​
​Friday Inspiration 561

Apparently this footage is from 2016 but WOW was I emotionally invested in the completion of this human tower at a Catalonian competition (not for the faint of heart) (video).

​This video clip has been flying around social media this week, many times without IDing the xylophone player, Layla Clark of Thomas Jefferson High School in Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania, whose mastery of her instrument and total focus on the opening of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” is nothing short of inspiring.

I did not expect this story about trying to build a chair using AI to go as deep into furniture building and design as it did, but I’m glad it did, and that it turned out to be so much more thoughtful than “ha, dumb computer doesn’t know how to make a chair.” But I’m also glad it included photos of the actual chairs the author built from the AI designs.

I have an emotional connection to the Temple of the Dog song “Hunger Strike,” but Hilary does not, and I made her watch this video of Stephen Wilson Jr. covering the song (with special guest Eddie Vedder!), and she said you don’t have to have an emotional connection to it to appreciate this performance.

I will read probably anything Hanif Abdurraqib writes, including this introduction to the new book “June Jordan’s Poetry for the People,” in which he talks about facilitating a poetry workshop for high school students in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio: “It also bears mentioning that I do this because I barely have any ‘traditional’ education myself. I was bad in high school, dropped out of college, and I have, for the entirety of my creative life, operated entirely outside of the scope of academic institutions, while simultaneously living in a city that is encased by a massive academic institution.”

When I found this short clip, which is apparently a compilation of this guy singing “Livin’ on a Prayer” a capella in public spaces in London over the course of several years, I thought, “Is this going to be too many musical links for this week’s newsletter?” And then I thought, nah. You just can't help but root for him, and hope that someone, anyone, will join in for the chorus.

The beginning of this Substack post titled Ranking his on the basis of how fast I will respond: “I receive greetings from various individuals on a daily basis [once in 2 months](very popular, i know) and i have come to realise that not every hi deserves my immediate attention, some make me smile, some make me question my existence, and some make me want to throw my phone into a lake...and honestly, i think it’s time we address the discrimination happening in my inbox.”

I had an absolute blast interviewing my friend Paddy O’Connell for the My Favorite Things podcast, during which we talked about Blockbuster Video, The Cripple of Inishmaan, Huckleberry Finn, Ezra Pound, and The Dirtbag Diaries—and I let him have an “honorable mention” so we could talk about the 1988 Dodge Caravan.

Also: I am, once again, selling my Grand Canyon Groovers calendars for 2027. We made 100 of these this year, and if you want one for you or for someone on your holiday shopping list), it might be good to grab one sooner rather than later:

--

Books I’m Currently Reading:

• ​What If We Get It Right? Visions of Climate Futures by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

I heard about this book earlier this year but hadn't ordered it until recently, and I'm only through the introduction so far, a but I'm optimistic that it's going to be as good as people say it is (Smithsonian Best Book of the Year, NYTimes Bestseller, etc.) Author Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist, co-founder of the Urban Ocean Lab, and podcaster, who curated this collection of essays, interviews, poetry, and art, which I'm hopeful about.

• ​Bottom of the 33rd: Hope, Redemption, and Baseball's Longest Game by Dan Barry

I don't remember where I heard about this book, or where I bought it, but I do know I have a paperback copy of it, and I'm into it so far: A 1981 minor league baseball game that went into the wee hours of the morning, and that included future MLB superstars Wade Boggs and Cal Ripken Jr.

• ​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

Hilary was reading this for months and absolutely gushing over it, and there’s only so much you can hear about one book before you just say “I’ll go ahead and borrow that whenever you’re finished.” And I am happy to say it’s as good as she said it was (although I would be terrified of taking on the challenge of writing about five different [famous] artists all in the same book like Mary Gabriel did).

--