Proof that Seth was completely wrong!

Our marketing research team (me, reading two comments on social media and looking at two other newsletters) has suggested that people might like a visual in the newsletter so it's not just text. So I'm opening this newsletter with my favorite little MSPaint picture, which I had someone make for me years ago, because the idea amused me. 

It's also possible that this picture won't display automatically, and that clicking to allow it every two weeks would get annoying, but luckily I'm fairly lazy and I'm likely to just use the same picture every newsletter, so if you've seen it once, you don't need to worry you're missing out by not clicking through.

Unlike, for example, my columns, on which you would be TOTALLY missing out by not clicking through. (Unless you already read them on publication, in which case you would only be SLIGHTLY missing out on the re-read.)(It's fun to CAPITALIZE words for EMPHASIS, but DON'T OVERUSE IT OR IT JUST GETS DUMB.)

How's that for a segue?
 

Jack London, eat your heart out.

Anyway, thanks for reading this newsletter, which I continue to appreciate every week. (which is impressive, since I only send these out every other week.) It turns out that it can be very draining not only to rely on other people paying attention to your content, but also to be constantly asked to pay attention to other people's content, which often breeds discontent, which is de subject of dis content: The Social Not Work

Here's where I'd put in that picture of a camping store sale with a sign saying "Now is the winter of our discount tents", but honestly one picture per newsletter is already a lot for me, I'm usually not big on visuals. You can just imagine it; if a picture is worth a thousand words, this paragraph is a much cheaper way to tell the same joke.

Speaking of camping and sports, I know I suggested last issue that it would be ridiculous for me to write about sports given my complete lack of knowledge, but I found a good way to do it by writing a sportscast not about sports. I figure Sports Night was a good TV show that advertised itself as a sports show not about sports, so here's my favorite column I've written in a while: March Badness Tournament 2022

I know I like one of my columns when I find myself repeatedly reading it aloud in the voices. Even if it is...
 

In another previous issue, I suggested that while people might be annoyed with large categories to which I belong, I was probably not important enough to have any enemies who dislike me personally. I recently learned this was incorrect, courtesy of a letter to the editor in one of the smaller Vermont papers that runs my column, where the letter writer called my column "ridiculously irrelevant and self-indulgent".

I feel like that's only two-thirds true. I am, of course, frequently ridiculous, but I like to believe that it's a very relevant ridiculosity. Certainly I strive to be ridiculous in ways that resonate, illuminate, and exfoliate. (Well, okay, maybe not exfoliate, but you know comedy comes in threes and whatnot.) I think, or at least hope, that I can be relevant to people without the kind of news-hungry relevance that requires me to have a joke or a take or a joke take (threes!) about the Oscars. 

As for self-indulgence, absolutely. My column is always filled with self-indulgence, alternating between indulging my sense of humor, and indulging my need to make a point. If my writing didn't indulge myself, I probably wouldn't bother having a column at all. But also, we're three years into a pandemic that looks like it's ramping up yet again (just after all those restrictions were dropped again; who could have foreseen?), and an ice shelf the size of New York just collapsed in the Antarctic, and all three branches of government were apparently in on attempting to orchestrate a coup, and my back hurts, so if we're not going to indulge ourselves now, then when? 

Indulge yo self. ("Yo, Self, want to have sushi?" "Yes I do, thanks!") I just ordered myself another giant box of snacks from my favorite online Asian foods store, and the ghost of Rabbi Hillel supports me. And both of us encourage you to do something nice for yourself this week.
 

Last week someone was asking how to end an essay, and whether "in conclusion" was a good idea or felt too stilted. Personally, I think "in conclusion" is the kind of overly formulaic writing that belongs mainly in school essays. Which is why I've used it here, because I'm a giant hypocrite. (*see previous newsletter -ed)(If I was a graphic designer, I would totally put comic book footnotes on all of these newsletters, because that's the coolest way to refer to previous issues.)

I suggested that the proper way for a professional writer to end an essay is to use a Porky Pig voice and say, "Th-th-th-th-th-That's All, Folks!"

It's a wonder that I'm not teaching more writing courses.

Thanks for reading, and we'll catch you in two weeks.

Th-th-th-th-th-That's All, Folks!

Regards,
Seth