Nonagenarian Artists, the "End of Entertainment," and ADHD Lifehacks

a Blue Room grab bag

Top of the morning to you, Blue Roomies!

What a week. Easter was glorious, although I missed my colleague who was out sick, and I had quite the resurrection hangover for the first part of the week. Plus it rained for days. I was worried my newly planted seeds would get waterlogged, so I picked my way over to the garden and eyed her from under my umbrella. The ground is soaked, but no standing water. I’ve got good drainage! And a few teeny sprouts!

Speaking of sprouts, here are some little shoots of inspiration recently. Enjoy:

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My friend and colleague Thomas Dummermuth had an audacious idea during covid: to invite people to contribute to a hand-lettered version of the Bible. At a time when so many interactions were mediated through technology, I adored this project, full of care and creativity and embodiment. The Nebraska Corona Bible is done at last, and you can have a copy of some or all of it.

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This post from Dan Blank about artists working well into their 90s was so motivating.

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Song on repeat: this gem from Katie Pruitt: 

“Did they want what’s best, or did they want what’s easiest?” 

 “Normal” is oppressive.

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In her latest podcast season, Brene Brown is exploring life “beyond human scale.” This story snapped me to full attention:

[He said,] “You know, I’m a private pilot, and when you first learn to fly, you’re in these little two-seater planes. And if it’s hot outside, it’s hot in there, and if it’s cold outside, it’s cold in there.” And he said, “When you turn left, you have to move your whole body left, and when you turn right, your whole body moves right, and if a gust of wind comes, you can feel it under the plane.”...

And he said, “But then it becomes not enough, so you want to fly something faster and you want to fly something that goes higher, and then all of a sudden you’re in a jet, and if you stay present, you die. You actually have to live 60-90 seconds ahead of the moment you’re in, because you’re going so fast and so hard and so high.” And he said, “Then it’s ‘controlled flight into terrain’.” And I was like, “What?” And he said, “That’s an aviation term for when a pilot crashes, but they thought they had control of the flight to the minute they were all dead. Controlled flight into terrain.”

So the flight was always “in control,” but they flew right into the side of the mountain or whatever. So he has my attention. I mean honestly, like, “controlled flight into terrain,” how many of you feel a little resonance with that? Right. And so I left [that conversation] thinking about the idea of human scale and the cost of living beyond how we are physically, biologically, spiritually, cognitively, emotionally wired to live. 

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Cowboy Carter: Heck yeah. “This is how they made me… Houston, Texas baby.” 

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Frances Wattman Rosenau continues to daydream, and inspires me to do the same. 

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I don’t have ADHD (I don’t think?) but I thought these ADHD lifehacks were great.

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This image has been bouncing around Substack. (Read the whole post about post-entertainment society here. Oof.)

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I’m reading Lord of the Rings and just made it through the Mines of Moria, and I’m obsessed with Tolkien’s notion of the eucatastrophe. JRR Jokien wrote a beautiful piece about it in honor of Easter.

Don’t be alarmed, he’s alive. From the Nebraska Corona Bible.

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What I’m Up To

• I’m off to preacher camp on Sunday, but first, I’m preaching Sunday morning at 10:15 EDT at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Herndon. Join us in person or via livestream.

• I’ll be leading a church leadership event in May for the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church. Non-Methodists welcome! 

• A big thank you to new supporting subscribers–as promised, I donated 50% of all new subs from the past few weeks to World Central Kitchen. What a sad week to have done that. 

Steady on.