Earlier this year, I finished reading The Book of Joy, a series of conversations between His Holiness The Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. One quote in particular stuck out with me: “When you are grateful,’ Brother Steindl-Rast explained, ‘you are not fearful, and when you are not fearful, you are not violent. When youContinue reading “a posture of gratitude”
Category Archives: life
the importance of being earnest
Spotify has a habit of suggesting podcasts. There’s one in particular that gets recommended to me over and over again, with a title something along the lines of “Your Favorite Band Sucks.” Why would I be the least bit interested in this? Why is it we citizens of the internet have decided it’s fun orContinue reading “the importance of being earnest”
the problem with cancel culture
The idea of being “cancelled” has been on my mind a lot lately. There are times when public figures do and say unspeakable things, many of which merit legal action and criminal charges. This is not a defense of those actions. But there are also moments where someone slips up and says the wrong thingContinue reading “the problem with cancel culture”
check the scoreboard
I read yesterday that Trump wants to kick 200,000 people off Social Security before leaving office. I have no idea if this is true or not, but it made me think. It seems in our political moment, our two parties can’t agree on a metric to measure success. Democrats measure people benefiting from social servicesContinue reading “check the scoreboard”
if you want to write songs, write songs
I had an interesting conversation today. I met a woman who described herself as a songwriter. She told me she’d been in Los Angeles for five years, trying to work in the music industry. She works at a recording studio, for a producer who has worked with a bunch of musicians we’ve all heard of.Continue reading “if you want to write songs, write songs”
i hate blogging
i hate this i’m not good at it i’m gonna stop pretending to curate this space instead, i’m going to share stuff i think is interesting that’s the point of all this anyway, right?
lessons learned at karaoke night
You ever wonder if you could learn valuable life lessons from getting drunk and singing a bad rendition of Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” in a bar packed with people? Rob Sheffield thinks so. In his book, Turn Around Bright Eyes: A Karaoke Journey of Starting Over, Falling in Love, and Finding YourContinue reading “lessons learned at karaoke night”
a cabinet of curiosities
In his book, Steal Like an Artist, Austin Kleon recommends collecting the things that inspire you in a place called a Swipe File. In an attempt to refill my creative well, I’ve start using my Tumblr page again, this time as a swipe file–a place to assemble quotes, pictures, gif sets, music, and videos IContinue reading “a cabinet of curiosities”
mr. america
(presented without commentary or commercial interruption)
zines, zines, zines
Lately, I’ve been taking a page from Austin Kleon’s book recently and spending my free time making zines. It’s been a magnificent way to pass time, channel my anxiety during this time, and jolt my creativity into action. I recently listened to an episode of Design Matters with Debbie Millman that featured Seth Godin. “TheContinue reading “zines, zines, zines”
joshua chamberlain 