No. 112 Beginner's mind is freaking out about ants, right?
No. 112 • 6/27/2025
Dear readers,
Living on the property part-time means living qué rústica part time. Compost toilet (which we empty every month), the "pee bucket" (which we empty every week), heating with a wood stove, cooling in the creek, bathing in the creek, bathing out of a five-gallon bucket filled from a hydrant attached to a well, no plumbing, no AC, but yes ants. Or, to be more specific, yes flying ants.
Zen Buddhists talk about "beginner's mind," or in watered-down newsletter terms, "seeing everything as if for the first time." It's evil twin, of course, reads something like, "seeing flying ants as if for the first time, and freaking out (me), because you forget this is what flying ants do every year around this time." So, consider last week's missing email a result of beginner's mind. Completely spaced on it. Didn't even remember newsletters were a thing.
As a consolation prize, I've added a new section to this newsletter: Bonus Surf Vid (at bottom). Some of you, maybe even most of you, probably don't care about surfing or surf vids. But, I think you should.
What I’m up to writing / teaching / speaking….
This week, I talked about all things zettelkasten with developer, maker, and PKM advocate, Nicole van der Hoeven, and "Fast technical video" maker and hopepunk writer, Tris. You can watch the video on YouTube here.
I'm also working on a short article detailing how I use the zettelkasten to start writing projects, based on two conversations I recently had in the r/Zettelkasten subreddit. The gist of what I do can be summed up as:
Make a "Notes" file, and fill it up with all the notes I already have on the topic along with any new notes I take from readings. When it gets too big, break the "Notes" file up into individual chapter files. Then, repeat the process in those files until it reads like a book.
The article will be a bit longer, and in an attempt to explain things more clearly, will probably make things more confusing.
What we’re up to on the property….
Despite parts of last week getting derailed by Ant-Gate (see above), we did manage to fell four seventy-foot pines with the help of our friend and ex-Hot Shot, Thad, who puts trees down exactly where they should. These pines will get milled into siding and flooring.
What my book, A System for Writing, is up to....
There's a world of play between "Nothing matters, so do whatever you want" and "I'm the only one who knows how to do a thing, so only listen to me," a liminal space I try to inhabit when writing. So, this review of A System for Writing, from Carlo on Goodreads feels particularly affirming:
"What truly stays with you...is an important realization: it’s not the technique itself that makes the difference, but the intention behind how you use it. In this sense, Zettelkasten is more of a practice than a system—a mindset rather than just a method of organization."
I couldn't agree more, Carlo.
And, now for the high ponies...
"Don't take it so personal, dad."
This 2023 piece from Caitlyn Clark of "it's really that deep" does us all a solid by providing a lil, dare I say, "Marxist analysis" on why people take social critique personally:
"Oftentimes when provided with systemic critiques of capitalism, of the marketing schemes used to drive overconsumption, of the limitations of liberal feminism without socialism, people tend to interpret these criticisms as personal attacks. This inability to understand criticism not as that of systems but of people comes from a deep-rooted individualism.
"The issue is that people become incapable of interrogating why we enjoy what we enjoy. Thinking critically about something is somehow synonymous with a moral condemnation of that thing."
Soooo...I get it. You wanna talk to dad about the US's penchant for double standards regarding different countries around the world, and dad takes it personally. Sounds a lot like me in my twenties. Here's what late-forties me says.
People identify themselves with the system you're critiquing, not only cuz individualism-is-capitalism, but because humans are storytellers. And, the stories we tell ourselves are very important. The things we think and believe are sewn into the fabric of our sense of self—the self being who we think we are and who we want others to think we are. So, when you critique "America" in front of someone who personally identifies with a particular story about America, especially one that's shared by everyone around them, you shouldn't feel shocked when they take it personally. That's you being naive.
Of course, no one is ever jusssst critiquing systems. While I'm not fully on board with Rita Felski's unpacking (and pigeon-holing) of "critique" in The Limits of Critique, yungin's need to realize that critique is equal parts "important for the ideas" and "very important for the person critiquing the ideas." Which is why Felski can accurately say that Critique (TM) is marked by "an unmistakeable blend of suspicion, self-confidence, and indignation."
Now why would a person feel attacked when you're bringing that to the Thanksgiving Day Harvest Day table?
Got a computer job while in prison
My brain is way too mushed out from the apocalyptic heat dome vortex we just experienced in NYC to have anything intelligent to say about "Working on databases from prison: How I got here, part 2." That is, other than "I like it." Basically, dude gets pinched for drug trafficking on the dark web and ends up getting a job while in prison. Read about that here.
Of course, what you really want to read is what he did to get thrown in jail, how he adjusted, and what he hoped to do while being there (which led to the article linked above). Read about that here.
"My name is Preston Thorpe, I'm 31 years old and I've spent just under 10 years of my life in Prison (all for non-violent drug crimes.) I am currently incarcerated at Mountain View Correctional Facility in Charleston, Maine. More importantly, far more importantly, I am a software developer, open source maintainer, contributor and all around enthusiast. I am a Rust fanatic, and I love linux, Neovim, Alacritty, Tmux, tiling window managers (DWM), and doing everything possible from the command line.
"Idk who will even end up reading this, but thats the whole idea of blogs right?"
Cue happy ending?
How to give back
A poster on Hacker News asks a genuinely sweet and sincere question: "How do you meaningfully give back to people who helped you early on?" The responses are all very intelligent, many of which summed up by the following:
"[L]ong, profuse thank yous are not needed. What you should do is make sure you keep the gates open that were not gatekept for you. Be the person who connects others, in ways that you can't always list on your CV."
I like this idea of keeping the doors that were open to you open for others. I did my best to implement such a policy at my Ashtanga Yoga studio.
When I lost my job in publishing, my teacher let me come for free for as long as I needed. Every once in a while I'd stay late and clean or help out, but for the most part it was no strings attached. I offered the same to students of mine who were in similar financial stress. As long as you came to do your practice, you could come for free.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44268448
Bonus surf vid
One of the smoothest in the game, Mikey February.
What you're seeing:
- A perfect blend of style and skill. He's riding the wave, rather than "attacking" it. We like that.
Bonus Poné
Shocking to me every time I see it, but The Youth (TM) still really likes, as my wife says, "railing lines of coke." If only they were teens in the 70s and 80s. Coulda bought that shit out of a catalog.
https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/cocaine-paraphernalia-ads-1970s/
And, that's that! See ya next week.
Please share this newsletter far and wide. Without social media, you are my reach out into the world. Help me extend my reach.
What people are saying:
"It's one of my favorite things to see in my Inbox." —JS
"I love everything you speak on!" —MA
"I'm fine with it." —MG
Got a question or something you'd like me to write about? Send me what you're thinking!