"Everything is hilarious and shambolic and awesome..."
"Everything is hilarious and shambolic and awesome..."
Road trip, American Revolution, 100-hour brownies
The title, as a friend messaged this morning. I agree! Especially, maybe, about “shambolic,” which sometimes feels like a wave you are running (ed: “running”?) just ahead of. Do/did any of you body surf? My brother and I used to for hours and hours; my mother recalls trying to call us to shore to eat a sandwich; no way. I right now remember only with pleasure the wipe-outs, your face pounding against and skidding over the rocky sand, and back out you go.
I am going back out on the road the 19th, overnights in ?, Nashville, Tulsa for a week, Austin for a bit, New Orleans, Miami, Key West, Savannah, then home. Let me know if I am passing through your ‘hood.
Speaking of Savannah, my friend Matt Welch’s six-year-old daughter has become obsessed with the Battle of Brooklyn, which got me obsessed (ed: maybe explain some unique deficiency that had you incurious while growing up in the BK?), which led to this video, which I found very stirring! And which I see myself watching further episodes of in hotel rooms on the road:
Speaking of Welch, some of you know that he and I built a little media company during the pandemic. Paloma Media started as a little glob of an idea that made us excited and happy. There was the ‘furious activity!’ phase and then, starting at the end of last year, the “fuck it” phase, let’s build it. I took over the little pony apartment next door, and bit by bit we’ve tricked it out. The Fifth Column guys podcast from there, as do Matt and I and all the lovely people over on the YouTube (subscribe - its free!) and Apple podcasts, most recent two right here:
As Liz Wolfe said during the “Hot Stuff!!!” podcast, “Nancy, you have high-tech ambitions and low-tech skills.” Very true! And tonight, I will meet the son of a friend at a nearly bar and he will, inshallah, show me some slick ways to use the new GoPro so that viewers no longer need to ask, “Did you film that through a potato?”
Because look! Shambolic as they may be in execution, I have ambitions for this trip, I want to tell a story and show it to you, too. Tech tips? Dear god, send them.
Back to Paloma: we’re having a little shindig, unveiling the studio, asking people who have not yet to come blinking out of their pandemic mole-holes to put on some sweet duds and let us ply them with Paloma cocktails and kiss them on the face.
(The ones we mix are not near as fancy, seriously, tequila and Fresca and I’m good.)
For those who’ve been watching the “Policing and Perception” Clubhouses, we’ve moved them to Thursdays at 8pm EST. This week may be about body-cams, the problems with and advantages of, though let’s see what the next few days of news brings. That’s the terrible reality. There are many factors contributing the homicide rate in this country jumping in some cities by more than 30%. The conversations we are having are a tiny little gambit in pushing toward understanding, which, one imagines, cannot be a step in the wrong direction. We have many sorts of people in the room - sworn law enforcement, activists, public information officers, journalists, citizens wanting to tell their stories. I’ll be very happy to see you there, and as always, if you need a Clubhouse invitation, hit me up.
One conversation I look forward to continuing is with Philosopher Cop, whose post, “Why Did Daunte Die?”, was the most widely read of this newsletter. Look for that soon. We’re each both reading Days of Rage (which is beyond excellent, Bryan Burrough is a fantastic writer) and Tonight We Bombed the U.S. Capitol, out of interest and also with an eye toward what we both feel pretty sure is germinating in certain cities.
A few sweet recommendations: This might be the sexiest, funniest cooking video I’ve seen. Plus, brownies! Will I make them for the Paloma party? May-be…
A song I’d never heard before this morning and which I now have on replay…
And last, Bowiebranchia, a Tumbler of art and fashion and nature and the brain(s) that thought up this magnificent collision.
Until soon, with love and one’a those brownies xx
Days of Rage is the Best. Would love to hear you on The Fifth Column breaking it down.