull the full text of each post, convert it to clean Markdown, and stitch it into a single file ordered oldest to newest. Nothing technical is required of you. You hand Claude the scraping prompt below with your publication’s address filled in, and it does the rest.

Paywalled posts: the session cookie

If some posts are subscriber-only, the public archive returns only a short preview of them. To pull the full text, Claude needs to make the request as a logged-in subscriber. Since this is your own publication, or a publication you pay to read, you are entitled to that text. You provide access by handing over one browser cookie, substack.sid, the token that proves your Substack login.

How to copy it:

1. Log in at substack.com in your browser.

2. Open developer tools. Press F12, or right-click the page and choose Inspect.

3. Go to the Application tab (in Firefox and Safari it is called Storage).

4. In the left sidebar, expand Cookies and click https://substack.com.

5. Find the row named substack.sid and copy its full value. It is long and starts with something like s%3A.

6. Paste it into the chat and tell Claude it is your substack.sid cookie.

Cookie security (read before use)

These are the real dangers, so read them before you copy anything:

• The substack.sid cookie is effectively a temporary password for your entire Substack account. Anyone who has it can act as you. Treat it exactly like a password: never post it in public, never share it, and never paste it anywhere you would not paste your login.

• Only ever use your own cookie, and only for content you personally subscribe to. This is for unlocking what you already pay for, not for getting around anyone’s paywall.

• The moment the scrape is done, sign out of that browser session. Logging out invalidates the cookie so it is useless to anyone afterward, including you, which is the point.

• Do not save the cookie in a file, a note, or a password manager field meant for something else. Copy it, use it, retire it.

Cookie scope

One technical note worth knowing: Substack scopes the login cookie to the substack.com domain, and that single substack.sid cookie covers every publication your one account subscribes to. So you only need to copy it once, even if you are pulling several different newsletters.

Stage One: The Scraping Prompt

Keep this prompt somewhere handy and reuse it for any publication by swapping the placeholders.

Scrape every post from the Substack at {SUBSTACK_URL} into a single clean file I
can feed to an editor.

Do it like this:
- Page through the publication's public archive API to collect every post (handle
  pagination, don't stop at the first 50).
- For each post, fetch the full body, not just the archive snippet.
- Convert the HTML to clean Markdown. Preserve image links and embedded links.
  Keep my text exactly as written.
- Order the posts oldest to newest.
- Give each post a header with its title, section, subtitle, date, and canonical URL.
- Tell me the total count, and flag any post you could only get as a paywalled preview.

Save the result as {OUTPUT_FILENAME}.

For paywalled posts I subscribe to: I will paste my own substack.sid session cookie
so you can fetch the full text I'm entitled to read. Use it only to retrieve my
subscribed content, don't store it, and remind me to sign out afterward.

Fill in {SUBSTACK_URL} with your publication address (either https://yourname.substack.com or your custom domain) and {OUTPUT_FILENAME} with whatever you want the file called, such as mypublication_export.md. If you would rather have one file per article than a single combined file, just add that to the prompt.

When Claude finishes, you will have a Markdown file with every post in it. Download it. That file is the input for Stage Two.

Stage Two: The Proofread and Fact-Check Prompt

Upload the file from Stage One, then give Claude this:

You are a top-level proofreader and editor. Look for any usage errors and typos and
point them out in order, by piece with the title and url. Then fact-check every claim
that can be verified, and clearly label anything that cannot be verified as unverified
rather than guessing at it. Give it to me as a text file I can download and edit.

That is the whole thing. With Opus 4.8 on high reasoning, Claude reads each post, lists its usage errors and typos in order under that post’s title and URL, then fact-checks every claim it can verify, and packages all of it into a downloadable text file you can work from line by line.

Please note: the fact-check is only as good as what is verifiable. For current or obscure facts, Claude can search the web, but it will and should tell you when something is unconfirmed rather than guessing. And it is reporting candidates, not gospel. You are still the editor. Some of what it flags will be intentional on your part: dialect spelling in dialogue, a coined term, a deliberate fragment. That is fine. The point is that nothing slips by unexamined.

Letting it hammer typos is basically word processor on steroids stuff, but for fact-checking, I always manually check everything it flags. I never trust what it gives me without verification.

What You Are Actually Getting

Be clear-eyed about this. AI optimizes for the median. That gets you mediocrity, and mediocrity is exactly enough for the job in front of you: catching typos, usage errors, misattributed quotes, inconsistent spellings, and the rest of the crumbs you leave behind. It does not replace an actual editor. It will not tell you a piece is structurally broken, that an ending is unearned, or that a paragraph should be cut. What it will do is clean up a great deal of the small mess, give you some peace of mind, and free you to make the editing decisions that still require a human, which is to say you.

Customization: Prompt Tweaks and Style Guides

The proofread prompt is a starting point, not a ceiling. There are two ways to make it yours. Once you see a lot of noise in what you get back, you’ll want to refine it. Here’s how:

Tweak the prompt directly. Add instructions for what you care about. A few examples:

• “Ignore dialect and phonetic spelling inside quoted dialogue; those are intentional.”

• “Be conservative on fact-checking: only flag claims you can actively contradict with a source, not ones you merely cannot confirm.”

• “Note any place a proper noun is spelled inconsistently across pieces.”

Upload a style guide. If you have a personal style sheet, your own list of rules, preferred spellings, banned constructions, house formatting, upload it alongside your posts and add one line to the prompt:

Also follow the attached style guide. Use it to decide what counts as a problem, and
flag anything in my posts that violates it.

Now Claude is not just applying generic copy-editing standards, it is enforcing yours. If your guide says you never use the Oxford comma, or that a particular name is always spelled a particular way, or that you spell out numbers under a hundred, those become part of what it checks for. The more specific your guide, the more the output reads like notes from an editor who already knows your work.

Summary

1. Subscribe to Claude Pro ($20/month) and select Opus 4.8 with reasoning set to high.

2. Run the scraping prompt with your publication filled in. Provide your substack.sid cookie if you have paywalled posts, then sign out afterward.

3. Download the combined file.

4. Upload it and run the proofread and fact-check prompt, with any tweaks or a style guide attached.

5. Download the report and edit from it.

Run it whenever you have published a batch of new posts. It takes a few minutes of your attention and gives you a clean, sourced pass over everything you have written.

This is at BUS (Bar Under the Sun) near my home. I come here on Saturday mornings sometimes for breakfast and free yoga. It used to be a Greyhound bus station but it’s been turned into a bar, restaurant, and music venue. They make decent ahi tuna tostadas and the bartender here turned me on to mezcal negronis when they were out of gin, which is nice because I don’t have to choose between my favorite two countries.

This is where I live. It was built in 1926, so by American standards, it’s ancient. I hear all the fights through my single-paned window and a strong gust can bust them. I have one boarded up currently.

