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​Friday Inspiration 547​

This is such a simple construct for a video: Make an extremely difficult obstacle course and challenge a couple of the world’s best bike handlers to try to ride it. But it was still so compelling and fun. (video)

An unlikely, but possible scenario you might find yourself in this upcoming weekend: You’re at a barbecue or other gathering, chatting with someone you just met, and you’ve covered the basics (your job, family, where you live, et cetera) and there’s a pause in conversation. You need to think of something to say, or it’s going to get awkward quickly. So you say, "Did you know there's this town in Newfoundland and Labrador that's had these 110 vats of fish sauce that have been rotting in a defunct factory since 2001, and the smell has grown so bad that some people move out of town for the summer, but they're finally starting to clean it up?" When the person you’re talking to says, “Really?” you will of course need more information, and thanks to this Defector article, you will be prepared: Let Me And A Food Scientist Sample The Abandoned Fish Sauce Terrorizing A Small Canadian Town​

This new double-feature episode of the Dirtbag Diaries includes my friend Mike Foote, who sent me a version of his story about his dad and herons just before the submission deadline, and I loved it, and assumed Fitz and Becca at the Dirtbag Diaries would love it too. And the second part is Natasha Buffo, who brought an early version of her story about the pondering whether or not to have a child to our 2023 Freeflow Institute writing workshop (when things were quite a bit different for her). I was psyched to see them together and thought it made for a great episode.

This article about men needing better fitness role models captured a feeling I think a lot of us might have about “manosphere”-influenced wellness advice, and I found myself nodding when the author stopped looking at influencers and went looking for people he respected to see how they approached staying fit and healthy: “In aiming for a vision of fitness that avoids overemphasis on masculinity, I gravitated away from influencers and biohackers toward strong artists who had prioritized physical strength in their daily routines.” [GIFT LINK] (thanks, Ben)

I’ve been following Denver artist and muralist Thomas Evans for years now, and I remember when he announced the baggage sculpture he’d installed at Denver International Airport (there’s a photo of it on the homepage of his website here). I loved this video he shared on social media this week of the process of cleaning the sculpture after 18 months.

I almost put this video at the top of this newsletter, but I thought the bike obstacle course was a bit more interesting: Best moments of the Red Bull Dance Your Style Qualifiers in the U.S. (The first guy, who is amazing, comes back at the end of the video). (And yes, I know, that’s two Red Bull videos in one newsletter)

​This poem is only 20 words long, but I’ve been thinking about it for like two weeks now.

I wrote a piece this week for Patreon supporters about not taking shortcuts—or, I guess, intentionally taking the more labor-intensive route, while not at all being confident it makes a difference in the final product. (Next week I'll have another bonus episode of My Favorite Things in which I talk about another one of my favorite creative works, which is a simple but genius XY chart)

And finally, the books I’m currently reading:

• ​Hope Dies Last: Visionary People Across the World, Fighting to Find Us a Future by Alan Weisman
• ​The Size of Your Joy by Elise M. Powers
• ​Ninth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement That Changed Modern Art by Mary Gabriel

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