So much to love but the dingus of the year is [chef's kiss] perfection. "The revolution will not happen indoors, and its leaders won’t be wearing oxfords and khakis and caring about best practices." I want this bumper sticker. 💜
In my Nashville days, when every other person I met was a songwriter or somehow linked to the music business, I was made aware of... the hook... that phrase or stanza that anchors a song and earns a page in the Roll-a-dex of my mind. "Good time Charlie's got the blues..." Thank you for your morning observation of the surly children at the bus stop and their sullen ride to school. I was was hooked and read on, more carefully than I might have, and suddenly I found myself reminiscing on my outdoor life, from the hilly forest of my childhood in southern Ohio, to the backpacking and fly-fishing in Montana. Hidden in a string of memories was the time I, at 27, was so smitten and emotionally short-circuited by a woman who was married, that I had to walk it off by taking a long hike. With a small backpack and my old cub scout sleeping bag, I attempted to walk the rural N&W rail line the 100 miles east from Cincinnati to my hometown of Portsmouth. On that first night, outside the small town of Mount Orab, I slept in the weeds beside the raised rail bed, my dark blue Air Force raincoat barely protecting me from the noisy droplets of a summer shower. In the wee hours, when the sky cleared and the stars bunched above, I used those raindrops as tears.
"shoved away indoors under fluorescent lights all the time, chained to glowing screens, scrabbling for handouts from our moronic middle management overlords, looking at screens and interacting with bullshit."
Thanks, I needed that wake-up call. Here's to venturing out, in all the weathers, and to turning our attention outwards.
I sure appreciate and enjoy your writing. I also dig the interaction here. The collective responses often bring with them refreshing insight that frequently turns the bleak to hopeful and at the very least commiserates sincerely. There’s a lot of real joy here. Thank you for generating the space and energy for that.
I’ve been prevented from more interaction lately by my mind being chained to a glowing screen, where it has been obliged to interact with a heavy dose of khaki-wearing bullshit, not least of which is my own shameful propping up of best practices. And yet I try to undermine these pernicious forces.
My particular chain is forged from tenure-getting metal (I am a pre tenure, tenure track professor in a school of education, and that bit hit home, as it should.) We In the Academy, we polish our bullshit to a high gloss. The energy required to maintain some semblance of one’s self, to help students keep their sense of self, and to remain employed is pretty stunning. So I’m often robbed of the energy and time to do things I care about like drop a line or three here.
But your experiences and words of the outdoor wonders at dawn and dusk remind me that there is a daily balm in walking my must-be-walked pointer, Deacon. Thank you, again, for reminding me of this goodness. I do appreciate it, along with the delightful responses to it in this community.
Pope Francis has big dingus energy. He's done some good, but like you said, when you are sitting on untold riches and wallow in the ever-flowing tithes of hard-working people, you can at least spend it on things like funding Indigenous schools. I was raised Catholic, and the heart of the problem with it and much of Christianity is that penance is crying to God for forgiveness and getting it when no one answers. I had to give penance to a priest; he told me to recite a few prayers. Penance is earned through actions, and that is the problem. Especially with the newer evangelicals who think being saved means a Get Out of Hell Free card for all eternity, as long as you profess to love Jesus.
Lyrical, incisive writing. As always. I especially enjoy reading about your time outdoors — yes! I am out meandering every day for a few hours, starting an hour or two before sunrise most of the year, just not in the depths of winter when the terrain is more challenging in the dark. I do what’s most important to me first thing, and getting outside is at the top of the “list”. That Moon, those stars, old friends . . . thank you for connecting and relating to what matters.
I told Ralph & Aiko you said hi, and that you were passing it on from the guy with the bumper sticker. They mostly carried on snoring but I'm sure they appreciated it. 🐶 🐶 (will read your post properly soon!)
What a marvellous intention - 1000 hours outside - this really got me thinking. I have worked remotely since 2020 and have now moved my desk etc to somewhere I now receive 100% natural light, rather than the measly 5% (took me a while to join the dots on that one!) After reading your thoughts on rewiring the brain, I too am now going to be more aware of the time outside I can possibly accrue going forwards. It's not that I didn't know this, but it's really helpful to be reminded - thank you.