It’s a good space. They are old law offices converted to apartments and everything is concrete. It stays surprisingly cool and I don’t hear my neighbors and they don’t hear me, which is good, because I make a lot of noise with music.

One thing I missed living in the Mediterranean is tropical thunderstorms in the summer. Now that it’s hurricane season, we get them often. This is the one that busted my window.

HypeBike is the bike shop downstairs. They often have funny displays like this to draw in traffic. I bought my bike there and credit it for my turn towards fitness. They also run a club for group rides called Zorillos (skunks for the Spanish impaired). I’m a member in good standing.

This building is where my representative has an office and the coffee shop downstairs sells brisket kolaches. If you are Czech, I know a savory one is properly called a klobasnek, but it’s Texas. Don’t take it personally. They have a hard enough time pronouncing Spanish and German place names correctly, even though the majority of the people in this part of the state are of Tejano, Mexican and/or German heritage. We are illiterate in our own languages, so don’t expect us to respect yours.

But one thing I like about living here is that the buildings downtown prefer to fly the Texas flag over that other one, which is a comfort to me, so there is a benefit to the provincialism of my people.

It wouldn’t be this fancy: no bellows or ground glass, but I realize not everyone can visualize “view camera” if it’s not something they are used to hearing.

I. Understanding the Camera

The Speculum Solis is two open-ended plywood boxes that telescope together and lock permanently at a fixed 300mm focal length. No bellows, no movements, no ground glass, no mechanical shutter. None of those are needed for infinity-focus celestial work.

The Rear Box

The rear box is the outer box. Five panels: left side, right side, top, bottom, and back. Open at the front. The back panel has a large rectangular opening through which the film inside the loaded holder faces the lens. Two channel strips on each interior side wall grip the film holder lip as it slides straight down from the top of the back opening. The holder loads and unloads from the top rear. The two boxes never separate after locking.

The Front Box

The front box is the inner box. Five panels: left side, right side, top, bottom, and lens board. Open at the rear. It slides into the open front of the rear box and locks permanently at 300mm focal length with brass pins through both top panels. After that it does not move.

The Film Holder

The Graflex film holder slides straight down from the top of the rear box back opening into the channel strips. It seats with its face against the interior of the back panel. The film sits at exactly the film plane, 300mm from the lens. Pull the dark slide upward to expose. Replace it immediately after. Lift the holder straight up and out.

The Shutter

The shutter is an M39 screw-on lens cap. Remove it to begin an exposure. Replace it to end one. The minimum practical exposure is one second, which is the time needed to lift and replace the cap with a smooth, deliberate motion. Sub-second exposures are not possible with this method. Plan every session around a one-second minimum. For all the subjects covered in this guide, one second or longer is either required or preferred.

The Light Path

Celestial subject, filter (solar) or bare lens (lunar and twilight), lens, through the interior of both boxes, film at the rear box back panel. Every interior surface is flat black. Every joint is sealed with black silicone. No light enters except through the lens.

II. Materials

A. Lumber

Item Specification Qty Notes Baltic birch plywood 1/2” thick, 4×8 sheet 1 sheet All box panels Baltic birch plywood 3/4” thick, small piece 1 piece min 9-1/4”×11-1/4” Lens board, ask for offcut Thin plywood strip 1/4” thick Small amount Film holder channel strips Thin plywood ring stock 1/4” or 3/8” thick scrap Small piece Solar filter cell frame

B. Hardware

Item Specification Qty Wood glue Titebond Original 1 bottle Black silicone caulk Any brand 1 tube Foam weatherstrip Adhesive-backed, 3/8” thick × 1/2” wide 10 feet Brass wood screws #6 × 3/4” 1 box Brass wood screws #8 × 1-1/4” 1 box Threaded brass insert 1/4-20 thread 1, tripod mount Brass screw eyes Small 4, cord routing Brass corner protectors Small exterior type 8 Brass escutcheon pins Small decorative nails 4, nameplate Brass rod 1/8” diameter 6 inches, lock pins Flat black chalkboard paint Brush-on, matte 1 small can Paintbrush 2” flat 1 Small artist brush For corners 1 Sandpaper 120, 180, 220, 400 grit Several sheets each Black gaffer tape Cloth-backed, non-reflective 1 roll, filter sealing

C. Optical and Photographic

Item Specification Source Cost Lens Rodenstock Apo-Gerogon 300mm f/9, M39 thread eBay $40–100 Lens flange M39 female threaded flange, flat mount eBay $5–15 Lens cap M39 screw-on, serves as shutter eBay/Amazon $3–8 Solar filter Baader AstroSolar ND 5.0 visual grade, 1 A4 sheet Amazon/astronomy $15–20 Film holders Graflex 8×10 (already purchased) Owned — Tripod 1/4-20 head screw (already purchased) Owned — Sheet film Ilford FP4 Plus 8×10, box of 25 Adorama/B&H $60–80 Changing bag Large double-zip, Harrison or Photoflex Adorama/B&H $40–60 Rifle sights Williams peep sight set with brass bead front Gun shop/online $25–35 Dovetail rail 3/8” aluminum, 12 inches Brownells/Midway $8–15 Digital caliper For measuring film holders Harbor Freight $10–15 Field notebook Waterproof Any $5–10 Stopwatch or phone timer For exposures over 10 seconds Any —

D. Finishing

Item Specification Source Steel wool 0000 grade Hardware store White vinegar 1 quart, for iron acetate Grocery store Black tea bags For tannin pre-treatment Grocery store Watco Danish Oil Dark Walnut or Natural Hardware store Paste wax Johnson Paste Wax or similar Hardware store Nameplate Brass 3”×1”, SPECULUM SOLIS, Trajan serif, aged Etsy engraver Eva-Dry E-333 × 2 Mini dehumidifier desiccant units Home Depot/Amazon Nitrile gloves Box of 100 Hardware store Safety glasses For chemistry work Hardware store

E. Darkroom and Printing Chemistry

Item Specification Qty Rodinal / R09 One Shot Film developer 500ml bottle Rapid fixer Ilford or Kodak 1 liter Silver nitrate Crystals, for paper sensitizing 30 grams Sodium chloride Non-iodized kosher salt Small box Sodium thiosulfate Crystals, for print fixing 500 grams Hypo clearing agent Kodak or Heico Perma Wash 1 packet Gelatin sheets For paper sizing Small amount Egg albumen Fresh eggs, for salt coat binder As needed Distilled water 1 gallon jugs 3 gallons minimum Processing trays 11×14 inch minimum 3 Brown glass bottles 500ml, for chemistry storage 5 Darkroom thermometer Accurate to 1 degree 1 Hake brush 2” wide, soft, one per chemistry type 2 Fabriano Artistico paper 300lb hot press, 8×10 or larger 20 sheets Contact printing glass Optical quality, 10×12”, 2 pieces Local glass shop Heavy binder clips Large size 6

III. Cut List

Hand this to the Home Depot cutting desk. All cuts are straight cuts. Check each piece before leaving the store.

