Writer, artist, filmmaker, columnist for Outside Magazine. My newsletter about creativity, adventure, and enthusiasm goes out to 15,000+ subscribers every week.
Friday Inspiration 484
|
 |
Almost every time I talk to anyone about the idea of starting a newsletter or a Substack, or just writing more regularly, I find myself mentioning my friend Mike Sowden, and his newsletter, Everything Is Amazing, which, as I have said here before, is wonderful. Mike has built a big audience for his writing by being curious, following his curiosity, enthusiastically sharing what he’s found, and also finding ways to share bits and pieces of what he’s found (or edited versions of what he’s found) on social media. A few weeks ago, his Substack readership went over 30,000 people, and he wrote up some advice based on what he’s learned. Oh, also, Mike is an incredibly nice guy, which I think is a very underrated and maybe underreported tool for success.
I just finished drawing up an illustration for newsletter sponsor Janji for next week, titled “Lies I Have Told My Pacer(s),” and I might have been thinking about all the folks Janji had running in the Cocodona 250—several athletes and also their athlete manager, Kyla (!)—out there grinding out long days and nights in probably somewhat compromised emotional states. I also noticed I had recently started wearing my Janji Trailbreaker Hat around the same time, which I'm loving because it’s starting to get warmer around here and I look at that hat and see what they would call “airy mesh” and I would call “big holes for my sweaty head to breathe more.”
Have you ever wondered about the “Strava Tax”—that crushing moment when you’ve stopped running or hiking or cycling when your watch says 6.00 miles or 20.00 miles or whatever, only to find that when your watch uploaded your data to Strava, your Strava page says it was 5.99 miles or 19.99 miles? Well, the folks at Strava have written a piece explaining it, and the "how" is actually a pretty simple technology thing, but a little more complex as to why they do it.
I read Alex Hutchinson’s book, Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance, back in 2019, and have followed his Sweat Science column for a very long time—generally I read his stuff and think things like, “Thank you, smart guy, for digging through the research and validating the practice of positive self-talk during vigorous exercise.” So it was fantastic to interview him about his new book, The Explorer’s Gene: Why We Seek Big Challenges, New Flavors, and the Blank Spots on the Map, for the Trailhead podcast. (The podcast is, of course, about endurance and ultramarathons, but we spent some time talking about why it’s harder to find new music you like as you get older, and whether or not Alex “explores” much in his regular training runs around his home in Toronto.)
Apple Podcasts |Spotify
I can’t decide if I want to see Friendship when it comes out (I’ve heard it called “hilarious” but also “deeply uncomfortable”), but I did love this piece on The Ringer detailing the history of the bromance in movies—including the film historian arguing that it’s basically an American phenomenon.
When I interviewed a bunch of dads for a hopefully-someday-book project around the time Jay was born (book still coming, I swear!), one of my friends, Chris, said something like, “Having kids is great—you get to eat macaroni and cheese again.” I of course have never stopped eating macaroni and cheese, but Chris was right, in that I do eat more of it now. Hilary found this Three Ingredient Stovetop Mac and Cheese recipe (by Kenji Lopez-Alt) a few weeks back, and I finally made it myself on Wednesday, and I am pleased to announce that it is a) fantastic and b) really easy. Although you do need to keep stirring it throughout. (Of course Kenji Lopez-Alt points out that three total ingredients is actually one fewer ingredient than is used in making a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese)
There are many great things about this Austin Kleon piece on “Questions Without Answers,” including the link to his other piece, “7 questions I ask myself (when I don’t know what to do next),” but my favorite part might be all the comments from readers sharing the best question a kid ever asked them.
--
Semi-Rad
Writer, artist, filmmaker, columnist for Outside Magazine. My newsletter about creativity, adventure, and enthusiasm goes out to 15,000+ subscribers every week.
Friday Inspiration 531 IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A SIGN that you should say, “oh, what the hell, I’ll sign up for Brendan’s trail running and writing workshop in June,” this is it: We are re-opening our application until April 13 at midnight MST to fill two more spots. I can guarantee we’re going to have fun regardless, so you might as well join us for six days of digging into writing and storytelling, punctuated with mellow trail runs every day before lunch. Here’s the link to check it out. --...
Friday Inspiration 530 I think I know probably a dozen people who will be VERY excited reading the words “Hey, there’s a documentary about Mary Oliver coming out soon,” and I hope I am the one to deliver this news to them (video) As I understand it, this guy was replacing the stairs in his multi-floor townhouse, took out the spiral staircase, and then realized that his passport was on the top floor, which was bad because he was leaving the next weekend for a cruise. So he put an ad on...
Sure, I "Trust The Process," But, The first time I remember ever hearing the phrase “trust the process,” I was interviewing my friend Mick about the house he’d built. It had taken him eight years of evenings and weekends, and started, kind of ironically, with him spending an entire weekend peeling three 20-foot logs before he realized he’d had the draw knife backward the whole time. He stuck with it, of course, and built a house so beautiful you’d never guess he had no idea what he was doing...