Another enjoyable-to-read and provocative offering from you, Chuck. Thank you for putting intellectually stimulating and well articulated ideas into the world. We all keep hearing that the pace of change--already the fastest In our species’ short history--is accelerating and doing so at an increasing rate, like the universe. I do not care for social media but feel like I must engage with it for work purposes; I am skeptical of its actual value in relation to the time commitment and others’ ascribed importance to posts. For fun I listen to a handful of podcasts and have a long list of books patiently waiting their turn for my attention. The future: I am excited about the potential for an AI-enabled assistant to help me navigate the world on my terms. Of course there will other more positive impacts in medicine, robotics, manufacturing, transportation, the environment, communications, space, and on and on. And of course there will be downsides and reasons to worry about those downsides that are more probable than others. But in the meantime I will stick to what I enjoy now and remain open-minded for new possibilities.
This is really a remarkable piece that I'm just now getting to, grazing through your archive here. I read it with the uncanny feeling that large swaths of it could have written about myself, including a strong preference for getting my news from newspapers. I read this a couple times, and found myself sort of reassembling words and phrases and applying them into my situation, which also feels rather like hanging from a ledge. One difference: Rather than having spent my working life innovating, I find that the middle-age segment of my writing life now, unfortunately, demands it. By virtue of shifting my journalism work to exclusively arts and culture coverage, I have basically shouted "leave me behind" even as I come to grips with the fact that, given the state of things, I've *already* been left behind. Since I get to focus doing on what I love (reading and writing, along with seeing films and plays, etc.) it makes me wonder what purpose the work serves *as* "work," if that makes any sense. Last night I found myself asking, "Is it okay to spend the evening reading about Lord Byron and wondering if some connection might be made with David Bowie with regard to how artists create a persona of themselves?" And: "Would that be of use to anyone, or have I reached a point in my life where it's enough to just figure it out for myself?" and to not worry about how to crowbar it into "work." Anyway, probably starting to ramble here. Great article, I'm really enjoying your perspective. We are definitely on the same page on a lot of stuff.
I feel the same way as I am reading War & Peace. About 3/4ths of the way through and just came across yet another speech that describes humanity as a whole in a way that makes a difference... but who's listening. My primary area...at least used to be...poetry. I haven't published a book in years and years and am just now writing and sending out again, but for who? (To get to your question.) One thing I've tried to hold on to, as a teacher and writer (or anything in the arts) is that your work will find the person/people who need it, and that's enough. You know, like your comment here really strikes a chord with me, so I'm thankful for it. Now, as I work myself through drafts of 100 crappy poems I've written, what's next? Some of my Substack pieces have been picked up by the local paper and they reach a wide subcription base, all to silence pretty much. I just know they're out there. And, for what it's worth, anything connected to Bowie is worth it. I don't think I've been more sad when an artist passed away than Bowie, especially with the final album being what it was. But it is still all of use, somehow, maybe like the mortar of the world's blocks.
Yeah, I keep telling myself that every day, that it doesn't matter, ultimately, how many read you, but *who* reads you ... and the difference it makes. That, and how meaningful the work is to you during the doing of it. The pebble-in-a-pond analogy comes to mind. I just finished doing a long interview with a poet for my primary, non-Substack outlet, and it was SO interesting, I can hardly wait to get it out there. How many will read it? Maybe a few dozen. But maybe it'll inspire one of them to buy one of her collections, and maybe reading it will inspire that person to write their own poetry. (I hope to do a "companion" interview" here on Substack.) Congratulations, btw, on getting on in War & Peace. I tried that one and failed, the Russian names threw me a decade or more ago when I launched my Big Books project. So, having finished Moby Dick and Clarissa, I moved on to Ulysses (and finished and continue to revisit). I would like to circle back eventually, but right now I'm attempting to summit Dhalgren.
It took me 4 times to finally get through Moby Dick, and I was super thankful because it was so great. Books are like people to me--sometimes you just got to connect with them at the right time, and that 4th time was a charm. I took a summer course once where we read Ulysses, and only Ulysses, twice in 3 weeks! Wow was that intense.
Interesting perspective. As someone at the beginning of their career, I have a lot of the same feelings. Do you press on doing the thing you enjoy and find meaningful even if the world is pulled in a different direction?
In response to your question about Substacks to follow: I’m not one for self-promotion, but I’m hoping that my publication on here about the nature of the mind, the self, society, etc. will offer some insight/stir up similar ideas. I’m still very new to Substack, but your questions and anxieties are along the same lines as mine.
