View: Looking up from the hammock. The sun is shining bright, obstructed as it is by clouds. I need a hat, but I’m not moving.
Mood: Discombobulated and scattered.
Hey, you.
I’m writing to you on my phone from the hammock, because I came out to do chicken things and can’t bring myself to go back inside. I’ll be away next week, so this week has been a mishmash of all the things that needed to get done beforehand—including trying to get the chickens to be nice to each other again, getting in some workouts, doing some day job things, responding to 6,832 emails (not quite finished with that one yet!), and recording a couple of podcast interviews. Good things are coming, though, for both my news business and my creative writing.
What’s Exciting Me?
Book sales! When We Were Mothers is still selling copies, which is super cool! I hope as people keep reading and recommending it, sales goes up and up.
News things! I recorded a podcast with some experts in local news this week, and I can’t wait to hear how it came out. Some other cool things are brewing as well, which I will be able to share with you soon!
Vacation! The fam is headed down the coast next week for a much-awaited vacay. Hoping for lots of relaxation, sand, water, and family time. I won’t be online much, though, so don’t expect to hear from me until the week after.
What’s Entertaining Me?
📺 A bit of a departure from my typical media diet: I’m really enjoying this season of American Ninja Warrior. ANW is a show where athletes compete on a series of grueling obstacle courses. Unlike a lot of reality shows, there’s not always a winner. At the end of the season, competitors compete on up to four stages of the finals course. The fastest to beat Stage 4 wins—but sometimes no one even makes it to stage 4, and rarely does anyone beat it.
I’ve been watching this show for years and years, not-so-secretly wishing my body would do for me the things that these people’s bodies do for them. But the last couple of seasons have been painfully boring. They added things like the Mega Wall (a taller Warped Wall with an incentive for conquering it), allowing younger competitors, and some other minor changes, but this year’s addition of head-to head battles has been the most exciting and engaging addition yet.
Semi-finals started this week, and I’m enjoying the interesting matchups that were formed in the bracket. I only have one request from the folks at ANW: Please, PLEASE drop the schticks. Not everyone who comes on the show needs to have some ridiculous nickname. At this point, it’s just cheesy and disingenuous. Plus, you’re gonna use all of them up before I get in good enough shape to go on.
📖 I finished No Adults Allowed by Simon K Jones, and I really enjoyed it! It’s hard to know what to say about the book without giving too much away, but I’ll say it’s interesting to consider whether or not fresh-baked humans, without adults to learn bias from, will develop it anyway. If you like sci-fi, or hopeful dystopia, this is a good one.
🖊️ I read a story about a story last week, and I wanted to share both of them with you. Christopher Frizzelle reflects on The New Yorker and the focus required to truly engage with the wonderful work inside, and he also called back to this essay written by the ghostwriter of Prince Harry’s memoir. I read that essay a few months ago, and I can vouch for everything Christopher says—about the essay, and about the New Yorker and the work contained therein.
🎶 A week after I’m singing the praises of Matchbox Twenty, I had an opportunity to see P!nk for the second time. Last time I saw her at the Garden, and the show was incredible. This time she played Fenway, and my GOODNESS was that show amazing. There’s no room to compare Matchbox Twenty with P!nk, because they’re such different acts. MB20 played music. P!nk and her crew put on a show. A show with dancers and trampolines and video production and, of course, cable-assisted aerial flips. And she’s so relatable and fun. I can’t think of a better show I’ve seen, ever.
What’s Enlightening Me?
Last week, I discoverd Neal Katyal’s Courtside podcast, and I am obsessed. Each episodie, Neal breaks down a single Supreme Court decision with a non-attorney celebrity. They talk about the history and context of the case and decision, and they go on to discuss creativity and other of Neal and his guests’ interest. Guests so far have included John Mulaney, Regina Spector, and Heather Cox Richardson, with whom I am also obsessed. Definitely recommend, and if can’t decide which episode to start with, maybe listen to Rob Reiner discuss marriage equality.
As always, thanks for being here. I hope you got something of value out of this EEE, and I’ll see you after next week!
This is another top drawer piece. I have never heard of this podcast, am on it. Am so glad book sales are good, that royalty payment always feels nice and well earned for sure. Ahh, my guilty pleasure is Ninja Warrior UK. Enough said. 🥷
Thank you! What an honor to be rubbing shoulders with Neal Katyal in this piece of yours about what you've been watching and reading and thinking.