Currently Digging IV
Wow. WOW. How did I put this one off for so long? I turned on the Hamilton soundtrack last Saturday in anticipation of Lin-Manuel Miranda's episode of Saturday Night Live and immediately fell in love with the music, the story, the history, and everything about this musical. OF COURSE it won 11 Tonys earlier this year! I've had it on repeat for about four days now. Alexander Hamilton's belief in this country might be the only thing keeping me sane through this election season.
This cover jumped out at my on the shelf at my local library -- I'm always looking for inspiration on decluttering, and the fact that this book was intended especially for "creative folks" (like me!) made me hopeful that, I don't know, maybe this one would work? And while no self-help book can accomplish your goals for you, New Order sure did speak my language. The "for creative folks" angle works as a motivation to get your space, mind, and digital realm cleared to give you more room to accomplish your creative projects. For me, that meant organizing the space around a desk I never use. I found Fay Wolf's book incredibly fun to read AND helpful.
I first started listening to Lucy Dacus when I found her as a "related artist" under both Courtney Barnett and Sunflower Bean on Spotify. She has a smooth, low tone of voice and thoughtful, confessional lyrics that are easy to relate to. I just about wore out "I Don't Wanna Be Funny Anymore" before moving on to listen to the rest of her June 2016 release No Burden, which now is making regular cycles in my daily playlist. (One of my favorite podcasts, For the Record, has an episode on this album if you want to know more.)
I started following Jon Ronson about a year ago after someone must have retweeted his thoughts on the latest Internet shaming. I saw that he'd written a book about the phenomenon of public shaming, which is back in a big way in the digital age, and have had it on my to-read list since then.
Our ability to be loud, opinionated, and often cruel behind the guises of our online personas has intrigued me since, I don't know, the dawn of Facebook comments. Ronson's So You've Been Publicly Shamed takes a look at when and why it's OK to collectively shame someone (you'd better be punching up) and how victims of usually undeserved abuse fare after their floggings.
OK, I know I said Hamilton was the only thing keeping me sane until the election, but it's actually Hamilton and this guy. I started watching more of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on demand this summer and have been keeping up since he came back on with Season 3 this fall. He just really GETS IT.
