Although Drunken Boat is going by a new name these days, there’s good news: we will continue to bring you great highlights from our past issues in the form of our Vintage Spotlight posts, just the same as before. On that note, today’s pick comes from DB 17, Summer 2013, and really goes to show the creativity of our contributors. Eric LeMay’s “The Montaigne Machine” is a highly amusing essay generator which combines your thoughts with those of the highly influential 16th century French philosopher Michel de Montaigne. Whether your own conclusions about the above topics are in agreement with those of Montaigne or quite contrary, these short essays are a great source for a few moments of entertainment or, who knows, maybe an insightful new perspective.

Eric LeMay has taught writing at Harvard, Columbia, and the University of Chicago. He is currently on the faculty of the writing program at Ohio University, his alma mater. He serves as an associate editor for the New Ohio Review. He is also a host on the New Books Network. His work has appeared in The Paris Review, Gastronomica, Poetry Daily, the Best Food Writing series, and other venues. He lives in Athens, Ohio, with his wife and fellow writer, Kristin LeMay. To see more of his work, check out ericlemay.org

Click here to try out “The Montaigne Machine”

Vintage Anomaly {FKA Drunken Boat} 116: Eric LeMay’s “The Montaigne Machine,” DB 17 was originally published in Anomaly on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.