Writer, artist, filmmaker, columnist for Outside Magazine. My newsletter about creativity, adventure, and enthusiasm goes out to 15,000+ subscribers every week.
Friday Inspiration 443
|
 |
This is for anyone who’s ever bought a throwback sports jersey, and isn’t quite sure why they did it, but who also enjoys how it makes them feel. (gift link)
I know there are lots of heartwarming stories about the Olympics, but this one is my favorite so far: Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen is so obsessed with the chocolate muffins in the Olympic village that he’s made 10 TikTok videos about them. (The most popular one has been viewed more than 10 million times)
This piece reminded me that a) I’ve been using Gmail for almost 20 years and b) that I am probably not emotionally ready to read emails I wrote to anyone from probably 2005 through 2010. But wow.
This is such a cool short video about Kathryn Bigelow’s revolutionary POV shots, and how ahead of their time they were for fast action shots—especially when you consider how big and heavy the cameras were, compared to the first GoPro, which wouldn’t come along for another 14 years.
As a trail runner who worries about the welfare of animals maybe a little more than average, I have to say being followed by a flock of lost sheep on my run is maybe more terrifying than being followed by a mountain lion.
I had a great chat with my friend Jonathan Ellsworth on The Blister Podcast on Monday, and if you think I sound like shit, it’s because I do! But we still had a wonderful conversation about Ultra-Something. (I’ve had a cough for 3+ weeks now and am relentlessly advocating for myself as a patient in the healthcare system, while trying to rest and drink lots of fluids.)
--
Semi-Rad
Writer, artist, filmmaker, columnist for Outside Magazine. My newsletter about creativity, adventure, and enthusiasm goes out to 15,000+ subscribers every week.
When You Can Walk Anywhere You Want I don't often re-publish stories I've written, but I remembered this one this past week when I was tagging along on a rock climbing trip in the desert with my mom and her friends. I think this essay, back when I wrote it in 2013, was a sort of expression of gratitude through a story about my grandma (my mom's mom), who was in the last 14 months of her life at the time I published it. I hope it still resonates. -- I flew to Iowa to visit my grandmother in...
Friday Inspiration 507 “Who’s gonna watch a senior citizen grandmother do jigsaw puzzles on a platform where people are competing playing Warzone?” Apparently a lot of people. (video) This math about budgeting at the bookstore of course makes no sense but is exactly what most of us do when we want something, and that is why it is an example of a well-written joke. I finally subscribed to Blackbird Spyplane yesterday after Hilary sent me this piece about creativity and AI and making birthday...
Friday Inspiration 506 Today is the LAST DAY to sign up for my How To Tell One Story online writing course for 2025. If you haven't heard people (me) talking about it before, it is: a six-week, 12-email course designed to help you get one good written narrative nonfiction story on the page comprised of brief emails and assignments (a 3- to 6-minute read plus a 10- to 30-minute writing exercise) proven to be very satisfying according to the 27 people who have taken the post-course survey (and...