Feeling italicized

Wednesday posts are usually only for premium subscribers but here's a freebie.

Yesterday morning, I happened to leave the house at the same time as my upstairs neighbors, a very nice couple in their 30s named Jonathan and Valerie. We locked our doors at the same time and converged at the stairwell. We were both carrying out bags of recycling, so we had to walk over to the recycling bins and pour all our stuff in together. We said good morning, and then had to keep walking together because our cars were parked right next to each other. At this point, we'd been together long past comfort for complete strangers, and after a pregnant pause, Jonathan threw himself into the breach, sighing, "Another day!" Wanting to make a joke, I said, "Yeah. I'm getting kind of bored by it, actually." They both laughed and Valerie said, "Aren't we all?" I replied, "Doesn't it seem like there are more interesting things we could be doing?" and they genuinely laughed and for a brief moment I made a connection with strangers and it was a very nice feeling.

But I have a different point. As I drove out of the apartment complex, 2 more cars across the street were leaving their complex and we all filed out into a tidy little line on the street, merging into another, longer line of cars waiting our turn to be spat out onto an even bigger street that would send us on to our various jobs. The entire synchronized dance from front door on had very strong cog-in-a-wheel-in-a-giant machine vibes. I half expected Terry Gilliam to step out from behind a camera and yell "Cut!" (Yes I know he's dead.)

It is a deeply weird time to be alive, so maybe that's causing the introspection. Or it could just be a product of getting older. I don't have the magic solution to make us feel that every moment of life is fat with meaning. That'd be exhausting. Maybe those little exchanges with other humans are enough to keep us from being completely consumed by the machine.

"But consider that America, a country whose most committed ideologues spend all day looking at the internet, might not have the same stamina for counterinsurgency warfare as Yemen or Afghanistan. People in those countries were willing to suffer endlessly for victory; Americans keep going into big wet hysterics because their favourite TV shows cast too many black people, or not enough."
Found an interesting new-to-me writer this week, Sam Kriss, and that's from his piece on why we're probably not on the brink of civil war. He's a unique writer and really pulled me in with this one. I can't wait to read more of his stuff.

"We’re long overdue for a Swift album that feels even a little bit curious about the world she rules."
I have actively disliked Taylor Swift for years now (for proof just ask my children who have tried in vain to change that), so the poor reviews of her newest album are a long time coming for me. The one in Paste was a bit too mean, but the Washington Post's Chris Richards bravely put his name on his review, calling Tortured Poets a "two-hour hostage situation." Godspeed, you fearless soul.

That's it for today. I hope the rest of your week has multiple moments of joy. If you liked this post, you should become a Super Friend so you can get more of them.