Thanks for this post! Some of the most valuable people in my life -- professionally-- are 20+ years older. And I can't imagine that fundamentally changing. What's key, perhaps, is not buying into the idea that age always = obsolescence. Sometimes it's a distinct advantage. An interesting and relevant book, not sure where I found it, possibly on Substack, maybe in this column: "Old Masters and Young Geniuses", by David Galenson.... and Substack is a nice reminder that there are many, many people who still want to read and write.....
Thanks so much for the response, and for the book recommendation. I will definitely check it out! I also think you have a rare treasure--I've been talking to some people, really for years now, about how terrible America is at intergenerational interaction, friendship, collaboration, etc. It feels like such a missed opportunity that other cultures take advantage of in ways we don't.
Who I faithfully, daily, turn to is number 1: Deborah Cox Richardson, to be reassured that our Democracy
will not die; Paul Wittgenstein for feelings put into beautiful words; for Tom Potter for feelings put into beautiful photographs; for the several cat personages and their "keepers" (really the people THEY keep); for my artist friend WillOaks who turned me on to Threads and got me out of wasted arguments on F;Robert Reich to help me understand how we got here; and the gentleman who reaches us art history.
As for you, Sir, I am grateful you are hanging on to what's been and, thereby, helping it stay alive. 80 years born and bred in these United States I finally met Europe, namely a cruise up and back the Seine River. There the remains of centuries-old buildings
and cathedrals have been preserved and often restored, complete with the damage of so many historic wars. The Seine divided France from the Nazis who bombed the rural countryside of Normandy from the other side, and the closer it gets to The Beaches, flows past villages that were actually occupied.
My country in too many places is tearing down for something "new" and "modern." We have so little left of our physical past.
I cannot thank you enough for posting this comment. I will definitely dig into the recommendations (I also read Richardson everyday, for the same reason you mention!).
As a youth, I can understand where you are coming from. I also share a passion for “outdated” approaches, though I have little patience in my writing, and so rarely finish. It feels strange being surrounded by social medias that I cannot connect to, but in some ways I would say that at the end of the day, writing still will exist. Writing is seen as a fundamental trait of civilization, and so cannot be taken out from under us this easily. I like to think (by which I mean I came up with this simile on the spot) of social media and suchlike as a “slang” almost. It will replace parts of what we know, but at the end of the day it serves a purpose, and neither one will completely obliterate or overpower the other.
Thanks for this. I like slang in language, and can appreciate how different mediums bring a new kind of slang into our view. But I agree with your main point--writing is what I call a durable technology, around for milennia, and it will stay that way.
Another enjoyable-to-read and provocative offering from you, Chuck. Thank you for putting intellectually stimulating and well articulated ideas into the world. We all keep hearing that the pace of change--already the fastest In our species’ short history--is accelerating and doing so at an increasing rate, like the universe. I do not care for social media but feel like I must engage with it for work purposes; I am skeptical of its actual value in relation to the time commitment and others’ ascribed importance to posts. For fun I listen to a handful of podcasts and have a long list of books patiently waiting their turn for my attention. The future: I am excited about the potential for an AI-enabled assistant to help me navigate the world on my terms. Of course there will other more positive impacts in medicine, robotics, manufacturing, transportation, the environment, communications, space, and on and on. And of course there will be downsides and reasons to worry about those downsides that are more probable than others. But in the meantime I will stick to what I enjoy now and remain open-minded for new possibilities.
I love this frame of mind.
This is really a remarkable piece that I'm just now getting to, grazing through your archive here. I read it with the uncanny feeling that large swaths of it could have written about myself, including a strong preference for getting my news from newspapers. I read this a couple times, and found myself sort of reassembling words and phrases and applying them into my situation, which also feels rather like hanging from a ledge. One difference: Rather than having spent my working life innovating, I find that the middle-age segment of my writing life now, unfortunately, demands it. By virtue of shifting my journalism work to exclusively arts and culture coverage, I have basically shouted "leave me behind" even as I come to grips with the fact that, given the state of things, I've *already* been left behind. Since I get to focus doing on what I love (reading and writing, along with seeing films and plays, etc.) it makes me wonder what purpose the work serves *as* "work," if that makes any sense. Last night I found myself asking, "Is it okay to spend the evening reading about Lord Byron and wondering if some connection might be made with David Bowie with regard to how artists create a persona of themselves?" And: "Would that be of use to anyone, or have I reached a point in my life where it's enough to just figure it out for myself?" and to not worry about how to crowbar it into "work." Anyway, probably starting to ramble here. Great article, I'm really enjoying your perspective. We are definitely on the same page on a lot of stuff.