It has been a really, really, really bad week. I don’t have a dog, so I told my cats you said hi. They stared at me with what I choose to believe is a wisdom too deep for words, and thus did not reply. Thanks as always for writing to us. Sometimes I find it impossible to articulate how I feel about so many things, then I read your post and the comments, and I know that you all know.
"That’s what I mean about rewiring the brain. There is just so much magnificence we miss because we aren’t paying attention to this gift of a world." Glad I happened upon this blog. It's a nice thing to read after falling into a rabbit hole around NEOM. Thank you.
My new pupper Elly will definitely get a hello scritch today on your behalf. She’s getting me outside more than I would on my own, or just with my partner, and I’m grateful for that! I haven’t started clocking hours, but between her and an outdoors-ish job this summer, 1,000 suddenly seems attainable, if maybe a bit aspirational… If nothing else, the balcony stays sunny for longer now, so sitting there and listening to the birds has gotta count, right?
P.S. Two books you might like, if you haven’t read them yet: A Psalm for the Wild-Built, and the sequel, A Prayer for the Crown-Shy. Author is Becky Chambers. Genre is far future sci fi, with lots of biologic hopefulness. I plowed through them this month and enjoyed them immensely. I want to keep their imagined future in mind when it’s all bad news.
Your intro brought tears to my eyes. What a hard week. I loved learning a new word though! And I love virga too! The laminated coupons are just heart warming & those tots look delish. Do you know what time zone the writing workshop will be?
The revolution will indeed not happen indoors! But if it requires tater tots, that might be my downfall.
Wish I could come to Yellowstone, but hope others will and am wishing VERY much that you get to see some wolf pups. 🐺
So much to love but the dingus of the year is [chef's kiss] perfection. "The revolution will not happen indoors, and its leaders won’t be wearing oxfords and khakis and caring about best practices." I want this bumper sticker. 💜
In my Nashville days, when every other person I met was a songwriter or somehow linked to the music business, I was made aware of... the hook... that phrase or stanza that anchors a song and earns a page in the Roll-a-dex of my mind. "Good time Charlie's got the blues..." Thank you for your morning observation of the surly children at the bus stop and their sullen ride to school. I was was hooked and read on, more carefully than I might have, and suddenly I found myself reminiscing on my outdoor life, from the hilly forest of my childhood in southern Ohio, to the backpacking and fly-fishing in Montana. Hidden in a string of memories was the time I, at 27, was so smitten and emotionally short-circuited by a woman who was married, that I had to walk it off by taking a long hike. With a small backpack and my old cub scout sleeping bag, I attempted to walk the rural N&W rail line the 100 miles east from Cincinnati to my hometown of Portsmouth. On that first night, outside the small town of Mount Orab, I slept in the weeds beside the raised rail bed, my dark blue Air Force raincoat barely protecting me from the noisy droplets of a summer shower. In the wee hours, when the sky cleared and the stars bunched above, I used those raindrops as tears.
"shoved away indoors under fluorescent lights all the time, chained to glowing screens, scrabbling for handouts from our moronic middle management overlords, looking at screens and interacting with bullshit."
Thanks, I needed that wake-up call. Here's to venturing out, in all the weathers, and to turning our attention outwards.
I sure appreciate and enjoy your writing. I also dig the interaction here. The collective responses often bring with them refreshing insight that frequently turns the bleak to hopeful and at the very least commiserates sincerely. There’s a lot of real joy here. Thank you for generating the space and energy for that.
I’ve been prevented from more interaction lately by my mind being chained to a glowing screen, where it has been obliged to interact with a heavy dose of khaki-wearing bullshit, not least of which is my own shameful propping up of best practices. And yet I try to undermine these pernicious forces.
My particular chain is forged from tenure-getting metal (I am a pre tenure, tenure track professor in a school of education, and that bit hit home, as it should.) We In the Academy, we polish our bullshit to a high gloss. The energy required to maintain some semblance of one’s self, to help students keep their sense of self, and to remain employed is pretty stunning. So I’m often robbed of the energy and time to do things I care about like drop a line or three here.
