The Mercantile Library is one of my favorite places in Cincinnati. A gorgeous space dedicated to reading.
Photo above from The Mercantile Library’s website.
And tomorrow night, I’ll be co-hosting an event there. It’s bucket list material for me.
A sold-out event at that! I harbor no delusions that anyone will be there to hear from me. They’ll be there because they loved a little radio station in Oxford, Ohio that respected their listener’s ears and minds.
My 97X buddy Dave and I started a podcast a few years ago, recording episodes in my basement. We had no idea what we were doing. Still don’t, honestly. “Shoestring budget” would be inaccurate. No budget. Actually it’s a “loss leader” given the hosting and website fees we pay. We’ve done very little promotion of it. But somehow, someway, the small-but-mighty group of people who loved 97X found it. And Robin James, who has been our guest a couple of times, wanted us to co-host her book event. BAM! Pretty friggin’ cool.
“The reason why I wrote Fahrenheit is that I am a library person and I am in danger of someday writing something that people might not like and they might burn. So it was only natural that I sat down and wrote Fahrenheit 451.”
They say there is strangeness, too dangerous In our theatres and bookstore shelves That those who know what’s best for us – Must rise and save us from ourselves
Quick to judge, Quick to anger Slow to understand
Ignorance and prejudice And fear walk hand in hand
Rush “Witch Hunt” from their 1981 album Moving Pictures
It’s getting harder and harder to read a book… and easier and easier to get a gun. Which would you rather have in your kid’s hands?
If you’re happy and you know it… appreciate it. (And go ahead and clap your hands too. We wouldn’t want that nursery rhyme that’s been stuck in your head all these years to go to waste.)
School and work push us to avoid real dreams. Dreamers are dangerous, impatient and unwilling to tolerate the status quo. Existing systems would prefer we simply fit in.
The dreams we need to teach are the dreams of self-reliance and generosity. The only way for us to move forward is to encourage and amplify the work of people who are willing to learn, to see and to commit to making things better.
It turns out that reading and writing are the cornerstones of this practice, now more than ever. These are the two skills most likely to produce exponential results.
The effective writer can see their ideas spread to a hundred people overnight, or perhaps a million. Writing is still the bedrock tool we use to codify and share ideas, and it forces us to organize our thoughts.
But we can’t say it until we see it, which requires the commitment to reading and understanding, combined with the guts to dream and to lead.
Find the others, see the problem, and then decide to do something about it.
Great stuff, as always, from Seth. Reading expands your worldview. And the pen is mightier than the sword. It’s never been harder to carve out time for reading… but if you do, it’s never been easier to publish your thoughts.
“nonstop but fruitless efforts to fill the yawning chasm of his soul by seeking the attention of indifferent strangers.”
Andy Borowitz, in The New Yorker
Artist’s rendering of Elon
I probably shouldn’t be posting the entire piece from Andy Borowitz here. To make amends, I’ll mention that a subscription to The New Yorker is well worth the price (especially in Year 1, when they cut you a discount). There’s so much good content in every issue: news, features, fiction, cartoons, humor like the piece above, poetry…
In the “digital economy” I know people are used to getting their content for free. But keep in mind that most websites are siphoning your personal data and selling it to the highest bidder. So it only seems “free”… and you are the product. If you want to support quality writing, fork over a few bucks – the transaction is much more above-board. And go ahead and pay a bit more for the printed magazine… it’s a better experience, and easier on your eyes.
The only challenge I’ve found with my New Yorker subscription is that there’s so much great content in every issue that I’m constantly running a few weeks behind on my reading. A nice problem to have. Unless I break my glasses like ol’ Burgess Meredith in the Twilight Zone episode above.
One day ago, I’d never heard of Bud Smith. Now he’s my new hero.
OK, maybe I should pump the brakes a bit. After all “Bud Smith” sounds like some sort of Vegas alias. Or the owner of the used car lot where they sell hoopties for “$495 down – we finance!”
Actually Bud Smith is a writer.
Bud Smith is the author of the novel, Teenager, and the short story collection Double Bird, among others. He lives in Jersey City, NJ.
I’ve yet to read Bud’s novel or his short story collection. But I was born in Jersey City, so we’re kindred spirits of a sort. But the real reason we’re kindred spirits is Bud’s take on the creative process. I read this interview with my new bud Bud in The Creative Independent. (Hat tip to Cullen Lewis, who writes a weekly post on Substack, for putting this on my radar. Check out Cullen’s Bourn Yesterday today.)
You really should read the entire interview – Bud has countless pearls of wisdom to share. A few examples:
Avoid things that drain and do things that feel fulfilling.
Get comfortable doing sloppy work, malformed, phoned in, wonky work—believe you can fix it later. Because you can.
If you feel like you don’t have a place in an established scene, then you’re right, you don’t have a place, but you can always make your own spot—apart—you should. And eventually you’ll have put in your hours and you’ll have become a road tested creator. What I mean at its most basic level, if you are studying and working at something because it adds value to your life just by doing, then you’re doing it the best way. The most valuable way. Study what you love.
I love-love-love Bud’s take on the creative process. If you don’t fit in with the scene, make your own.
And if you’re doing something you enjoy, then the “ends” don’t matter. The journey is fulfilling enough.
Lyrics from a Rush song… Neil Peart was quite the writer too!
Bud also offers up a bit of life advice, including this:
Get out of your house/apartment. Be human, see people, be part of town.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get out of my house and see if my local library has copies of Teenager and Double Bird.
Kevin Sullivan on North, to Alaska: “Awesome ! Your oldest is taking on a young Lyle Mays look, love this too !” Jul 25, 10:39
Beth K on The Graduate: “Congratulations Peter! The world could use more people like you! Commence contributing your time and talents!” May 22, 07:50
Phillipo on The Graduate: “Team Dotterwei sending caring humans into the world. A benefit to us all.” May 20, 11:23
Dave Kincaid on their pain, your gain: “D2-very well said. Keep them in your thoughts at all times.” May 8, 19:12
LJ on Ray and Rush were right: “True that D..It’s a sad state of affairs..Maybe someone needs to post a TikTok challenge of turning in your gun…” Apr 18, 14:10
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