Sunday Media Round-Up #1
If you follow me on Instagram, you might know that I’ve been sharing a very hodge-podge media round-up on Sundays. It includes articles, movies, podcasts, etc that are largely not news-y that I found valuable in some way, even if it was purely for entertainment. I’ve come to really love putting it together and as I questioned if I should take it to Substack, when I’ve been so absent here, I asked myself one question: “this, of all things, is what is going to get you back on Substack?”
I’ve been writing a decent amount and sharing very little, all while dreaming of what I might do here. This, somehow, feels like a doorway. And I need a doorway right now. So, I’m going to go through it, even though it’s not the door I hoped it would be (like, please, Kate, could you have just decided to do a weekly piece about the farm, supply chains, anything but a media round-up?) Apparently, I could not.
I think there is a lot of power in sending someone a piece of media that reminds you of them; whether that’s something you think they’d like, something you think would resonate in their life or work, or even if it’s just something you like and want to discuss. It’s a small love letter and point of connection. Not only does it say “I’m thinking of you”, but it also is an opportunity to begin a conversation about something beyond the realms of small talk. We all want to know that people are thinking about us (or, as an anxious person, you rather want to know that people are not thinking about you, especially about that dumb thing that you did that you can’t stop thinking about, but I digress…). It feels good to be thought of.
The word media is derived from medium. A space in between, a middle ground, or a substance through which something is conveyed. Sending these missives to friends is just that, finding something in the space between us, a place to meet and have a conversation, a little link - a medium - through which love and care and affection is conveyed.
I feel really lucky that I have been on the receiving end of a lot of really incredible bits and bobs and that I have built a network of people that send me things and that I send things to in return. It has opened my eyes to new ideas, new writers and publications, new ways of being in this world. Sometimes it has just provided me with a good bit of entertainment on a night when it was sorely needed. I hope that these might do the same for you, that they might feel like love letters where you and I can meet in the middle.
Usually, I notice some thematic elements pop up between them, but they are mostly a random assortment.
On Attention Fracking / Productivity / Restfulness
→ Ezra Klein. Well. What can I say? You either love him, hate him, or both in good measure from week to week. But when he gets it right? He gets it right, folks. I had to go back in for this podcast a second time because it felt that important. I’ve been noticing my own attention drifting lately and to ask what attention is in the first place felt profound. H/t to Caroline Nelson (@bigskycaroline) for alerting me to this piece.
As a side note, I’ve noticed my usage of social media creeping up. I try to notice what I’m looking for when I open the apps, and oftentimes, that thing is connection. I’ve gotten to connect with some incredible people because of social media, but rarely do I find the true connection I’m craving when I go for a scroll. I recently read something along the lines of “nobody wants to see their heroes curled over their phones like shrimp having a scroll” (do it, picture your heroes scrolling). It’s true. It’s uncomely, and it’s uncomely because what we want to imagine our heroes doing is heroic stuff. They’re writing their next book, practicing their next piece of music, toiling away in a laboratory, shearing sheep, resting in a field… whatever it is, it’s not scrolling.
I actually started using an app (this one, and I’ve been using it for a couple of months, and I recommend it) to help me limit my time. What I recommend more? Be accountable to a friend. Check in with a friend about what distracted you or the time you spent on social media. You’ll be amazed at how some healthy peer pressure (see above, they are thinking about you! and want you to do better!) will change your habits.
Caroline and I started doing this for one another and it has been transformative. I send her a small reflection at the end of the day around how I sought to distract myself from work I want to be doing. Not only did it result in a more productive AND RESTFUL week, but very curiously, my Oura ring reported that my heart rate was down (good!), my HRV was up (good!), and I was getting more rest throughout the day. This was in the midst of an incredibly stressful week. It’s definitely correlation and a short time frame, but my curiosity is piqued.
→ I read Chris Williamson’s newsletter most Mondays because it always seems to hold a very digestible bite of something for me to chew on to start my week. This week he asked two questions that resonated: “What do I do that I think is productive but isn’t?” and “What do I do that I don’t think is productive but actually is?” He expounded on the answers and they really hit home. “The problem is that no one’s productivity goal is to maximize inputs, it’s to maximize outcomes.” I realized that often I stave off rest in the name of being productive (dicking around in my inbox) instead of giving myself the nourishment I need (mental or physical rest).
