Wherein you find out what I write in my newsletters
Friends,
It seems it's pleasantly come to this. I've been writing online in some way since 1997 or so, and we're right back at the beginning?! Sure, I've tried LiveJournal, a few Twitter accounts, a Tumblr of daily photos, and some other things I'd rather not talk about. But just like it's 1999 again, I'm writing mass emails. Shifts in my professional life (more on that later) have allowed me to reduce my time on social media, which is great. I've meant for years to cut back on Twitter and Facebook in an effort to write longer-form anythings again. You can expect one of these every month-ish, pretty much when I realize "Wow, my bullet journal goals for the month are... quite not done." Perhaps I'll try essays and memoir. If you're into reading beautiful personal prose, I strongly encourage you to subscribe to my friend Arielle Brousse's newsletter Grief Beach. For now, though, I'll share in each newsletter what I'm reading, what I'm eating, where I'm meeting people, the music that's beating (I know, it's a stretch), and what I'm deleting.
Reading
One thing I'm wary of with this outlet is sharing articles that everybody. Is. So. Over. Did you know somebody wrote a long piece about burnout? Of course you know that. But did you know that a recent New Yorker issue had a weirdly detailed article about an art thief? I love heist stories and wondering about how the art world got to be how it is. This story touches on all that and more.
I recently finished Alan Alda's book "If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?: My Adventures in the Art and Science of Relating and Communicating." It's been on my to-read list since before it came out, and I'll write more about it over on my professional blog. But if, like me, you're interested in how people perform in groups and communicate in professional settings, it's a breezy joy. Bonus: I couldn't help but hear the text in Alda's voice.
Eating
For a recent dinner gathering, I made these pumpkin and pesto cheese-filled shells, which were a hit. Super comfort food for a crowd on a cold evening, best paired with a few glasses of wine and a simple salad. My mom had given me Ottolenghi's "SIMPLE" cookbook for Christmas, and I wanted to make at least one dish, if not a full meal, from that for the cookbook, but life intervened. Let me know if you'd like to come over for an Ottolenghi dinner some time? At various other points on the food dimension recently, I've received the gift of a mortar and pestle, made a batch of honey bourbon chicken in the Instant Pot, and become obsessed with @ThatCheesePlate on Instagram.
Meeting
Even though I used to live there and I live not far away now, I sure don't get to Maryland much. In January, I got to go twice! Nerd Nite Baltimore brought me down to talk about The Power of Breakfast Sandwiches. You can read R. Eric Thomas's write-up of the night on his TinyLetter archive. Suffice it to say the bar was metaphorically on fire with questions and opinions. Later in the month, Kelsey and I spent a weekend at a sweet AirBNB in Chestertown. It's a small town on the Eastern Shore and it's ideal for a little getaway. Try the sun buns at Evergrain when you go!
Closer to home, Broad Street Review had our winter party this week which was a wonderful success. I'll appear on Porn Stash at Philly Improv Theater this Friday night, then I'm with The N Crowd at Smoke & Mirrors Magic Theater on February 7. Both are BYO venues and I get to be onstage with tremendous performers. Come on out if you haven't seen either of these shows yet. Or just wait until next month when I plug whatever I'm in in March?
Beating
January always reminds me of what The Grateful Dead were playing specifically in 1968, and holy smokes, John Hilgart made a fantasy set mix of a possible concert from January 1968. I've been listening to this on repeat. For the dinner party I mentioned previously, I created a playlist that took more time than it's okay to admit. The title is an allusion to one of my favorite books of 2018, "Brunch Is Hell: Saving the World by Throwing a Dinner Party." It also let me rediscover the Back To Mine and Late Night Tales series of albums. Sometimes you just need a well-crafted hour or so of music to wind down a night, right?
Deleting
Now that I no longer professionally manage any social media accounts, I'm cutting down on my access to Twitter and Facebook! YAY! Spending hours a day on Twitter has been truly awful since about June 2016. At one point I was managing something like eleven Twitter presences simultaneously. And it royally sucked sometimes. I have also recently cut my subscription to the Shake Shack mailing list, some t-shirts, and 16GB of old hard drive images.
My laptop's battery is almost dead and I am still under 1000 words, so say good night, Gracie. Let's have coffee soon.
