It’s Monday and I’m working working working. I’m also long on creative ideas but short on finished drafts, so let’s enjoy another quote from Hank Green and get back to it!
“There’s no better use of a day than learning something new.”
— Hank Green
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I recently asked my father to check my “in case of emergency” documents to see if he thought anything was missing. What can I say, I like to plan ahead. I’ve seen enough aftermath by now to realize that one of the best things you can do for your loved ones is to be prepared. I’m also sure I’m still missing some things, which is why I wanted an experienced set of eyes on the situation. (And by that I mean lawyer-level prepared, not “I bought this kit/took random advice off the internet and am sure it will all be fine” prepared.)
Opener to my text:
At some point I’d appreciate it if you would check the ICE folder and pretend we’re dead 🙁
Very sad. But the good news is that we’re not dead yet! My text closing:
/ok, not dead anymore. rejoice!
And I will.
There’s a certain joy to actively realizing that despite the sprawling expanse of history and the billions of people who have lived and died before me (and will come after), I, right now, in this moment, am alive. And so are you.
Hooray!
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Super productive morning, semi-lazy afternoon. With books!
The Science of Storytelling: How can reading books change our brains?
What happens inside our brains when we read? How does the science of storytelling explain the power of narratives to shape our minds? In what ways do stories make us uniquely human?
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“Do. Not. Forget. how special and bizarre it is to get to live a human life. It took 3 billion years for the Earth to go from single-celled life forms to you. That’s more than a quarter of the life of the entire universe. Something very special and strange is happening on this planet and it is you.”
— Hank Green, 2025 Commencement address, MIT
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It’s overcast and rainy today, and the kind of quiet that lends itself to creative thinking, at least for me. The perfect sort of day to learn about a new art, like kumiko and mageki.
What, you may ask, are those? A kind of magic balancing geometry and nature.
Kumiko Woodworking and Mageki Woodbending
Thin pieces of Japanese cedar or cypress wood are shaved and shaped precisely before fitting into delicate patterns. No nails are required. The art of Kumiko woodworking blossomed during Japan’s Asuka Era (600-700 AD) and “has since been refined and passed down through generations of craftsmen who are passionate about the tradition…”
(This sort of thing appeals to me on a lot of levels. Not only is it an amazing craft, but it gets my creative mind thinking about interesting story ideas.)
No nails. No glue!
Just precision and symmetry in perfect balance.
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“People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong. Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom?”
— Thích Nhất Hạnh
I’m not arguing that we should ignore the many bad things currently happening in the world, especially not when we have the power to change them. But balancing the bad with the recognition of what’s good?
I’m in.
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A couple of years ago I wrote about NASA’s excellent graphic novel encouraging folks to imagine themselves on the moon: First Woman: Dream to Reality.
There was a second issue, too, called First Woman: Expanding Our Universe. Both were free and available to the public on NASA’s site. (Which makes sense, because NASA is paid for by US tax dollars, including mine.) Sadly, both have now been removed.
But good news, aspiring explorers! As highlighted over at Space.com, both issues are still available via that bastion of awesome, The Wayback Machine:
Issue #1: Dream to Reality follows Callie’s trailblazing path as the first woman on the Moon. Callie and her robot sidekick, RT, overcome setbacks, disappointment, and tragedy along the way. From her childhood dreams of space travel to being selected as an astronaut candidate, Callie takes us on her journey to the Moon.
I don’t always take the time to update older links, but I thought this one was important.
Because if humanity stops inspiring the next generation, humanity stops.
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Today is Memorial Day in the US, and I’m thinking of those who served and died. I’m thinking of Boalsburg, one of the first homes of Memorial Day celebrations. And I’m thinking of the ways in which we remember those we’ve lost, as sorrow highlights the good that remains.
Memorial Day by Amos Russel Wells
The Day of Memories!—Remembering what?
The cannon’s roar, the hissing of the shot?
The weary hospital, the prison pen?
The widow’s tears, the groans of stalwart men?
The bitterness of fratricidal strife?
The pangs of death, the sharper pangs of life?
Nay, let us quite forget the whole of these
Upon our sacred Day of Memories.
The Day of Memories!—Remembering what?
The honored dust in every hallowed spot;
The honored names of all our heroes dead;
The glorious land for which they fought and bled;
Our nation’s hopes; the kindly, common good;
The universal bond of brotherhood;
These we remember gladly, all of these,
Upon our sacred Day of Memories.
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I attended a wedding once where I was seated next to a civil engineer. Being me, I wanted to know all about how things in his world worked. He was nearing retirement and had Opinions. It was a good conversation, but what I remember most was his advice: “If you want to understand a place, first find out where your water comes from, and then where it goes.”
Water and sewage, two of the most essential components of a functional modern society.
I thought of that dinner when I ran across this essay by Charles C. Mann. In it, he kicks off a series called “How the System Works” that touches on many of the ways in which humanity has built “the hidden mechanisms that support modern life.”
I find conversations like this fascinating because for so many of us, the process of supplying clean water, electricity, food systems and more might as well be magic.
We Live Like Royalty and Don’t Know It — The New Atlantis
This is not a statement about Kids These Days so much as about Most People These Days. Too many of us know next to nothing about the systems that undergird our lives. Which is what put me in mind of Thomas Jefferson and his ink.
Jefferson was one of the richest men in the new United States…. But despite his wealth and status his home was so cold in winter that the ink in his pen sometimes froze, making it difficult for him to write to complain about the chill.
And if this is magic, consider this series an introductory spell book:)
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