A. From One 4×8 Sheet of 1/2” Baltic Birch Plywood

Rear Box, 5 pieces:

Piece Dimensions Qty Purpose Side panels 11” × 13” 2 Left and right walls of rear box Back panel 11” × 13” 1 Back wall, receives film holder opening (jigsaw) Top panel 10” × 13” 1 Top of rear box Bottom panel 10” × 13” 1 Bottom of rear box, receives tripod insert (drill)

Front Box, 4 pieces:

Piece Dimensions Qty Purpose Side panels 9-1/4” × 11-1/4” 2 Left and right walls of front box Top panel 8-1/4” × 11-1/4” 1 Top of front box Bottom panel 8-1/4” × 11-1/4” 1 Bottom of front box

B. From Small Piece of 3/4” Baltic Birch Plywood

Piece Dimensions Qty Purpose Lens board 9-1/4” × 11-1/4” 1 Front panel of front box, lens hole and flange

C. Channel Strips — Cut After Measuring Film Holders

Piece Dimensions Qty Purpose Inner strips 1/4” × 1/2” × [holder height]” 2 Flush against back panel interior face Outer strips 1/4” × 1/2” × [holder height]” 2 Parallel to inner, gap equals holder lip thickness

D. Solar Filter Cell — Cut After Lens Is Mounted

Piece Dimensions Qty Purpose Outer ring 1/4” ply, outer ~4”, inner = lens barrel OD + 1mm 1 Sits over lens barrel Retaining ring 1/4” ply, same outer, inner slightly smaller 1 Sandwiches filter film

E. Jigsaw Cuts

Cut 1: Film Holder Opening in Rear Back Panel

Mark a rectangle centered on the 11”×13” back panel. Opening width equals holder face opening width plus 1/16” clearance each side. Opening height equals holder face opening height plus 1/16” clearance. Leave 3/4” border left, right, and bottom. The top of the opening extends to within 1/2” of the panel top edge — no border at top. That is what allows the film holder to slide straight down from above. Drill a starter hole, cut with the jigsaw, sand the inside edges smooth.

Cut 2: Lens Hole in Lens Board

Find dead center of the 3/4” lens board by drawing diagonal lines corner to corner. Where they cross is center. Place the M39 lens flange face down centered on that point and trace the inside of the flange. Drill a starter hole, cut the circle slowly. File or sand until the flange sits perfectly flat against the wood with its center aligned.

IV. Build Instructions

Step 1: Measure Your Film Holders Before Anything Else

Before cutting anything, measure all three Graflex holders with a digital caliper. Write down every measurement. When building, use the largest value in each category so all three holders fit.

Measurement What to Measure Used For A: overall thickness Full holder body, jaw to jaw at center Interior depth reference B: lip thickness The flat flange lip only Gap between inner and outer channel strips C: lip projection How far the lip extends from holder face Forward position of outer channel strip D: overall width Full width including both lips Must fit within 10” rear box interior E: overall height Full height including lips Channel strip length F: face opening width Clear film gate opening on holder face Film holder opening cut, width G: face opening height Clear film gate opening on holder face Film holder opening cut, height

Standard 8×10 film plane depth from holder reference surface to film is 0.251 inches with film loaded. Verify the Graflex holders are within spec. Vintage wood holders can warp. Replace any that are significantly out of spec.

Step 2: Make the Two Jigsaw Cuts

Film holder opening in back panel: mark the rectangle using measurements F and G plus 1/16” clearance, centered, 3/4” borders left, right, and bottom, opening to within 1/2” of the top edge. Drill starter hole, cut with jigsaw, sand inside edges.

Lens hole in lens board: find dead center with diagonal lines. Trace the M39 flange inner diameter. Drill starter hole, cut slowly. File to fit. The flange must sit perfectly flat.

Step 3: Paint All Interior Faces Before Assembly

Paint before assembly. Once the boxes are built, many interior surfaces are unreachable.

Mark the exterior face of every piece with a pencil X. Sand interior faces through 120 then 180 grit. Apply flat black chalkboard paint, two coats on all interior faces, three on all edges and corners. Cure overnight.

Step 4: Assemble the Rear Box

Side panels (11”×13”) are the outer walls. Top and bottom (10”×13”) fit between the sides: 10” + 1/2” + 1/2” = 11”. Back panel closes the rear. Front stays fully open.

Dry fit first. Confirm all corners square, back panel flush, no gaps over 1/16”.

Glue and screw: left side to top panel, Titebond bead, clamp, check square, two countersunk pilot holes, #8 × 1-1/4” brass screws. Right side to top panel, same. Both sides to bottom panel, same. Back panel: glue all four edges, clamp all sides, check that both diagonal measurements are equal, screw around the perimeter every 4”. Cure overnight with clamps.

Caulk: run black silicone along every interior corner and joint. Smooth with a wet finger. Cure 24 hours.

Step 5: Install Film Holder Channel Strips

Cut four strips 1/4” × 1/2” × measurement E tall. Cut slightly oversized, sand to fit.

Inner strips: back edge flush against the back panel interior face, full length of the opening. Glue and pin nail. Both sides.

Outer strips: gap between inner and outer equals measurement B exactly. Glue and fasten.

Test fit before the glue cures. The holder must slide smoothly with no binding and seat firmly against the back panel. Adjust before the glue sets. This is the tightest tolerance in the build.

Weatherstrip: foam weatherstrip around the entire perimeter of the film holder opening on the interior back panel face.

Step 6: Assemble the Front Box

Side panels (9-1/4”×11-1/4”) are the outer walls. Top and bottom (8-1/4”×11-1/4”) fit between the sides: 8-1/4” + 1/2” + 1/2” = 9-1/4”. Lens board closes the front. Rear stays open.

Assemble sides to top and bottom panels: glue, clamp, square, pilot holes, brass screws.

Attach lens board to front: glue all four front edges, clamp, check square, drive screws around the perimeter.

Caulk all interior joints. Cure 24 hours.

Apply adhesive foam weatherstrip around the entire outside perimeter of the open rear end, all four sides. This is the primary light seal between the two boxes.

Step 7: Mount Lens Flange and Lens

Center the M39 flange over the lens hole on the exterior lens board face. Mark four mounting hole positions. Drill pilot holes. Apply a thin bead of black silicone around the lens hole perimeter. Seat the flange. Drive four brass screws evenly in a cross pattern. Thread the Rodenstock Apo-Gerogon in until firmly seated. Seal around the outside edge of the flange with black silicone. Cure 24 hours.

