Summer-leaning tiny letter
A group after my own heart
The premise is simple. When a city is unresponsive to fundamental needs like crosswalks, you paint them yourself. The article suggests that the city of Los Angeles is not quite as unresponsive as these guerrilla crosswalk painters claim, but I'd bet a few dollars that many requests were put in through proper channels, and some were ignored.
Atmosphere
I'm not going to prejudice the jury by giving the background of this group, but will suggest that I love the atmosphere of their music. It's not about great hooks or catchy choruses, but about creating a certain feeling. It is not predictable, and I would argue that it requires more intellectual and emotional investment to get the full benefit of listening. But it's worth it.
Great musician, terrible marketer
Into the late 1990s/early 2000s, there was a phenomenal group called Macha. Founder Josh McKay traveled in Indonesia, soaking up traditional music and instrumentation. Gamelan, zither, nipple gong, and other stringed instruments. When he returned, he incorporated them into the pop song form. I remember meeting the very unpretentious band following a concert at UW-Madison's Memorial Union Terrace. I mentioned I had included them on a website showcasing my favorites. They said, yes, when people search for us online, they find your website. They hadn't made a page of their own yet.
Periodically I wonder, what happened to that guy? Is he still playing music? But he seems to have no interest in self-promotion, so I would lose track of any projects he was involved in. A recent search turned up this (so far) two song project called The Corsican. I love the smooth indie funk feel of this track, it would be right at home in a modern Netflix show like Russian Doll.
A better way forward for Amazon?
I think it's safe to say that by now, anyone paying the slightest bit of attention knows that Amazon, Walmart, and quite a few other companies are shitty corporate citizens.
Without getting into essay territory, I want to make a brief point about Amazon. A good part of their success is built on the backs of others. Monopolist behavior, poor treatment of employees and vendors, dishonesty, dodging responsibility. But this misbehavior is not the sole reason for their success. They are also incredibly innovative, and their logistics are phenomenal.
Numerous times I have tried to buy a specific item from one of their competitors, and after fumbling with a clumsy website, seeing shipping costs of $25 for something that weighs 1lb., or just getting a lot of friction in the purchasing process, I’ve returned reluctantly to Amazon. I don't expect their competitors, especially local brick and mortar businesses, to compete on price. However, if their user experience sucks, why would I suffer through it?
My friend Sara just noted that she tried to purchase a digital gift certificate at local Madison businesses, but those she spoke to do not offer this. File under no-brainer.
Since most of us have surrendered to the Amazon machine, we might consider a way to mitigate the worst of this juggernaut, namely, donating towards unionization efforts. Amazon is strongly anti-union, and this is an uphill battle. But there has been some success organizing at a Staten Island warehouse, I'm hopeful there will be more. I'd love to see an app that keeps track of your Amazon spend, and every time you reach $100, for example, it prompts you to donate a percentage of that towards unionization efforts.
Meanwhile, you can donate here. Think about what you spend with this convenient yet awful company every year, and maybe kick in $50 or $100.
Portland bound
I'm not proud of it, but I was born in Topeka, Kansas. My parents wisely moved to Madison, Wisconsin a year or two later, and I grew up here. I moved to the Twin Cities, Minnesota for college, dropping out of college, returning to college, and moved back to Madison in 2001, and I've been here since. I love this city—in 20+ years I've cultivated many professional connections, friendships, and feel a strong sense of community here. However, I have outgrown it, and I am ready for a more dynamic environment, ready for a change.
As many of you know, I am moving to Portland, OR, at the end of May. It is something I've considered for a long time. As much as I am less than thrilled to recognize resistance to change and negativity bias as key aspects of my psychology, they are here, they are present. Consequently, it has taken me far longer than perhaps necessary to make this move. I could make all sorts of excuses, pointing to our recent and ongoing pandemic, for example, but that will not be helpful. The important thing is that I'm moving. And as several people have pointed out, “if you really hate it, you can always move back.” I can't express enough gratitude for the support of friends and family as I enter this transition. I look forward to seeing every one you who comes to visit in future years.
Loose ties and connections
People often ask, “do you have friends there?” and I answer, not really, which is true. I don't have any strong connections there, yet. But I was quite gratified to notice that in fact I have a good array of “starter connections,” friends of friends, who will help me get oriented. I'm recognizing the long-term, unpredictable, serendipitous value of connections. You never know.
In 2008, I started a web design meet up. Through that avenue, I met Lucas Dailey, who founded a web-centric startup.
In the 2010s, Lucas introduced me to Dan.
In 2019, Dan introduced me to Meredith, who probably recalls me grumbling about the boredom-terror combination that is networking.
Meredith virtually introduced me to Sarah Young, who is something of a leadership coach, and shares advice on how to find fulfilling work.
I subscribed to Sarah’s newsletter, though we have never met. She referred me to Nick, another Madison-to-Portland transplant.
Nick has graciously offered to help me get situated there. By my count, this connection goes 5 people deep, and with luck, Nick will introduce me to some cool people with complementary attitudes and interests, and that will make 6. (Then I marry into someone's wealthy family, and never have to work again.)
This may seem unremarkable, but think it's worth honoring. Especially since I had to do some brain excavation to trace this line all the way back to 2008. And of course, at that time, I didn't know any of these other people. Additionally, Lucas and I were never close, more like friendly business colleagues. But maybe I should send him a thank you note?
Closing quote
“The greatest gift you can give somebody is your own personal development. I used to say, "If you will take care of me, I will take care of you. "Now I say, I will take care of me for you, if you will take care of you for me.”
-Jim Rohn