But your experiences and words of the outdoor wonders at dawn and dusk remind me that there is a daily balm in walking my must-be-walked pointer, Deacon. Thank you, again, for reminding me of this goodness. I do appreciate it, along with the delightful responses to it in this community.
Cheers,
-Nigel
Thank you for pointing out Dancing Boy! As an east-sider my eyes are too new on the west side of the overthrust belts. He's dynamic!
Pope Francis has big dingus energy. He's done some good, but like you said, when you are sitting on untold riches and wallow in the ever-flowing tithes of hard-working people, you can at least spend it on things like funding Indigenous schools. I was raised Catholic, and the heart of the problem with it and much of Christianity is that penance is crying to God for forgiveness and getting it when no one answers. I had to give penance to a priest; he told me to recite a few prayers. Penance is earned through actions, and that is the problem. Especially with the newer evangelicals who think being saved means a Get Out of Hell Free card for all eternity, as long as you profess to love Jesus.
Lyrical, incisive writing. As always. I especially enjoy reading about your time outdoors — yes! I am out meandering every day for a few hours, starting an hour or two before sunrise most of the year, just not in the depths of winter when the terrain is more challenging in the dark. I do what’s most important to me first thing, and getting outside is at the top of the “list”. That Moon, those stars, old friends . . . thank you for connecting and relating to what matters.
Chris
Every morning, my dogs get told" good morning" by me and are the first " people" that I speak to.
Even before my husband. 😂
I think dancing boy is so cool.
Occasionally, we take drives up to Arlee, just to see dancing boy.
Or maybe to Ronan to get their wonderful taco pizza. 😂
we usually take the dogs to. Of course, the blind dog is enamored by Dancing boy. That or just being on a ride with us.
Your workshops sound awesome.
Maybe someday..
I told Ralph & Aiko you said hi, and that you were passing it on from the guy with the bumper sticker. They mostly carried on snoring but I'm sure they appreciated it. 🐶 🐶 (will read your post properly soon!)
Pizza cafe
What a marvellous intention - 1000 hours outside - this really got me thinking. I have worked remotely since 2020 and have now moved my desk etc to somewhere I now receive 100% natural light, rather than the measly 5% (took me a while to join the dots on that one!) After reading your thoughts on rewiring the brain, I too am now going to be more aware of the time outside I can possibly accrue going forwards. It's not that I didn't know this, but it's really helpful to be reminded - thank you.
It has been a really, really, really bad week. I don’t have a dog, so I told my cats you said hi. They stared at me with what I choose to believe is a wisdom too deep for words, and thus did not reply. Thanks as always for writing to us. Sometimes I find it impossible to articulate how I feel about so many things, then I read your post and the comments, and I know that you all know.
"That’s what I mean about rewiring the brain. There is just so much magnificence we miss because we aren’t paying attention to this gift of a world." Glad I happened upon this blog. It's a nice thing to read after falling into a rabbit hole around NEOM. Thank you.
My new pupper Elly will definitely get a hello scritch today on your behalf. She’s getting me outside more than I would on my own, or just with my partner, and I’m grateful for that! I haven’t started clocking hours, but between her and an outdoors-ish job this summer, 1,000 suddenly seems attainable, if maybe a bit aspirational… If nothing else, the balcony stays sunny for longer now, so sitting there and listening to the birds has gotta count, right?
P.S. Two books you might like, if you haven’t read them yet: A Psalm for the Wild-Built, and the sequel, A Prayer for the Crown-Shy. Author is Becky Chambers. Genre is far future sci fi, with lots of biologic hopefulness. I plowed through them this month and enjoyed them immensely. I want to keep their imagined future in mind when it’s all bad news.
Your intro brought tears to my eyes. What a hard week. I loved learning a new word though! And I love virga too! The laminated coupons are just heart warming & those tots look delish. Do you know what time zone the writing workshop will be?