Man, I really should develop some systematic way of planning this newsletter. As it stands I treat every Tuesday as a blank slate and it shows. Last week was personal story time. The two weeks before were Q&A. The week before that was business commentary about Spotify. Forget rhyme and reason. There’s not even ritual to this mess.
But also, eh. Maybe I’ll start next week.
This week, because we’re all artists in the room trading emotions like teenagers trade Pokémon cards, here are some things that moved me to feel stuff in the past few days.
1. This Peanuts strip from 1954.
the saddest thing I’ve ever seen
I mean come on. Comics are supposed to be funny, or at least entertaining. They’re not supposed to fill you with the quiet little sadness that reminds you how no matter how successful or confident you pretend you are, you’ll always just be a sad little guy who constantly feels left out and a failure.
What kind of punchline is a beloved, well-meaning toddler sitting alone at a train set one tenth the size of his friend’s? And why does it have to be a sad little circle, as if such destitution could only be cyclical? Schulz had no business using four squares of doodles to cut right to the deepest insecurities of the human heart. Damn him, and bless him, a true artist.
2. My fantasy football team winning by 0.4 points.
an instant classic
Someday, my manifesto about why everybody should care about sports will unite the artists and jocks forever. Humans need to feel themselves to be part of a story, and sports offer immersive story in weekly, yearly, and lifelong doses. Story gives events context and purpose. And though they’re a little removed, fantasy sports derive their value from that real-world truth.
Last night, as the Kansas City Chiefs dismantled the Denver Broncos in real time and space, my fantasy football team squeezed out a win on the not real internet. I was down by one point with four minutes left. This is why we care about sports, and why we do anything at all: to feel excitement, catastrophe, hope, and victory all burst like a million sparks in as many moments as we can manage to pay attention to, and to share these with 11 likeminded friends.
3. The podcast headline “Cynicism = The New Cigarettes.”
This was the headline of a marketing email for a podcast hosted by an artist I liked in college. I rarely listen to podcasts and usually ignore marketing emails, but this headline was good enough to get me to say “true.”
I feel myself slipping into cynicism fairly often these days. Just last week, I gave an interview and ended up kicking myself after for how cynically I talked about some things. There are plenty of things to rage against (not just the machine). But the fact that cynical rage (whether it’s calm or loud, all cynicism is, at it’s core, rage) is easy, addictive, done by everybody, and momentarily rewarding (cynicism gets views and laughs) should be a hint: maybe it’s bad for me.
4. Two hummingbirds.
I saw two this week, in different places. Both were enough to stun my soul to silence. I think we’d probably all be better artists if we saw less videos and more hummingbirds. But then again, part of the magic of moments like that is how rare they are.
Anyway, there you have it. What moved you this week? What made you sad? What made you amped? What resonated with you? What silenced you?
Write songs about those things.
Peace,
– Tom
