But This Is Wondrous Strange | Ed. 12
2021, Week the 12th: Time Is an Illusion, Lunchtime Doubly So
The View From Then
I started this edition back in March of 2020, just before lockdown happened, in this, the dumbest timeline. I enjoy the wild hypothesis that the Large Hadron Collider at CERN knocked us all into an alternate universe, even though I don’t actually believe it’s possible.
As the days turned into weeks, it seemed less and less like the things I was making mattered. At all. There was unrest and demands for social justice, and my shame that I hadn’t worked hard enough to overcome my privilege and use my relatively small position to help change my city, state, and country grew. With social activism as my main preoccupation, spring faded to summer. Fall occurred, at some point, then Winter. Spring has sprung, now, and it’s once again March.
I’m still looking, I guess. I’ve had a few bright flares of inspiration and excitement, but I’m just not sure about anything, least of all creative direction. That’s the sitch’.
STATUS: MONITORING…
Springing again
Resolved: Resolutions Are Fleeting
It’s easy to make New Year’s Resolutions. We’re inundated every January with articles listing, advising, and suggesting them, and now social media floods with hashtags trumpeting a new year of productivity and empowerment, huzzah!
But goal-oriented resolutions (gym every day! 10,000 steps! New Job! Spend more time with my dog!), they haven’t ever worked for me beyond the first few weeks of the year. This year, I wanted to keep my focus on looking inward, determining what was really important to me and to the world around me. Not to list specific things to accomplish and proudly cross them off, but to change how I approached my life in some small but essential ways. I thought of three.
- Be kinder to yourself.
- Be generous of spirit with others.
- Assume up front that you, and the people around you, are doing their best.
It gets characteristically pretentious and wordy as it goes, but those are the essential nub of my gist.
MOOD: MERCURIAL
RESULT: PENDING…
Simple Is Often Best
There Are Links I Liked Since Last We Met
• The Devin Townsend Podcast
• The Anthropocene Reviewed, Reviewed
Many things helped me cope and gave me plenty to think about during the early, scary months of the pandemic. Chief among them was the Devin Townsend podcast. Devin’s an agile player, singer, and songwriter, and I was already a huge fan. But in these podcasts, deeply dissecting each of his solo albums in turn, there’s a wealth of advice and insight into creativity itself. I found it massively inspiring and educational, and Devin’s thoughtful delivery—it’s slow and considered, but mesmerizing and never dull—freely dispenses mountains of his personal experience. It’s intimate, passionate, and often funny, just like Devin himself.
John Green, author and vlogger, recorded one of his most cogent and incisive podcasts in an already wonderful string of shows for “The Anthropocene Reviewed, Reviewed” (Aug. 27, 2020). Just Listen.
This one’s for Mom, who encouraged me—in the gentlest possible way for someone who expected it—to get back up again every time I fell. She was my biggest fan and my gereatest supporter. It was my honor to return the favor as much as I possibly could.