Nonfiction

I tend to write about music but have also written about things like film and politics.

Work samples are listed by publication date.

Michael Lentz

Dec 8, 2019
8 min

“It’s only good”: using song to transform character in Marriage Story

I love musicals. It’s endearing to me, the way a character can take time to process something with music and poetry differently than if...

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Michael Lentz

Apr 28, 2018
5 min

Each prayer accepted, and each will resigned

I’m sitting at the dining room table on chairs that I just assembled in my first apartment. I’ve been living alone for a week and a half....

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Michael Lentz

Dec 27, 2017
3 min

Mercury in Retrograde

Mercury is in retrograde. At least for another few hours. Retrograde, in this context, describes a type of motion that occurs between...

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Michael Lentz

Jun 19, 2017
19 min

A New American Narrative

In her book, A Brief History of Myth, Karen Armstrong discusses the prevalence of myth-making through time as a way that humans have...

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Michael Lentz

Jan 14, 2017
4 min

“Be Thou My Vision”: three linguistic perspectives of a hymn.

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart; Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art. Thou my best thought, by day or by night, Waking...

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Michael Lentz

Nov 9, 2016
7 min

“This is a historic opportunity to see someone who may become president”: Last minute rallies in Mic

The red candidate I attended a rally for the republican candidate for president on Monday, October 31 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The...

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Michael Lentz

Oct 30, 2016
9 min

“My torturer became my remedy”: Beyoncé’s shift from independence to cooperative reconciliation

When Beyoncé’s Lemonade dropped earlier this year, speculation over the health and future of Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s marriage percolated in...

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Michael Lentz

Sep 23, 2016
21 min

“Why are you so far from saving me?”: examples of suffering in the music of Bon Iver, La Dispute, an

After a five-year hiatus, which was originally announced as a permanent break, the prominent Indie Rock band Bon Iver has announced a new...

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