Fun
The Spam Folder of Deathless Literature
Dear Kay,
I visit my spam folder the way I used to visit the mailbox at the end of our long driveway. A new issue of Life? The Book of the Month? I still get that feeling when I crack open the spam folder.
I sign up for email newsletters on a regular basis. They flow in like a mighty river of stuff I’m interested in:
The latest weird clothes from Acne Studios. (Every season is weird at Acne Studios, but it’s something I can talk about with my son, so it’s useful.)
Ysolda Teague talking about the things in her online yarn shop. (Such things! Sign up if you haven’t already.)
Malcolm Gladwell announcing Season 2 of his podcast, Revisionist History.
Max Daniels, ever encouraging us to take care of ourselves.
Parnassus Books‘s never-ending firehose of good books to know about, at least.
Tokyobike. At some point I may need a Tokyobike. I need to be ready.
Here’s the latest thing that makes my day:
It’s a project of the Academy of American Poets. Every weekday, they will email you a new, previously unpublished poem by today’s poets.
The poem that arrived yesterday knocked me out of orbit. Here it is:
Yes, this poem contains many obsessions of mine: mushrooms, birds, war, boys, memory.
The reason I include it here in our weekly podcast suggestions is that at the end of each day’s Poem-a-Day, there’s an audio recording of the poet reading his or her work. They never read it the way I would.
Here’s William Brewer reading “Debris.”
An English professor reminded us once that we readers, here today, have the ability to help shape what becomes the Deathless Literature of tomorrow. He encouraged us to read living poets because someday, they will be famous, and we will have discovered them in real time, and that’s really cool.
Thirty-five years later, I think I get that.
Love,
Ann
PS What email newsletters do you like? My spam folder is never quite full.
Here’s an incomplete, if rather long, list of nice surprises to find in the email:
– The weekly Recomendo newsletter
– Remodelista
– Modern Mrs. Darcy
– Tim Ferriss’s 5-Bullet Friday
– The Science of Us
– The Gottman Institute
– Stitch Diva
– Audible Daily Deal
What a great topic.
Try:
Two Bossy Dames
Domestic Sluttery
“Domestic Sluttery” is a great name.
You know she’s a clever, funny Brit!
Things I am loving: the awning striped pants, the tube socks with pumps. This is also the list of things I will not be wearing in the fall, because … old. But they are awesomely cool.
YES awning striped pants! I think we are of the appropriate age that we don’t give a rat’s ass about what anybody thinks of our pants, awning striped in particular.
Thanks for these suggestions. I too find the newsletters to be invaluable for keeping brain function strong. I urge you to check out Brain Pickings by Maria Popova. Much literature, poetry and philosophy smartly and lovingly curated.
I use Daily Rollup to put my not quite spam into. (Delancey Place, Poem-a-Day, Writers Almanac) and save the spam folder for true literature – “we are fond of you and thus invite you for free helpings” or “quite being an obese loser”
Discovering MDK, and especially Knit to This, has been like going to a new school as a child and discovering that there is actually another kid in class who thinks like I do, and likes what I like. As a lifelong nerd with rather eclectic and intense interests, I don’t experience that very often. The world can feel rather rigid and unforgiving, and I can feel very out of step with it. It’s nice to know that isn’t entirely true. Thank you for what you do!
Well said, thanks.
You must see Ben Pentreath’s newsletter. Dreamy photos of his Devon country home and garden. Exotic vacays to Mexico and Morocco. Always a lovely diversion. http://www.pentreath-hall.com/inspiration/
Medium has some good stuff on it, some not so. But I have found some jewels. Likewise Daily Good, which I usually skim at best, but again, I’ve found the occasional not-just-a-jewel-but-a-Crown-Jewel. Worth a peruse. Otherwise for me it’s Mother Jones, CNN, Washington Post — all that bad news that I can’t ignore.
If there are things like newsletters that you enjoy and read pretty regularly, why are they going to your spam folder?
I enjoy spam! My spam is highly curated! ; )
Thanks for the link to Poem a Day!
Smart Bitches, Trashy Books – they read and write about romance novels, there is knitting, there is cooking (historical, cocktails, etc.), some movie reviews… All sorts of interesting things. Presented with cleverness and some humor. There is also a podcast. Worth checking out, I think.
Was that English professor Dr. Holland? 🙂
Annie! OMG you’re scaring me! YES!
Tokyobike has an interesting “lifestyle” section – I love the wooden tea canisters. And all the charcoal stuff. And the bike bells! I think Tokyobike is really missing a dropped stitch on their website by not including little recordings of each bell. I don’t even have a bike, and I’m tempted to buy some of those bells.
I like the weekly newsletter by Caroline Crampton, ‘So far I’ve had no complaints’: http://tinyletter.com/nocomplaints
They’re hardly spam if you signed up for them, and it’s pretty offensive to refer to the email newsletters sent out by indie artists you love as spam. My spam folder is full of, you know, actual spam. My inbox is full of delightful things like the ones you listed that I love and asked to have sent to me.