Lens Board Tilt Check: Do Not Skip. A tilted lens shifts the focal plane and degrades sharpness across the frame. Sight down the lens barrel from the front. The aperture blades should appear as a perfect circle, not an ellipse. From the side, confirm the barrel is perpendicular to the board face with a small square. If tilt is present, shim under the flange on the high side, retighten, reseal, recheck.

Step 8: Build and Mount the Solar Filter Cell

Safety. Never look at the sun through any optical device without a properly mounted ND 5.0 or higher solar filter. The solar filter cell is used only for solar photography. For lunar and twilight photography, remove it entirely. Handle the Baader film carefully: a pinhole or tear means replacing the whole cell.

The Baader AstroSolar ND 5.0 filter must be mounted in a rigid cell that registers over the lens barrel with a fully light-tight seal. A loose sheet of filter film laid over the lens is not acceptable.

Measure the lens barrel outer diameter precisely with the caliper.

Outer ring: 1/4” plywood, approximately 4” outside diameter, inside diameter equals lens barrel OD plus 1mm. Cut with jigsaw. Sand the inside diameter smooth. It should slide over the barrel with slight friction.

Cut the Baader film approximately 1/2” larger than the outer ring outside diameter in each direction. Handle by edges only.

Retaining ring: same outside diameter as the outer ring, inside diameter 1/4” smaller than the filter film piece.

Assemble: thin black silicone bead on the top face of the outer ring. Lay the Baader film over it. Another bead on the film perimeter. Press the retaining ring down. Clamp lightly. Cure 24 hours.

Weatherstrip: foam weatherstrip around the inside diameter of the outer ring, the face that presses against the lens board when mounted.

Mount: slide the filter cell over the lens barrel until the weatherstrip face presses against the lens board. Secure with two strips of black gaffer tape crossing over the cell onto the lens board. Replace the tape each session.

Testing the Filter Cell. With the filter cell mounted and the lens cap removed, take the camera to a dark room. Shine a bright flashlight at the filter cell from various angles. Check from behind. No light should penetrate the cell edges. Any glow means more foam weatherstrip or gaffer tape is needed.

Step 9: Pre-Lock Sharpness Verification

The brass pin lock is irreversible. A 1–2mm focal length error produces noticeable softness. Do not drill until sharpness is confirmed by a test exposure.

Slide the front box to the 300mm position. Clamp both boxes firmly with large binder clips on all four sides. Do not drill yet.

Load photographic paper in a film holder. Aim at the sun at solar noon using the composition template. Make a test exposure of 4 seconds at f/45 with the solar filter mounted. Develop in print developer for 60 seconds.

Evaluate the solar disc edge under a magnifier. It should be crisp and well-defined. If soft, adjust focal length 2–3mm and repeat.

f/45 introduces visible diffraction softening. That is intentional: it produces exposure times of one second and longer that are practical to hand-time. For salted paper contact printing, the slight softness is compatible with the process. Working at f/22 reduces diffraction but requires more precise timing at shorter exposures.

Once sharpness is confirmed, mark the box positions with a pencil. Drill two 1/8” holes through both top panels simultaneously, one 2” from the left side, one 2” from the right side. Insert the brass rod pins. Seal with black silicone. Attach small chains to the pins so they cannot be lost.

Step 10: Install Tripod Mount

On the exterior bottom face of the rear box bottom panel, mark center: 5” from each side, 4” from the back edge. Drill the hole for the 1/4-20 threaded brass insert. Install flush with the surface. Test with the tripod screw.

Step 11: The Lens Cap Shutter

The M39 screw-on lens cap is the shutter. One second minimum. Plan every session around that.

Exposure Sequence:

1. Insert film holder. Confirm it is fully seated.

2. Pull the dark slide completely upward. Set it safely aside.

3. Hold the lens cap loosely over the lens barrel without threading it.

4. Lift the cap cleanly away. Exposure begins. Start counting or start a timer.

5. At the end of the count, replace the cap firmly. Exposure ends.

6. Replace the dark slide immediately.

7. Flip the dark slide to black side out. Note the exposure in the field notebook.

8. Thread the cap back on fully.

Timing:

• 1–9 seconds: count one-one-thousand, two-one-thousand. Reliable to within half a second.

• 10–60 seconds: phone stopwatch or wristwatch with second hand. Start as the cap lifts.

• Over 60 seconds: phone timer set to the target duration. Lift cap when it starts. Replace cap when it ends.

Step 12: Mount Rifle Sights

Center the 12” dovetail rail on the rear box top panel, running front to back along the exact centerline. Four pilot holes through the rail. Drive small brass screws.

Slide the rear peep sight approximately 2” from the rear. Lock. Slide the front bead sight approximately 2” from the front. Lock.

Alignment check: the bead must appear perfectly centered in the peep aperture. The sight line must be parallel to the lens optical axis in both planes. Reposition and relock until confirmed.

Step 13: Light Leak Test

This must pass completely before any film is loaded.

Load a film holder with photographic paper. Seat it in the camera. Pull the dark slide. Mount the filter cell. Remove the lens cap.

Dark room: wait 5 minutes for eye adaptation. Flashlight inside the camera pointed toward the lens. Inspect every exterior surface for any glow. Mark leaks with chalk. Seal. Repeat until zero leaks.

Paper Confirmation: Load paper in a holder. Pull the dark slide. Mount the filter cell. Replace the lens cap. Outside in direct sun for 30 minutes. Develop the paper. Completely clear paper with no marks means no leaks.

Step 14: Iron Acetate Ebonizing Solution

Drop four pads of 0000 steel wool into a glass jar of white vinegar. Leave uncapped for 3–5 days until dissolved. The solution turns dark amber. Start this while assembling the camera so it is ready when construction is done.

Step 15: Exterior Finishing

Only after the light leak test passes. Do not disturb sealed joints.

Sand all exterior surfaces through 220 grit.

Tannin pre-treatment: five tea bags in one cup of boiling water. Apply two coats to all exterior surfaces, dry completely between.

Iron acetate: brush onto all exterior surfaces. The wood darkens immediately. Two to three coats, cure overnight between each. Sand 400 grit between coats.

Danish Oil: two coats, 24 hours between, wipe off excess after 20 minutes each. Buff with 0000 steel wool when fully cured.

Paste wax: apply by hand. Buff to a gentle sheen.

Step 16: Mount Brass Hardware

Brass corner protectors on all eight exterior corners with small brass screws.

SPECULUM SOLIS nameplate centered on the lens board below the lens. Mount with brass escutcheon pins. Tap gently until flush.

V. Composition Template

Cut a piece of black foamcore to the exact interior dimensions of the film holder gate. It slides into the camera channels the same way the film holder does. The sun or moon projects a bright spot through the lens onto it, letting you place the disc precisely before loading any film. For solar work the spot is immediate and intense. For full moon work it is dim but visible when eyes are fully dark-adapted.

