Many things make a newsletter (2)

The links are accumulating again, no matter how fiercely I cull them. So here’s a quick round-up of things you can read/listen to/see as we struggle through the last of the hot and humids and wait for the fresh breath of fall.¹

Anita Bryant, likely belting out the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”

• I accidentally discovered the Slate podcast One Year, which looks at a dozen or so events that took place in 1977.² These aren’t the big ticket items like the Johnstown Flood or the creation of the DOE,³ but the smaller stuff like Elvis’ post-mortem pictures or the rise and fall of Anita Bryant. What keeps hitting me is how much history rhymes. It’s especially noticeable in the episodes about Laetrile⁴ and Carter’s drug czar.⁵ As a species, we are terrible at truly learning the lessons the past has for us.

• Should I need a new quest, having an espresso at each of these would be a good choice.

• After all, they are the ones who have to look at the art most often.

• What tickles me is the handmade aspect to the feeding poles.

• Won’t it be nice when we have some real data on how trans athletes match up to their cis counterparts?

  

  I might have already recommended Craig Mod’s newsletter — but this one about making plans and the pandemic and taking walks (the above quote comes from it) is well worth a few minutes.

  

• Theatre costumes are more detailed and durable than you might think.⁶ Related to the above: I used to show this video about the costumes for Wicked to my theatre appreciation students. You might like it, too.

• Do you like science fiction and/or fantasy? Would you like to start reading in the genre? This list is a great place to begin. (And leave a comment if you’d like a personal recommendation.)⁷

• If you have a New York Times subscription or still have some free articles left, this older essay about traveling across the U.S. via Amtrak is very, very good.

  I shall now close a bunch of tabs. And if you have a minute, click the button and send this post along to someone else who might enjoy it.⁸ Onward we flail into September.

1. I think late August has broken the part of my brain that makes metaphors and analogies. It was good while it lasted, brain, and I hope you can soon join the rest of us again.

2. For the record, I was six in 1977. My memories involved the OG Electric Company and our family dog. I have some vague memory of my parents or other adults in their circle talking smack about Jimmy Carter. And there is the entirety of what I remember from 1977.

3. (or I haven’t gotten that far yet)

4. This one is heartbreaking, mind. I know hindsight is always 20/20 but ooooof. Some of what would happen was blatantly obvious 40+ years ago.

5. It turns out that petty, ego-driven men with really poor boundaries will always fuck everything up for the rest of us. It’s almost like men are too emotionally volatile to be given positions of power.

6. Unless you are a costumer, then you already know.

7. Related: I’m currently reading (well, listening to) Terry Prachett’s Thud! and dang. He was so good, you guys, and left us too soon.

8. Or hate it. Whatevs. It all works.