Welcome Distractions
New music, book reviews, short stories and more from blog this week
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I’ve been thinking a lot about compassion over the past couple of weeks. It started with the Soot Sprite record that was released last week, which is all about maintaining compassion in crisis. Coincidentally I picked up The Parable of the Sower - the protagonist is a ‘hyperempath’ who actually feels the feelings of those around her.
My dad was the most compassionate person I’ve known. He was smart and well-read, ran the family business until a petty city government municipalized it. He took a job in a uranium mine as a way to make ends until the next thing. The next thing never happened, and he worked underground for 20 years, with a lot of rough guys, people with addiction issues or violent tendencies. Accidents on the job almost killed him several times, including one time when he buried an axe in his knee.
This is a guy who could have, and should have, been jaded, cynical and angry. But he never was. He loved everyone. He’d stand on the front porch smoking filterless cigarettes, and every person that’d walk by would stop to talk. He knew the names of all the kids (not their parents, they were less important). My friends in high school would come around to hang out with him. He bought gift cards for the mail carrier and garbage collectors. He always left the keys in the ignition of his crappy old pickup because if someone was gonna steal that car, they must need it worse than him.
I thought of him a lot while I read the Grandfamily Values piece in the NYT, about a couple raising their own grandkids after their daughter’s addiction problems made her unfit.
That’s another thing that my dad did — there were three different times that my parents took in friends of mine in times of crisis, like in Claire Keegan’s Foster (and the great film adaptation).
It never went well, the kids were always more challenging than expected, but my dad never held it against them. The patient, quiet hope from the grandfather in that NYT story sounded just like my dad.
It also brought to mind Loved and Missed (if you haven’t read it, do it now).
Anyway, stay hopeful, stay positive. Thanks for reading. And now, this:
Off the blog: links you shouldn’t miss
Grandfamily values: in the NYT, Frances Dodds writes about watching her parents raise their grandkids. It’s a crushingly beautiful read.
“It doesn’t matter how many children you have. When you grow a baby in your own body, watch her take her first steps and say her first words, you don’t fathom the odds that her life will become a nightmare. No one can live that way.”
The Reenchanted World by Karl Ove Knausgaard - about rediscovering some kind of wonder in the age of tech. Don’t read the first couple paragraphs unless you’re ready to lose half an hour on this piece.
The Ballad of Bill Fox - I’ve been listening to a lot of Bill Fox after hearing “Terminal Way”. He’s a Daniel Johnston type, and the article is fascinating.
I’m sure you heard about the Chicago Sun-Times’ AI-written feature about books that don’t exist. A couple of great reaction pieces:
Maris Kreitzman in Lit Hub about how she creates lists like this
The Onion’s Bestseller List is brilliant.
Thomas Keller asked me to leave the French Laundry: This is a really beautiful piece about Keller and kindness.
The Online Wisdom-Industrial Complex: Laura Kennedy’s piece about online gurus is quotable for days:
“It’s pretty normal to have an unstable job and regular unsatisfactory dates with a series of people who just discovered ethical non-monogamy via a podcast. They are somehow convinced it’s a great unconventional choice for their otherwise utterly conventional lifestyle.”
How to Make a Living as a Writer: Gabrielle Drolet is a hustler for sure. This piece is inspiring and dispiriting in equal measure.
Bluesky Is Plotting a Total Takeover of the Social Internet: If social media is going to survive, Bluesky is likely what will power it. It might make Jay Graber one of the most important people in tech.
What got your attention this week? Got a hot take on something? Hit reply and let me know.
On the Blog
Reading:
On the Calculation of Volume, Book I: You should read this book. It’s brilliant. It’s a time-loop story but it’s not science fiction and nothing like Groundhog Day. I’ll have the second one in my grubby hands next week.
The Parable Of The Sower got the graphic novel treatment back in 2020. It’s good.
More Everything Forever is a pretty good unifying view of how all of these ghouls in tech and AI right now think: Musk, Altman, Thiel and their various cronies. It gets a bit in the weeds, but I enjoyed it.
The Shortlist: 7 stories this week, by blog faves K.A. Polzin, Emily Rinkema, and Amy DeBellis, plus first-timers Patrick Hueller, Luke O’Neil and Izzi Sneider.
Got a short story? Send it my way
Listening:
Quieter than usual this week since Monday was a holiday. Still:
Virgin Orchestra had their second feature on the site. Their new EP LET IT BURN is essential. I’ve been listening it to it for a couple of weeks and I still can’t get enough. Very good headphones recommended.
Virgin Orchestra’s Backstory has some interesting reference points and inspirations. Definitely worth a browse.
Femme Fugazi has one of the best names in the biz, and their EP Look At You from last November is a blast of #dutchindie.
The Monday Music Post is finding its footing, as a 5-ish song look at stuff that might turn up on the blog. I like finding these super early artists and this is a nice way to spotlight them
The Setlist: standout tracks from Romanie, waltzerr and L’Espiral. It’s 29 songs, 95 minutes.
Listen on Apple Music or Spotify
What’s on your playlist? Send me your faves
Next week: a pre-publication book about AI, philosophy and The X-Men. Music from Australian punks CIVIC and Scandinavian psychedelia from Miynt.
Thanks for being here, and if you’re American, have a great long weekend.
-hugh
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