Making the Template

Measure the actual clear gate opening of the Graflex holders. Cut the foamcore to that exact size. Build up the thickness with laminated layers to match holder depth so it seats at the same depth as the loaded holder.

Mark dead center with a crossed hairline. Make a needle pinhole at each of the four golden ratio points and at dead center.

Golden Ratio Points on 8×10

Position From Left From Top Character Upper left 3.09” 3.81” Presiding: formal, austere Upper right 6.91” 3.81” Presiding: formal, reversed weight Lower left 3.09” 6.19” Rising: active, ascending energy — recommended first attempt Lower right 6.91” 6.19” Rising: reversed, balanced weight Dead center 5.00” 5.00” Mandala: confrontational, archetypal

For golden hour, blue hour, and lunar work, the lower left rising position is the strongest. The disc emerging from the lower left against a large dark field suggests movement and imminence.

VI. Solar Photography

The camera was built for solar noon but works across the full range of solar and twilight conditions. The character of the negative changes with each condition. The solar filter cell is required whenever the sun is above the horizon, no matter how dim it looks.

A. Solar Noon

Solar noon in Corpus Christi falls between 12:30 and 1:15 PM depending on the time of year. Maximum elevation, shortest atmospheric path, highest UV intensity, sharpest disc. This is the primary use case.

Condition Aperture ISO Filter Starting Exposure Notes Noon, clear f/45 125 ND 5.0 2s Bracket 2s, 4s, 8s, 16s Noon, thin haze f/45 125 ND 5.0 4s Extend bracket upward Noon, light cloud f/45 125 ND 5.0 8–16s Unpredictable, bracket wide

B. Mid-Morning and Mid-Afternoon

Roughly 9–10:30 AM and 3–4:30 PM in Corpus Christi. Longer atmospheric path, lower UV. Add approximately one stop of exposure for each hour away from noon under clear conditions.

Time Sun Elevation Exposure Adjustment Solar noon 65–75 degrees (seasonal) Baseline 1 hour from noon 55–65 degrees +1/2 stop: add 1–2 seconds 2 hours from noon 45–55 degrees +1 stop: double baseline time 3 hours from noon 35–45 degrees +1.5–2 stops: 3–4× baseline 4 hours from noon 20–35 degrees +2–3 stops: 4–8× baseline

C. Golden Hour

The hour before sunset and after sunrise. Maximum atmospheric path, disc softening, potential elongation from atmospheric refraction, and significantly longer exposures. The hardest condition to work in and the most rewarding when it comes off. The negatives look nothing like solar noon work.

The solar filter cell is always required during golden hour. The sun at low elevation looks dim to the eye but is still dangerous to view directly without filtration. Do not remove the filter cell until the sun is fully below the horizon.

At exposures of 2 minutes and longer, expect reciprocity failure with FP4 Plus. The effective film speed drops and the image will be underexposed without compensation. Bracket toward longer times and use 90-minute stand development for maximum density recovery.

Condition Sun Elevation Aperture Starting Exposure Bracket Range 30 min before sunset, clear 15–20 degrees f/22 or f/32 8s 4s, 8s, 16s, 32s, 64s 15 min before sunset, clear 8–12 degrees f/22 16s 8s, 16s, 32s, 64s, 2 min 5 min before sunset, clear 3–6 degrees f/16 32s 16s, 32s, 64s, 2 min, 4 min

Atmospheric haze at any elevation: double the starting exposure above and bracket more widely. Haze reduces UV unpredictably.

At golden hour, open the aperture to f/22 or f/16. The wider aperture reduces diffraction softening that the atmosphere would have introduced anyway, and keeps exposure times manageable.

Field Technique:

Scout the location the day before at the same time. Note where the sun sets and the tripod position that gives the composition.

Arrive 45 minutes before sunset with the camera mounted and the composition template installed. Confirm composition while the sun is high enough to project a clear bright spot. Lock tripod head settings with tape.

Make one exposure every 5–10 minutes as the sun descends. The disc changes quickly. Keep notes: time, aperture, exposure duration, atmospheric conditions.

For exposures over 30 seconds, the solar disc will trail slightly as it moves during the exposure. This is not a failure. At golden hour the elongation reads as presence and duration, a quality the clean noon disc does not have.

D. Blue Hour and Civil Twilight

Civil twilight is when the sun is between 0 and 6 degrees below the horizon. The disc is gone. What is left is the light the sun leaves behind: deep sky tones transitioning from orange at the horizon through blue-violet overhead. The technique is closer to lunar work than to golden hour. Bare lens, no filter, long exposures, aimed at the horizon or above it.

Once the sun is below the horizon, remove the solar filter cell. Never use the ND 5.0 filter for blue hour work. It will produce a completely blank frame.

Blue hour lasts about 20–30 minutes after sunset in Corpus Christi under clear conditions. Aim slightly above the sunset point for residual warm sky tones, or at the dark eastern horizon opposite the sunset for the deepest blue. Both produce interesting negatives.

With no filter and f/9 at ISO 125, exposures run from roughly 30 seconds early in the period to several minutes as full darkness comes. The composition template method is not practical at blue hour. Aim by rifle sights and mark tripod head settings based on pre-session planning.

Blue Hour Condition Aperture Starting Exposure Bracket Range Just after sunset (0–1 deg below) f/16 8s 4s, 8s, 16s, 32s Early blue hour (1–3 deg below) f/9 30s 15s, 30s, 60s, 2 min Mid blue hour (3–5 deg below) f/9 90s 45s, 90s, 3 min, 6 min Late blue hour (5–6 deg below) f/9 3 min 2 min, 4 min, 8 min

At exposures of 2 minutes and longer, reciprocity failure becomes significant. Bracket toward longer times and use 90-minute stand development. Blue hour work at these exposure lengths produces negatives with a soft, luminous tonal scale that suits salted paper well.

E. Horizon Phenomena

Within one to two degrees of the horizon, unusual atmospheric effects become possible. The Green Flash is a brief intense green rim visible for one to two seconds as the disc disappears below a clean sea horizon. It has been documented in Corpus Christi under clear conditions. The Omega Effect is a visible flattening of the disc due to differential atmospheric refraction, more reliably seen and photographed. Both require f/16 or wider, very long exposures, and aggressive bracketing. Treat them as bonus opportunities when already set up for golden hour, not as primary targets.

F. Solar Disc Movement

The sun moves approximately one full disc diameter every two minutes at any elevation. On an 8×10 frame with a 300mm lens the solar disc is approximately 28mm in diameter. For exposures over 30 seconds the disc trails slightly. For exposures over 60 seconds the elongation becomes part of the image rather than a problem. At golden hour with very long exposures, the movement reads as presence and duration.

VII. Lunar Photography

The moon requires completely different technique, filtration, and exposure strategy. The solar filter cell is never used for lunar work. It would block all useful light. The bare lens is used with no filtration.

