Category Archives: attitude

1. I started reading Carnival of Snackery by David Sedaris, which is a follow-up to his book Theft by Finding. He’s an American humorist, author, and essayist, and one of my favorite writers. These two books are collections of his journal entries and observations on his life, family, and friends. His method of documenting his life is what got me started on my own path of taking notes all day on what I encountered, observed, overheard, and thought about. Austin Kleon clearly details Sedaris’s process here.

2. I finished reading Mary Oliver’s American Primitive. She was an incredibly prolific poet and writer, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for the above title. Her works explored the concept of who we really are in relation to the world around us, and I read a poem a day of hers for the last month. Poetryfoundation.org has many of her poems online as well as much more information about her and her philosophy.

3. Virtual museum tours of the Van Gogh Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. Not quite the experience of being there, but as it doesn’t look like I’ll be doing a lot of international travel in the near future, this certainly fills the gap. The Norton Museum of Art here in South Florida had a wonderful exhibit of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera recently that was amazing to see in person.

4. A little late to the party, but I finally watched The Peanut Butter Falcon, originally released in 2019. The story follows Zack Gottsagen, a man with Down Syndrome, as he runs away from a nursing home to pursue his dream of becoming a professional wrestler. Amazing performance by Zack, as well as Shia LeBeouf and Dakota Johnson. I was surprised by how much I liked it.

5. Had an outstanding dinner with a friend at Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurant. The food, service, and atmosphere were worthy of five stars, and the Malbec was the best I’ve had in many years. Highly recommend if you’re in the US and looking for a great dining experience.

6. Found a great new blog/newsletter by Ijeoma Oluo called Behind the Book. She’s a bestselling author, essayist, and editor with a remarkable, honest, and relatable blog about writing and the writing life. She’s realistic, and also has a great sense of humor.

7. Adam J. Kurtz has a new book out titled You Are Here For Now that’s at the top of my to-be-read pile. He’s so honest, creative, relatable, and encouraging that you can’t help but feel better about life after reading his books. He also makes pins, stickers, journals, and all kinds of things you can find on his website.

8. The weather here has finally cooled down just a little bit, so I’m able to take a walk again and not have to be back inside by 8 am in order not to melt, although mid-afternoon still feels like July. Not complaining, it’s just nice to be able to open the windows now and then and get some fresh air.

9. I reread Joan Didion’s Slouching Toward Bethlehem. She is truly one of America’s greatest writers, and such an interesting and unusual soul. Sadly, she left us on December 23, 2021. I highly recommend this and all of her books, both fiction and non-fiction. Her interviews in The Paris Review are a wonderful read, as she lets us in on her process and challenges in continuing to take on the world through her writing.

10. Live Earth Cams. I think I lost about half a day traveling from Bourban Street in New Orleans to New York City, over to London, Paris, and Dublin, then to Pattaya, Thailand. Just really cool to look at and explore.

Just some fun and interesting discoveries from this week…hope you all had a chance to exercise those creative muscles, and if not, there’s always tomorrow. Every day is a good day to start something new.