Off to watch "Below Deck" until bedtime,
Neil
It seems it's pleasantly come to this. I've been writing online in some way since 1997 or so, and we're right back at the beginning?! Sure, I've tried LiveJournal, a few Twitter accounts, a Tumblr of daily photos, and some other things I'd rather not talk about. But just like it's 1999 again, I'm writing mass emails. Shifts in my professional life (more on that later) have allowed me to reduce my time on social media, which is great. I've meant for years to cut back on Twitter and Facebook in an effort to write longer-form anythings again. You can expect one of these every month-ish, pretty much when I realize "Wow, my bullet journal goals for the month are... quite not done." Perhaps I'll try essays and memoir. If you're into reading beautiful personal prose, I strongly encourage you to subscribe to my friend Arielle Brousse's newsletter Grief Beach. For now, though, I'll share in each newsletter what I'm reading, what I'm eating, where I'm meeting people, the music that's beating (I know, it's a stretch), and what I'm deleting.
Reading
One thing I'm wary of with this outlet is sharing articles that everybody. Is. So. Over. Did you know somebody wrote a long piece about burnout? Of course you know that. But did you know that a recent New Yorker issue had a weirdly detailed article about an art thief? I love heist stories and wondering about how the art world got to be how it is. This story touches on all that and more.
I recently finished Alan Alda's book "If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?: My Adventures in the Art and Science of Relating and Communicating." It's been on my to-read list since before it came out, and I'll write more about it over on my professional blog. But if, like me, you're interested in how people perform in groups and communicate in professional settings, it's a breezy joy. Bonus: I couldn't help but hear the text in Alda's voice.
Eating
For a recent dinner gathering, I made these pumpkin and pesto cheese-filled shells, which were a hit. Super comfort food for a crowd on a cold evening, best paired with a few glasses of wine and a simple salad. My mom had given me Ottolenghi's "SIMPLE" cookbook for Christmas, and I wanted to make at least one dish, if not a full meal, from that for the cookbook, but life intervened. Let me know if you'd like to come over for an Ottolenghi dinner some time? At various other points on the food dimension recently, I've received the gift of a mortar and pestle, made a batch of honey bourbon chicken in the Instant Pot, and become obsessed with @ThatCheesePlate on Instagram.
Meeting
Even though I used to live there and I live not far away now, I sure don't get to Maryland much. In January, I got to go twice! Nerd Nite Baltimore brought me down to talk about The Power of Breakfast Sandwiches. You can read R. Eric Thomas's write-up of the night on his TinyLetter archive. Suffice it to say the bar was metaphorically on fire with questions and opinions. Later in the month, Kelsey and I spent a weekend at a sweet AirBNB in Chestertown. It's a small town on the Eastern Shore and it's ideal for a little getaway. Try the sun buns at Evergrain when you go!
Closer to home, Broad Street Review had our winter party this week which was a wonderful success. I'll appear on Porn Stash at Philly Improv Theater this Friday night, then I'm with The N Crowd at Smoke & Mirrors Magic Theater on February 7. Both are BYO venues and I get to be onstage with tremendous performers. Come on out if you haven't seen either of these shows yet. Or just wait until next month when I plug whatever I'm in in March?
Beating
January always reminds me of what The Grateful Dead were playing specifically in 1968, and holy smokes, John Hilgart made a fantasy set mix of a possible concert from January 1968. I've been listening to this on repeat. For the dinner party I mentioned previously, I created a playlist that took more time than it's okay to admit. The title is an allusion to one of my favorite books of 2018, "Brunch Is Hell: Saving the World by Throwing a Dinner Party." It also let me rediscover the Back To Mine and Late Night Tales series of albums. Sometimes you just need a well-crafted hour or so of music to wind down a night, right?
Deleting
Now that I no longer professionally manage any social media accounts, I'm cutting down on my access to Twitter and Facebook! YAY! Spending hours a day on Twitter has been truly awful since about June 2016. At one point I was managing something like eleven Twitter presences simultaneously. And it royally sucked sometimes. I have also recently cut my subscription to the Shake Shack mailing list, some t-shirts, and 16GB of old hard drive images.
My laptop's battery is almost dead and I am still under 1000 words, so say good night, Gracie. Let's have coffee soon.
Off to watch "Below Deck" until bedtime,
Neil
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