The moon reflects sunlight. Its brightness varies enormously across its phases. The full moon at its brightest is approximately 400,000 times dimmer than the noon sun, roughly 19 stops. The exposures that required a dense ND filter and ran in seconds for the sun now run in seconds to minutes with no filter at all.

Remove the solar filter cell completely before any lunar session. Store it safely. Using it on the moon produces a blank frame.

A. Phases and Apparent Brightness

The moon’s brightness does not follow a linear progression from new to full. The full moon is disproportionately bright due to the Opposition Effect: at full phase, backlighting eliminates shadows on the lunar surface. A half-illuminated moon is approximately ten times dimmer than a full moon, not two times. Exposures for the half moon run 3–4 stops longer than for the full moon.

Phase Approximate Brightness Exposure vs Full Moon Full moon Maximum, nearly shadowless backlighting Baseline Gibbous (3/4 illuminated) Approximately 1/4 of full moon 2 stops longer Half moon (quarter phase) Approximately 1/10 of full moon 3–4 stops longer Crescent (1/4 illuminated) Approximately 1/50 of full moon 5–6 stops longer Thin crescent Very dim, near horizon only 6–8 stops longer

B. Lunar Exposure Table

Ilford FP4 Plus ISO 125, bare lens, no filter. One second minimum throughout.

At exposures of 2 minutes and longer, expect reciprocity failure. Bracket toward longer times and use 90-minute stand development for thin crescent negatives.

Phase Elevation Aperture Starting Exposure Bracket Range Full moon High (45+ deg) f/45 1s 1s, 2s, 4s Full moon Medium (20–45 deg) f/45 2s 1s, 2s, 4s, 8s Full moon Low (10–20 deg) f/32 4s 2s, 4s, 8s, 16s Full moon Very low (under 10 deg) f/22 8s 4s, 8s, 16s, 32s Gibbous moon High f/32 4s 2s, 4s, 8s, 16s Gibbous moon Medium f/22 8s 4s, 8s, 16s, 32s Half moon High f/16 16s 8s, 16s, 32s, 64s Half moon Medium f/16 32s 16s, 32s, 64s, 2 min Crescent moon High f/9 60s 30s, 60s, 2 min, 4 min Crescent moon Medium f/9 2 min 60s, 2 min, 4 min, 8 min Thin crescent Near horizon f/9 4 min 2 min, 4 min, 8 min

Starting points only. Lunar exposure is more variable than solar. Keep field notes, evaluate the developed negatives, and adjust the next session. When uncertain, lean toward overexposure.

C. Disc Size and Movement

The full moon’s apparent diameter is almost identical to the sun’s: approximately 0.5 degrees. At 300mm on an 8×10 frame the lunar disc is also approximately 28mm in diameter. The same compositional decisions apply.

The moon moves one disc diameter approximately every two minutes. For exposures of 1–4 seconds this is invisible on the negative. For the longer exposures required by crescent phases or low elevation, the disc will trail. At 2 minutes the moon moves approximately one full disc diameter, producing a streak rather than a sharp disc. For crescent work, trailing can be a deliberate choice. The thin arc elongated by its own motion across a large black field carries a quality of presence and duration: a record not just of the moon’s position but of the time it took to inscribe itself on the silver. Whether trailing is a defect or an intention is a decision only you can make. To minimize it, use f/9 to keep exposure times as short as possible.

D. Field Technique

Scout the location during daylight. Identify landmarks that will silhouette against the night sky. Note where the moon will rise or set using a moon phase app.

For full moon work, arrive 30 minutes before moonrise. The moon rising from a flat horizon (and the Gulf of Mexico from Corpus Christi beaches is about as flat as a horizon gets) produces images with the same character as solar golden hour work. Apply the same low-elevation exposure adjustments.

For composition template use at night: under full or gibbous moon conditions the projected disc is dim but visible when eyes are fully dark-adapted. Wait at least 10 minutes in darkness before trying to see the projected spot. Under crescent conditions the template method is not practical. Aim by rifle sights and pre-mark tripod head settings based on daylight planning.

Red flashlight for field notes and holder changes. Red light preserves dark adaptation. No white light when the film holder is open or the dark slide is out.

E. Phase Selection for Salted Paper Printing

The full moon at high elevation produces a negative comparable in density to a short solar noon exposure: dense, well-saturated, printing with full tonal range on salted paper.

The crescent moon produces a much thinner negative. The crescent shape itself on a large black field, particularly on 8×10 salted paper, is an extraordinary image with a completely different character from the full disc. The thin, luminous curve of light inscribed against darkness is an inherently Evolian image: the receptive lunar principle rendered in silver on organic material, the complementary pole of the solar series.

For a first lunar session, the full moon at high elevation gives the best chance of a usable negative. Learn the full moon first. Crescent work can follow.

F. The Speculum Solis as Speculum Lunae

The camera named for the sun is equally a mirror of the moon. The Evolian solar-lunar polarity finds its expression in the two photographic series this camera can produce. Solar prints made at noon with maximum filtration represent the active, direct, transcendent principle. Lunar prints made in darkness with bare lens and long exposure represent the reflective, chthonic principle.

Both series use the same process: the same camera, the same film, the same hand-coated salted paper, the same sunlight for printing the contact print. The only differences are the filter, the exposure time, and the hour of shooting. The unity of process across both series is the meaning. The same vessel, the same chemistry, the same organic emulsion, reflecting both the sun and the moon.

VIII. Film Loading, Records, and Development

Loading Film Holders

In complete darkness inside the changing bag, open the film holder. Ilford FP4 Plus has a notch code cut into one corner of the short edge. Hold the film with the notch in the upper right corner: emulsion faces you. Slide the film in emulsion facing the lens side. Close and lock. Flip the holder and load the second sheet the same way.

Dark slide status: silver side out is unexposed. Black side out is exposed. Never mix these up.

Field Notebook

Keep a waterproof field notebook for every session. Record: holder number, side, date, time, subject, elevation, phase if lunar, aperture, exposure duration, atmospheric conditions, and composition point.

Field Example Holder and side Holder 2, Back Date and time June 15, 12:45 PM Subject Solar noon / Golden hour / Blue hour / Full moon / Crescent Elevation 70 degrees / 8 degrees / 35 degrees Aperture f/45 / f/22 / f/9 Exposure 4s / 32s / 2 min Atmospheric conditions Clear / Light haze / Thin cloud / Marine layer Composition point Lower left golden ratio / Dead center Notes Unusual conditions, disc appearance, filter condition, trailing observed

Development: Stand Development in Rodinal

Parameter Value Developer Rodinal (R09 One Shot) at 1:200 dilution Temperature 20°C (68°F) Agitation First 60 seconds only, then stand completely undisturbed Time 60 minutes for normal density / 90 minutes for maximum density Fix Rapid fixer full strength, 3–4 minutes Wash 30 minutes running water Evaluate On lightbox: solar noon negatives very dense; lunar negatives proportionally less so

Use 90-minute stand development for thin crescent negatives and for any exposure of 2 minutes or longer. For full moon and solar noon negatives, 60 minutes is sufficient. When in doubt, develop for 90 minutes. You cannot over-develop for salted paper contact printing.

