It's the onions that's getting hurt
7 things that got me thinking (and feeling) this week...
Here are 7 things that got me thinking (and feeling) this week…
Things I didn’t expect to come across this week: Rapper Cardi B talking about her love for FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt on the show “Hot Wings.” He was a leader with a disability, who led in war, gave us the new deal, and this powerful quote: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Perhaps this quick video doc on the inspirational life of FDR may make you swoon like Cardi B. Who knows?
As a pinball lover & collector, and fan of lego movies (with “The Lego Batman” being my favorite), this match-up made my day.
“Rule Number 1: You need to inject yourself with Vitamin N. ‘No,’ that’s a vitamin. That’s how to get yourself disciplined,” says Kenyan marathoner Eliud Kipchoge who just won the 2023 BMW Berlin-Marathon (again) this week. The philosopher Michael Monahan (who I recently spoked cigars with on a porch in Memphis) has a wonderful paper on over-coming the self from a Nietzschean perspective when it comes to sports and life. Check it out.
Song of the week: Cktrl’s Love + war (ft. Ophie). A sad yet beautiful song, with lyrics like: “Say you don’t love me anymore/ Cue the celebration on the kitchen floor/Say you’re not mine and I’m not yours/Bitter separation /Left with no remorse /They say love is pain/ Got no one to blame/ I guess love is war'/With nothing to gain.”
I’m currently reading James McBride latest novel “The Heaven and Earth Grocery Story.” The story reminds me of my southern upbringing but also the power, necessity, and messiness of community, and the need for care. It’s a book I definitely recommend. Speaking of community and care, while on Tour in Portland, the care ethicist Maurice Hamington hipped me onto his forthcoming work on “radical care.” If the work is anything like this, I am beyond excited.
“What explains the rise of Stoicism in this particular moment? Some of it is problematically masculinist… [but] for lots of people its … a kind of tribute to the potential of humans to be resilient and how you can make a good life for yourself in tough circumstances and recover from hardship,” says philosopher Jeremy Reid on the latest season of the UnMute Podcast. To learn more about the stoics, anger, and forgiveness, head here.
Mockumentary Genius: “Cunk: You know when you read a word in a book and you sort of hear that word in your head- how do they get the sounds into the ink to make it play in your head? Librarian: (after a good pause): …Well…” If you are a documentary nerd like me, who also loves to laugh, and believes that no question really is a stupid question, please check out Netflix’s “Cunk on Earth.” You will thank me later. Don’t have netflix? Check out Philomena Cunk’s other hilarious projects on the YouTubes.
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PS: I felt like a rock star in Portland this week. But the biggest highlight wasn’t this Marquee. The audience inside was a true delight. (I am so grateful).
