For no reason other than that I’m desperate to write about anything other than politics—given that I’m currently spending all the rest of my free time doing politics—this feels like a good week for some poetry. First, a quick preamble: I saw a viral tweet the other day that expressed a profound sadness that no one my age seems to have hobbies anymore. That the gig economy, and perhaps capitalism as a whole, have rendered us unable to engage in fun skill-building absent monetization. It seems like another sad truth in a world full of them, and I’m sure it is true to a degree—the demands on working people’s time and energy have certainly not decreased of late. But it didn’t really ring true for me. A lot of my friends have hobbies, things they’ve worked at for weeks or months or years; this is true even for the ones without the kind of comfortable money that typically allows for this sort of thing. In fact this newsletter (which I have not tried to monetize, intentionally, because I very much want it to remain a hobby instead of becoming a second job) has occasionally been a space for celebrating the cool stuff my friends are doing with their ever-diminishing free time.
Chuck, I always love reading your blog. You have a way with words and the ability to share your inspiration with all of us. I am happy that you are so good at sharing what you see in the world with those who have not developed hobbies, as I see it, a positive space in their lives. I think often of a Navaho prayer that has been shared many times, but I never get tired of hearing it.
In beauty I walk
With beauty before me I walk
With beauty behind me I walk
With beauty above me I walk
With beauty around me I walk
It has become beauty again
Today, everything negative will leave me.
I am a visual kind of guy, I wish I could share on your blog just a few of the wonderful aspects of our world that I have in photos. Savoring the hot taste of life, it is there if we are open to it.
Tabs Open #47: Joined By The Salt That Turned Them Faceless
Chuck, I always love reading your blog. You have a way with words and the ability to share your inspiration with all of us. I am happy that you are so good at sharing what you see in the world with those who have not developed hobbies, as I see it, a positive space in their lives. I think often of a Navaho prayer that has been shared many times, but I never get tired of hearing it.
In beauty I walk
With beauty before me I walk
With beauty behind me I walk
With beauty above me I walk
With beauty around me I walk
It has become beauty again
Today, everything negative will leave me.
I am a visual kind of guy, I wish I could share on your blog just a few of the wonderful aspects of our world that I have in photos. Savoring the hot taste of life, it is there if we are open to it.