Happy Ides of March!
This is an occasional collection of interesting articles, music, videos I’ve come across lately. They may not be new necessarily, but they’re new to me. I hope you find something you like.
If you’re considering joining us this June in Montana, drop me a line so you can reserve a spot. I can’t promise you’ll leave better than you arrived, but I’m pretty sure you’ll feel less alone in the world.
CPR
This essay by Rebecca Solnit explores an idea I ponder often: What if the various types of collapse I’m stressing over actually lead to a better life? A point I made in Civilized to Death is that the dreaded “collapse of civilization” that’s occurred many times in the past few millennia frequently resulted in better quality of life for most of the people involved. Sure, the elites (who wrote the history, if there was one) saw the collapse as unimaginable tragedy, but what about the common folk, who had no palaces to burn to the ground, no slaves running away or seeking revenge, no gold to be looted? Loss can be a wonderful gift if what you’ve lost was making you miserable.
In December, I got a charming email from Filip, who wrote:
My name is Filip and I'm a long-time listener, intermittent correspondent, and one of these people who have benefitted greatly from discovering you on Rogan long ago.
I'm definitely in the camp of people who have heard all your stories multiple times, even the ones you preface by saying "I don't think I've told this story on the podcast". Yes, you have. And it's great.
I know you like Daniel Lanois, and thanks to you talking about him now and then, I was quick to click on the interview he did with Rick Beato a while back and pay extra attention, and I was thoroughly impressed. What a wise, warm and wonderful person.
Anyway, that interview inspired me to put out a video that I thought maybe you would enjoy. Or maybe some of your listeners would. I get the feeling a lot of them are into music also.
Here’s Filip’s video. It’s really well done. Thanks, Filip!
This guy. So true. So deep. Sometimes, a performance feel like the opposite of “performative.” I won’t say more. Nolan says it all.
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