Let's look back
Hey, wow, what a strange April. The strangest April ever?
I spent a lot of afternoons in middle school at the public library. Classes ended at 2:45. Then some number of us would walk just over half a mile together: from the school, to Aniello's Pizzeria, to Comics 4 Collectors, to Gardner's Candies, to the library. Pizza was, for quite a while, 85 cents a plain slice. Cans of Dr Pepper were 75 cents. Booster packs of Magic the Gathering cards were, if memory serves, $1.95 before tax. Candy was absurdly cheap. The routine took about 45 minutes, and we'd gossip, flirt, and compare notes on the weirdness that is being that age. At the library, we'd make gestures atour homework, play Magic too much, and horse around until the librarians shushed us. Sometimes we even looked at books! Mostly, the young adult section served as a place we could all be together with a semblance of supervision. Corning had a few other spots that theoretically served his purpose (the Youth Center, the YMCA, honestly maybe that's it), but the library was the spot of choice for about a dozen of us. I'd say all of us had homes with loving, encouraging families. Most of our parents knew each other quite well. We weren't lacking for safe havens. I have very few distinct memories of these afternoons, which more often than not turned into evenings. I'd wait for my mom to finish her workday at 5, and after that she could pick me up to drive home. Our collective good fortune has never meant much for me until this past week, when I read a friend's essay about libraries and started to think about how many teens would love right now to see their friends at a library for a few hours. What was your relationship with libraries like when you were in middle and high school?
Reading
Since mid-April, I'm in a slow-paced, thoughtful book club with Briana Morgan. We're focused on Studs Terkel's “Working” which is a book I bought in August 2005 and have never read. I've wanted to, truly. Now's the time! I think a lot about how I, you, and many of us make a living and find a calling.
One article that stood out to me last month was Dorie Greenspan's essay about gougeres as an act of faith. I've also been devouring every newsletter from the Scott Hines newsletter Action Cookbook. And, the last thing I'll share is “40 Ways The World Makes Awesome Hot Dogs.”
Eating
It's been, unsurprisingly, a month for a lot of home cooking. On one end of the Smitten Kitchen spectrum, we've created tasty carrot & white bean burgers; on the other, carnitas. There's also been English muffin bread, spicy parsley oil, coffee cake, M&M cookies, and panzanella. I went on a kick for a week of grilled cheeses and patty melts. We picked up an air fryer and have made fries, lots of fries. Vegan dan dan noodles have become a weekly project. I truly thought I'd have more of note for this section. I guess some nights were leftovers, some were pasta, and some were unremarkable improvisations.
Beating
Some days I feel like I'm making up for lost time with musical explorations. Through Kelsey's & my "listen to a new artist a week" project which has no name, we've enjoyed Stromae, Alice Coltrane, and James Brown. I've really enjoyed the Aquarium Drunkard Mixtapes that I've listened to. Another longform mix set I've enjoyed is Kleptones Lockdown Radio. New albums have felt scarce, and maybe I don't listen to that many usually? But somehow a new Jerry Garcia Band live album featuring Clarence Clemons popped up one day and I was incredibly touched by it.
Meeting
I'll be around the web in June, that's for sure. On June 6th, I'm giving a short lecture at Study Hall to inspire improv scenes. I will either talk about my 2006-7ish research into nasalized vowels or my dissertation work. A week later, I'll perform stand-up on The Break Out, a benefit for a group "dedicated to helping substance abuse addicts find a new direction." That's a free show with donations towards the cause accepted. Follow The N Crowd for updates on when I'm next performing improv with them on a Friday night! And watch this space for updates about a NEW project that will appeal to many long-time readers of this newsletter!
Deleting
I nearly ran out of space on the hard drive my Dropbox files live on, so I set most of them to be Smart Synced as Online Only. It's freed up 100GB or so. TBD if this was a good move.
Retreating
Nope. Big nope here. Nope. Not this month. Look for the May newsletter in a few weeks. I am weary of city sounds, so sometimes the white noise of my basement humidifier is a sonic spa.
Be well and take care of yourselves,
Neil