What Now?

Roll clouds over Bad Ass Coffee in McKinney, August 4, 2024

I've been AWOL from The Farm for nearly four months now, trying to figure out what to do if the elections were to go badly for folks of my particular intellectual bent. Since I generally lack optimism and tend to gird myself for the worst in hopes of being pleasantly surprised, I thought I'd be well enough prepared for whatever happened. 

Like most of my fellow travelers, however, I fell into a kind of hopeful state of denial that a large enough plurality of voters could abandon common sense and/or willfully disbelieve the available evidence, and that reason would somehow prevail. And then the reality hit the fan and . . . . well, here we are. The consequences of the cognitively dissonant, counter-intuitive, intellectually and emotionally painful, and, yes, frightening election results are beginning to settle in.

The fact that we have a couple of months of marginally normal life left has numbed this household into a reflective mood, and we are beginning to shore up our inner resources--and a few of our external reserves--into strategies for facing the future in the developing dystopian moment.

So, my question: What now?

Fortunately for me, the gathering gloom brought forth some happy accidents during the last couple of months, and I discovered some interesting newsletters that kept me from doomscrolling through Quora, and gave me some rabbit holes to fall into and explore, and allowed me to enjoy the serendipity of found objects. In this case, the "objects" were really writers whose interests coincided with mine and practically coerced me into beginning to think sideways onto more productive paths. What's best about these folks is that after November 6th, they began channeling their grief and disappointment into productive avenues of creativity and philosophical engagement. So, in hopes that the folks who read this blog will not be surprised at my angst, and will probably commiserate in some measure, I decided to share some of these recent discoveries that might appeal to you as much as they have to me. I should note that everybody listed here offers ad-free content supported by subscriptions; some offer limited free access, but I urge you to subscribe if you can. 

Austin Kleon. Two or three months ago, I was idling through my Pinterest feed and came upon a compelling photo of a notebook that led me to its owner, the author of a book I wish I had known about when I was still teaching: Steal Like An Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative. As some of you already know (especially if you were one of my students), I am not generally fond of what could be called "self-help" books, but this little (about 6" square, 1/2" thick) tome-ette is a charmer. And it's helpful. Especially if you're in a crappy mood and can't seem to get anything accomplished. I liked it so much that I subscribed to his Substack (see the initial link), and then bought Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad, which seems consummately appropriate for this moment in world history. I'm now such a fan-girl that I eagerly await the newsletters I get twice a week, and they often set the tone for the morning. Last week's "Don't let your dreams give up on you" collage/post kept me going all day. 

Jason Kottke is a long-time blogger who's really good at connecting folks to other folks via links and commentary on his site. I subscribed to his newsletters, too, and am treated twice a week to intriguing, thought-provoking, beautiful, funny, entertaining, inspiring, and (I could go on, and on) other engaging stuff. He also introduced me to

Matt Pearce, the journalist who got me out of my snit about the Washington Post. When Jeff Bezos prohibited the WaPo's editorial board from endorsing Kamala Harris for President, I cancelled my digital subscription (which would have expired on the 11th anyway). Pearce, however, in a thoughtful essay, "Journalism's fight for survival in a postliterate democracy," convinced me that losing my piddly little 170USD per year subscription wasn't going to hurt Bezos one small bit (especially since I can't really afford to give up Amazon Prime from whence I feed my addiction to French murder procedurals), but the collective effect of losing all those pissed-off readers like me would seriously impact journalists. As the daughter of a foreign correspondent, I know how that could hurt. Anyway, it would also be a good idea to read the essay Alex Wagner interviewed Pearce about on MSNBC, "Lessons on media policy at the slaughter-bench of history: Contemplating the purpose of the press after the Trump revolution." I'm still reading him for free, but only until my Social Security check comes in. One note, though: I am no longer buying books through Amazon, and I urge you to tame your instant gratification urges and start buying from Bookshop.org instead. Yes you pay shipping, and yes it takes a little longer. But some of your money goes to an independent bookstore of your choice, and you'll be a better person.

I've got more of these, and a recent visit from two former students has convinced me that I need to get back to working diligently on the Farm. As Rachel Maddow has said (and Austin Kleon, and many others), it's time to do something. Since this is practically the only something I do, I guess I'd best get to it.

Image note: I thought that an ominous cloud formation might be an appropriate illustration for the topic. I took this photo at the end of a storm after consuming a terrific cup of Kona coffee.