IX. Salted Paper Contact Printing

Salted paper is a printing-out process. The image forms from light exposure without chemical development. Silver chloride in the hand-coated emulsion darkens under UV light. Fix it and wash it. The entire printing process uses sunlight.

Silver nitrate stains skin black on contact. The stains last for days. Nitrile gloves and safety glasses at all times. Old clothes or a dedicated apron. Silver nitrate permanently stains wood, fabric, and most surfaces it contacts.

Paper Preparation

Size the paper: dissolve 2g gelatin in 100ml warm distilled water. Brush one thin even coat onto Fabriano Artistico 300lb hot press paper. Dry completely, minimum one hour.

Salt coat: dissolve 3g non-iodized sodium chloride per 100ml distilled water. Mix with egg albumen at equal volume. Apply one even coat to the sized paper with a dedicated hake brush. Dry completely in normal light.

Sensitizing: Under Dim Amber or Red Safelight Only

Mix 12% silver nitrate solution: 12g crystals per 100ml distilled water. Store in brown glass bottle. Float paper face-down on the solution for 2–3 minutes or brush on evenly with a dedicated hake brush reserved for silver nitrate only. Dry in complete darkness.

Loading the Contact Frame

Negative emulsion-side down against the sensitized paper emulsion-side up. Sandwich between two pieces of 10×12” optical glass. Clamp firmly with six binder clips around the full perimeter.

Exposing the Print

Direct full sun at or near solar noon. The image will appear and darken visibly. Check progress by loosening one clip, lifting the edge slightly, reclipping. Expose until the print looks noticeably darker than the desired final tone. Fixing lightens the image by one to two stops. Typical range in Corpus Christi: 5–20 minutes.

Processing

Step Chemistry Time Notes 1: Fix Sodium thiosulfate 15%, 150g per liter 2–3 minutes Gentle agitation. Image shifts from reddish-purple to warm brown. 2: Hypo clear Hypo clearing agent per package instructions 2 minutes Gentle agitation. 3: Wash Running tap water 10–15 minutes Removes all residual fixer. 4: Final rinse Distilled water 30 seconds Removes mineral deposits. Essential for exhibition prints. 5: Dry Flat on clean screen under light weight Several hours Prevents cockling.

Wet Paper Handling

Always support the full sheet from beneath with both hands flat. Never pick up by a corner or edge. Wide flat print tongs engaging the full short edge. Use 11×14” trays so the paper floats freely. Dry flat under light weight. Never hang wet paper.

X. Storage and Preservation

Gulf Coast humidity makes fungus prevention an ongoing concern. Lens fungus is effectively irreparable.

Lens Storage: Airtight container with Eva-Dry E-333 desiccant. Check indicator beads monthly: orange is dry and active, green means it needs recharging. Recharge 10–12 hours maximum: never exceed 18 hours. Cap front and rear elements when not in use. Handle only by barrel. Air out monthly.

Camera Storage: Eva-Dry E-333 inside the camera body. Store in a large ziplock bag with additional silica gel. Keep in air-conditioned interior, away from temperature fluctuation.

Solar Filter Cell Storage: Rigid protective case lined with soft foam. The Baader film is fragile: a pinhole or tear means replacing the whole cell. Nothing stacked on top. Check the film surface visually before every solar session.

Film Storage: Ilford FP4 Plus in its original sealed box in a cool dry location. Once opened, store in a sealed container with silica gel.

XI. Checklists

Complete the assembly checklist once before first use. Complete the pre-session checklist before every session.

Assembly Checklist

• Lens seated firmly in flange, no wobble or play

• Lens board tilt confirmed zero: lens axis perpendicular to board face

• Aperture ring turns smoothly and clicks at each f-stop

• Lens glass completely clear when held to light

• Solar filter cell mounted securely, no gaps around lens barrel

• Filter cell confirmed light-tight by flashlight test

• M39 lens cap threads on and off smoothly

• Lens cap fully covers lens with margin on all sides

• Sharpness confirmed by test exposure before pins were drilled

• Lock pins seated firmly through both box top panels

• Focal length confirmed 300mm from lens rear face to back panel interior

• Tripod insert accepts tripod head screw smoothly

• All three Graflex holders slide smoothly into channels from top of back opening

• Each holder seats firmly with face flush against back panel

• Weatherstrip foam compresses evenly around holder perimeter

• Dark slides pull and replace smoothly on all three holders

• Dark slide convention: silver side out is unexposed, black side out is exposed

• Dovetail rail secure, both sights locked, confirmed parallel to lens axis

• Zero light leaks: flashlight test and photographic paper test both passed

• Silica gel desiccant placed inside camera body

• Composition template cut to holder gate dimensions with all five pinholes

Pre-Session Checklist

• Determine subject: solar noon, golden hour, blue hour, full moon, or crescent. Select correct filter configuration.

• Solar and golden hour: filter cell mounted, gaffer tape fresh, no gaps, flashlight test passed

• Blue hour and lunar: filter cell removed and stored, bare lens confirmed

• All film holders loaded with fresh FP4 Plus in the changing bag

• All dark slides confirmed silver side out on loaded holders

• Field notebook with a fresh page, pen working

• Stopwatch or phone timer ready for exposures over 10 seconds

• Exposure bracket plan written in notebook before leaving. Reciprocity failure noted for all exposures of 2 minutes and longer.

• Sun or moon elevation and position calculated for the session time

• Blue hour: sunset time confirmed, post-sunset timing planned

• Tripod set up and camera mounted. Composition confirmed with template where practical.

• Red flashlight for night and blue hour sessions

• Lens cap on lens confirmed before transporting

The only reason I was inoculated early against this was American theater in the 80s, and specifically the work of Sam Shepard. I spent early youth in my stepfather’s theater. If I wasn’t cast in a play, I was training to dance or sing or act. If I wasn’t doing that I was in the costume loft where my mom hand-assembled costumes. If I wasn’t doing that I’d be sitting next to my stepfather while he ran rehearsals. If I wasn’t doing any of those things I was unattended at home, where there was nothing to do but read my stepfather’s plays.

Being the 80s, the plays I often watched or read were those of Sam Shepard. Of course, most Americans only know Sam Shepard from his work as an actor. But even in grad school, no one was reading plays outside the theater department, much less Sam Shepard. I had two friends who could talk for hours about him, but it was LA, they were professional actors, and they both learned him at the Tisch School at NYU. That was it.

