January 6, 2025

Easing into 2025 | LISB

Hey y’all, 

I hope your holidays were restful, your time with family and friends meaningful, and that you made good memories. I have no proof of what actually happens to us or our soul after we die, but I am 100% clear that when people remember you and your deeds, that is a form of immortality, and the only one we are certain of. As someone told me after Dad died, “Good people leave good memories.”

It’s wintertime here in Central Mississippi, which means that yesterday it was 76 degrees and 90% humidity, and today’s high is expected to be 38 degrees. Oh, and we had a tornado warning last night in the midst of a thunderstorm. Currier and Ives had no prints that represented this. 

For years, I resented the winter. I am a summer person, and I love the sunlight and its radiant warmth, the long days that leave time for after-supper activities outside, the riot of color in the flower beds, the birds singing, the outside time with friends.

And then there was the more than a decade I spent in North Carolina working with folks who were unhoused, and every winter people I knew, despite my best efforts, died alone in the woods, behind abandoned buildings, or in tents, only to be found when the smells of the process all flesh faces made them findable. The shorter days were a portent of the doom to come.

I am unsure if it is age, or the privilege that comes from no longer doing that work, or the years of therapy (which also comes from privilege), or climate change, or living somewhere with milder, if more unpredictable winters, or some combination of all of that, but in recent years, my relationship with winter has changed. I think the biggest thing is that I changed my mindset somewhat.

The idea that your routine on a Monday in February should be just like your routine on a Monday in a day in August is purely a capitalist construct, a result of factory work. Our ancestors lived differently in different seasons, and so should we.

So these days, I’m kinder to myself, and what my body needs. I go for long walks on beautiful days, and don’t on those days that are blustery and cold. I eat more soup, sleep more, and am rearranging my garden so it has more “winter interest”, which means something different in the Deep South than it does in the Northeast. I embrace bonfires with friends.

And, importantly I’m teaching myself to find the beauty in a craggy, denuded hackberry tree against the grey sky, instead of demanding that my roses bloom in January, and being mad when they don’t.

What about you? How do you handle winter? Is it friend or foe? Just hit reply and tell me about it. 

Five Beautiful Things

Benedict Cumberbatch reading Kurt Vonnegut’s letter to the people of 2088. The text of the letter is here, if you would rather read it. 

In 2025, I hope you prioritize your happiness. (via Jocelyn)

Imagine being at The Kennedy Center, and Mavis Staples walks in the room, and the Marine Band strikes up “I’ll take you there”...

From the Atlantic: 77 facts that blew our mind in 2024 (via Eric)

I loved this collection of Art Nouveau lithograph posters by Georges de Feure.

If you have links to something you thought was beautiful, please hit reply, or leave a comment and share them.

Members only

Members get, among other occasional goodies, a weekly original essay in their inbox. Their support keeps this newsletter both free and ad-free for everyone else. Here are the ones I have published since the last LISB issue.

Stats: They say that what gets measured gets improved. But I’ve made the decision to measure fewer things. 

FYI

There is nothing magical about the turning of the calendar page. Yet and still, the change gives us time to put attention, and then intention, to what we do not like about our lives, and what we want to change. So I have been using what my friend Abby calls “The Cheese Days” to move some things around. 

New blog site: https://hughlh.com - you can get a Saturday morning email with links to the posts I wrote that week here.

I’m posting weekly updates, or weeknotes, for the nerdy here. They will go to all the above, as well as to my Facebook page.

In an effort to reduce the influence social media has on me (more about that here) I’m changing how I interact with social media, and especially Facebook. I am slowly becoming more active on Bluesky, and am syndicating my writing to Threads, Mastodon, BlueSky, and Tumblr.

Priorities this year will be focusing on making this newsletter better, and improving the experience and offerings for the Membership Team. 

* * * 

Thanks for reading this far. I really appreciate it. 

Take care of yourself - this world needs you in it. 

Hugh

PS: 

If you like this newsletter and want to support it, here are three ways:

1. Share it with a friend (just forward it, or post the link on social media) and ask them to subscribe at https://lisb.hughhollowell.org

2. Become part of our membership team and financially support this work, while getting premium essays and other occasional goodies.

3. Hit reply and say hi!