Making Art from Life, Reveling in Fiction, Coping
→ I picked up this podcast with director Richard Linklater this week. Linklater always feels able to capture a feeling, a mood, a certain nostalgia with aplomb. In this, I really liked the idea that our medium (see, see what I did there?), whatever that is, is often a coping mechanism as much as it is our calling. Calling/coping. Same thing. And the art we’re making, the work we’re putting into the world is really just cobbled together from our own lives; those moments where you zoom out and can see it as a piece of writing, a film, a camera angle (arguably, also, those moments that you need to cope about). It was also in praise of boredom (which, refer back to 1).
→ In exchange for sending the Linklater podcast, a friend sent me Tolkien’s On Fairie Stories, which, somehow, I had not read. I found a lot about what stories mean, how fiction can help us to truly see things, and how it’s not only true when we’re in it but how it nourishes and recovers us. H/t to Wilson for this one.
→ Change. Changing habits, changing aspects of our self, wondering what a self is anyway. I spent much of last year exploring the question: “what is that incredibly porous boundary between self and other and how can we look at it?” on the podcast last year. Enjoyed this piece in the Marginalian for all of that and then some.
Seeing Boys and Men
→ This has always been a bit of a pet cause for me. Chalk it up to working in agriculture and male-dominated industries, to training young men in a trade, looking at emptied out manufacturing towns, or just wanting to see the things we miss, but Richard Reeves’ work with the American Institute of Boys and Men (and his amazing book Of Boys and Men) is important and getting men’s health on the agenda alongside women’s health is something worth advocating for. Since it’s father’s day, this felt relevant.
This Shit is Bananas
→ Okay, this is a bit newsier, but Chiquita (yes, the banana company) was found liable for deaths that happened during the Colombian Civil War. Did you know bananas are the most widely consumed fruit in the world? Because I did not and if you had asked me, I think I would have bet on apples. They were ordered to pay $38m to family members and farmers and civilians that were killed. You’re going to have to bear with me but I have some thoughts about this.
The other week I was picking up some non-perishables from Whole Foods and I saw this:
Ah, yes. We create a year round supply chain for fruits from the tropics (focusing on 2 species, vs the over 1000 banana species that exist) that are shipped hither and yon. Early on in creating these supply chains, it disrupts the lifeways of people in those countries, pushing them towards being a banana exporting operation where banana farmers work to supply banana corporations. This creates tremendous pressure on regions and laborers that grow bananas, often creating political instability. They become, in fact, a banana republic. Fast forward a bit and now our purchase of bananas is supporting aid to the very disruption the purchasing of bananas caused in the first place. You are doing good by buying the bananas. Beautiful. Full circle. (Insert eye roll and sarcastic tone.) Extrapolate this to virtually any supply chain and you start to see the big picture.
Now, I want to be clear here, just to have the full hypocrisy of modernity on display, I have also bought bananas. And recently. This isn’t about shame, it’s about pointing out the absurdity of our modern machinations. If you really want to go down the rabbit hole, bananas have been at the center of a lot of controversy - from degrowth economics, to how the CIA and the United Fruit company colluded to overthrow the Guatemalan government in the ‘50’s. Or read this poem by Pablo Neruda about the United Fruit Company that sums all this up far better than I could. Nicola Twilley also covers a good bit about this in her upcoming book Frostbite and is also the guest of this week’s podcast episode!
Life Webs
→ I had the pleasure and honor of getting to hike with Brock Dolman this week. He said something (many things) that stuck with me. I’m sharing this: “energy flows, matter cycles, and life webs. Life is creating the conditions for its own fecundity.” I’m not sure it was as good as some of his puns, but I liked it.
Sedentarism - For Animals
→ I’m deep into Katy Bowman’s work and loved this podcast about sedentary animals. I maintain that I have not highlighted, dog eared, underlined a book more than I have Movement Matters. This episode is a small peek into her work through a more agricultural lens.
Chronic Pain is Psychedelic
→ Speaking of attention, the always incredible Sophie Strand wrote this piece about how chronic pain draws us into the present in a way that could be described as psychedelic. As someone who lives with chronic pain, I can attest to this. It demands your attention in a way that is arresting, and again, begs the question: what is attention?