The first Shepard play I saw was one my stepfather was cast in. Afterward I raided his library to read every Shepard play he had. He played a gay gangster named Fingers in Geography of a Horse Dreamer that scared the everloving shit out of me. A man from Wyoming named Cody has a gift of dreaming about the winners of horse races, and is kidnapped by criminals kept in a hotel room in London, who try, unsuccessfully, to exploit his spiritual connection to horses for profit. He can only dream about American horses on American land, not greyhounds in England, making a statement I will never forget about people capturing an authentic American experience and commodifying it without understanding what it is. I saw it in real life every day after.

The first time I saw True West on stage, I got it immediately. Two brothers in their mother’s suburban California kitchen: Austin, the educated screenwriter manufacturing an authentic Western for Hollywood, and Lee, the actual drifter who lived the real thing. The producer wants Lee’s story but can only recognize it filtered through Austin’s sanitized version. He literally cannot tell the difference between the real and the fake. He prefers the fake.

In UCLA screenwriting classes I was told I was gifted, but gave up quickly when I realized I would be writing with and for a bunch of Austins. I was told often the industry required specializing in sitcoms or procedurals to break in. An actor neighbor, a Tisch graduate, joked that you could tell the straight actors at Tisch because they all chose Shepard plays for readings.

Shepard wrote about the contemporary Southwest, and the spiritual vacuousness of America. Dramatists like Eugene O’Neill and Arthur Miller wrote about that vacuousness before him, but they tended to moralize about it in a way Shepard didn’t. Cormac McCarthy wrote about the Southwest, but it was operatic and grandiose. Shepard’s characters spoke about things simply as they are. He never needed to editorialize because the truth was already in the voice.

It was the horse trainers and farm hands who were most indoctrinated by the myth and suffered most for it. No one else in post-war American writing gets them with the same precision. Shepard never condescended to his audience by deconstructing the myth like an academic. He wrote from inside of it, and by doing that, he didn’t stereotype or romanticize or preach. It just was. His characters inhabited the very real landscape of the American Southwest, full of disappointment, addiction, obsession, dysfunction, and masculinity with nowhere to go.

If theater had any cachet in American culture outside Broadway musicals, Shepard would have penetrated further. Theater is for everyone but the people who most need it. Shepard did make a few films, notably Paris, Texas, which hit all the same themes. He wrote it specifically for Wim Wenders, a German director looking to tell an authentic American story.

He succeeded, winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes for Paris, Texas. While I’m glad Europeans appreciate my personal favorite American writer, the fact remains that other than my stepfather, a retired theater director, my mom, a retired costumer, and my two friends from LA, I don’t know anyone who has seen the film or knows the award it won.

Between my parents’ divorce and my mother marrying into theater, I spent most of my time with my great uncle on the family horse farm, breaking horses and shoveling shit, my greatest confidant a quarter horse named Bill. When I read Shepard I wasn’t being introduced to something new. I was being handed a mirror.

Later in his career, when Shepard started publishing prose collections like Motel Chronicles and Cruising Paradise , he wrote in his own voice rather than through his characters, and the stories are compelling, unsentimental, and unflinching. Shepard had picked up the nickname Existential Cowboy in the 80s, and reading those collections I was reminded why. It wasn’t a critical label so much as a plain description. I have Shepard to thank for getting me from horse dreaming to Continental Philosophy.

In these books Shepard depicts his alcoholic father living in delusion, plainly showing the ghosts that haunted the old man, and it gave me the courage to do the same in my own writing. It reminded me of my own father, an addicted gambler and criminal so consumed with narcissism that his lack of self-awareness is darkly humorous in contrast to his danger.

Who is the next Sam Shepard? If he’s out there, no one wants him. When I dealt with gatekeepers and they asked me who my influences were, they didn’t know who he was. I didn’t like the writers I was supposed to. The ones I was supposed to like traded in oikophobia, not trying to tell their audience that our culture is built on a crumbling illusion.

Shepard held the mirror up anyway, which requires a courage most writers will never develop.

My first disclaimer is I met a lot of engaging and warm women in Berlin, but they were from France, or Italy, or Bulgaria, or Russia. The German women I met were insufferable and shouted a lot, and were nothing like Katarina Witt, who I will always love for introducing me as a child to Bizet.

Considering that a significant amount of my family tree as far back as it can go is a bracket between Darmstadt and Saarbrücken (with the rest in Modena, Como, and a village near Amiens in Picardy) I had better hopes that I’d like Germans as much as I liked the Normans and Northern Italians I was distantly related to, but that was not the case.

But, the Berliners overall, if we include the men and people from elsewhere in Europe, were quite nice to me and when I’d go there to play the kneipes friends booked for me, plus the occasional busk, I’d come back from the working vacation having broken even. Considering all that and the fact that German was my second language there was a brief moment I thought of moving there from Tel Aviv for a practical improvement in my life, since it was becoming clear it wasn’t going to be in my long term plans to stay in Israel.

But my heart was set on Italy anyway. Denmark was the country where everyone looked the most like me, and it was flattering to have Danes assume by the way I was dressed and my body language that they were confident enough to give me a cold greeting in Danish, but Italy was the only place I felt something truly in common with the people. At least as much as Northern Mexico which has been a few hours away from me for more than half my life. But it never happened because of my dog, which is an even longer story than this one.

So let’s get back to the Berliner feminist, so I can reward your patience with narrative completion. I waited for her patiently to finish yelling at me, and I said, “It’s not named after a woman.”

She rolled her eyes and gestured with her hands out as if to ask “so?”

And I said, “I’m self-taught and my technique is terrible. I don’t know how to use a pick and my producer said that if I was going to insist on playing with fingers he was going to make me play with heavy strings so I wouldn’t sound like shit.”

And she asked “What does that have to do with anything?” Which is probably what you’re asking now, and that’s fair.

And I had to do that thing where I had to look at an imaginary spot up and to my right to remember what my point was too, and I could tell she was getting really irritated. She was about to yell at me again and I wanted her to go away and let me drink in peace, and so I told her:

“So with bad technique, and heavy strings, I bled like a stuck pig every time I played a show, so bad that I had to constantly scrape it off later once it dried, and it didn’t stop until I developed calluses on my nail beds, because I play the guitar like a percussion instrument. So I named my guitar after Yukio Mishima.”

And she didn’t know who that was so there was no danger in me feeling like I was missing out on anything when she walked away. I thought about this today, because it predicted my coming out as a traditionalist, two decades before I even knew what that was. And the strangest part is I was always one, from the moment I was old enough to have an opinion. I just didn’t have the vocabulary to express it because the word people used to describe me was just “weird.”

I’m still reconciling it with my anarchism but I guess Leo Tolstoy and Ted Kaczynski are a decent enough pride of lions to draw to.