This is me inviting you to hang out on a compound in the woods and listen to and write about music and no it's not a cult
Welcome to Reasonable Things, an occasional newsletter from Joel Heng Hartse.
If the subject of this email was not clear enough, let me be a little more clear about what I am inviting you to, and/or inviting you to invite people to.
The weekend of August 13-16, I’ll be teaching a class called “Music Appreciation, Writing, & Zine-Making” (I might have added those commas just now; I’m not sure) at the Grünewald Guild in Plain, WA (near Leavenworth, which you may know as the “Bavarian Christmas town” of central Washington; also near Wenatchee, which you may know as the home of the Aplets and Cotlets factory).
If I’m honest, I’m a little worried no one is going to sign up, which is why I’m sending this to you, the person reading this, who might actually be a person I know in real life, in which case I’d love to see you there, or who might just be someone I know through the internet, which, come on, that’s the worst way to know someone!
Here are some questions you could ask yourself to see if you want to come:
Do you like music?
Do you like hanging out by rivers?
Do you like hippie-ish inclusive Christian communes from the 1970s that I promise are not cults (I keep saying this which I realize may not inspire confidence, but the people who started it are just straight-up mainline Lutherans with acoustic guitars)?
Do you like the idea of talking enthusiastically with a small group of people about the music you like and communicating that to the rest of the world, because music is a signpost to something bigger than you or me or the world itself and what better thing could we be than arrows pointing people toward transcendent beauty?
Do you like the idea of writing something that will not be on the internet, but will exist in the real world?
If you answered even a tentative yes to any of this, I would LOVE to talk to you about this. And if coming to the Guild in a month doesn’t work for you, send this to someone you know in Seattle or Spokane or Portland or elsewhere within a half-day’s drive - maybe they’d dig it.
That’s it. That’s the email. Reply and let’s talk about it! Or just sign up. Or if you know a way to reach some more people who might be interested, also let me know!
♥ JHH
Burnaby, BC