I feel the same way as I am reading War & Peace. About 3/4ths of the way through and just came across yet another speech that describes humanity as a whole in a way that makes a difference... but who's listening. My primary area...at least used to be...poetry. I haven't published a book in years and years and am just now writing and sending out again, but for who? (To get to your question.) One thing I've tried to hold on to, as a teacher and writer (or anything in the arts) is that your work will find the person/people who need it, and that's enough. You know, like your comment here really strikes a chord with me, so I'm thankful for it. Now, as I work myself through drafts of 100 crappy poems I've written, what's next? Some of my Substack pieces have been picked up by the local paper and they reach a wide subcription base, all to silence pretty much. I just know they're out there. And, for what it's worth, anything connected to Bowie is worth it. I don't think I've been more sad when an artist passed away than Bowie, especially with the final album being what it was. But it is still all of use, somehow, maybe like the mortar of the world's blocks.
Yeah, I keep telling myself that every day, that it doesn't matter, ultimately, how many read you, but *who* reads you ... and the difference it makes. That, and how meaningful the work is to you during the doing of it. The pebble-in-a-pond analogy comes to mind. I just finished doing a long interview with a poet for my primary, non-Substack outlet, and it was SO interesting, I can hardly wait to get it out there. How many will read it? Maybe a few dozen. But maybe it'll inspire one of them to buy one of her collections, and maybe reading it will inspire that person to write their own poetry. (I hope to do a "companion" interview" here on Substack.) Congratulations, btw, on getting on in War & Peace. I tried that one and failed, the Russian names threw me a decade or more ago when I launched my Big Books project. So, having finished Moby Dick and Clarissa, I moved on to Ulysses (and finished and continue to revisit). I would like to circle back eventually, but right now I'm attempting to summit Dhalgren.
It took me 4 times to finally get through Moby Dick, and I was super thankful because it was so great. Books are like people to me--sometimes you just got to connect with them at the right time, and that 4th time was a charm. I took a summer course once where we read Ulysses, and only Ulysses, twice in 3 weeks! Wow was that intense.
Interesting perspective. As someone at the beginning of their career, I have a lot of the same feelings. Do you press on doing the thing you enjoy and find meaningful even if the world is pulled in a different direction?
In response to your question about Substacks to follow: I’m not one for self-promotion, but I’m hoping that my publication on here about the nature of the mind, the self, society, etc. will offer some insight/stir up similar ideas. I’m still very new to Substack, but your questions and anxieties are along the same lines as mine.
Thanks so much for this--I will follow for sure.
Thanks for this post! Some of the most valuable people in my life -- professionally-- are 20+ years older. And I can't imagine that fundamentally changing. What's key, perhaps, is not buying into the idea that age always = obsolescence. Sometimes it's a distinct advantage. An interesting and relevant book, not sure where I found it, possibly on Substack, maybe in this column: "Old Masters and Young Geniuses", by David Galenson.... and Substack is a nice reminder that there are many, many people who still want to read and write.....
Thanks so much for the response, and for the book recommendation. I will definitely check it out! I also think you have a rare treasure--I've been talking to some people, really for years now, about how terrible America is at intergenerational interaction, friendship, collaboration, etc. It feels like such a missed opportunity that other cultures take advantage of in ways we don't.
I agree --I vote for Japan as one of the most civilized countries when it comes to valuing age, experience, politeness, and order :)
Sorry to see the v problem go.
Who I faithfully, daily, turn to is number 1: Deborah Cox Richardson, to be reassured that our Democracy
will not die; Paul Wittgenstein for feelings put into beautiful words; for Tom Potter for feelings put into beautiful photographs; for the several cat personages and their "keepers" (really the people THEY keep); for my artist friend WillOaks who turned me on to Threads and got me out of wasted arguments on F;Robert Reich to help me understand how we got here; and the gentleman who reaches us art history.
As for you, Sir, I am grateful you are hanging on to what's been and, thereby, helping it stay alive. 80 years born and bred in these United States I finally met Europe, namely a cruise up and back the Seine River. There the remains of centuries-old buildings
and cathedrals have been preserved and often restored, complete with the damage of so many historic wars. The Seine divided France from the Nazis who bombed the rural countryside of Normandy from the other side, and the closer it gets to The Beaches, flows past villages that were actually occupied.
My country in too many places is tearing down for something "new" and "modern." We have so little left of our physical past.
So no apologies. GO for it!
I cannot thank you enough for posting this comment. I will definitely dig into the recommendations (I also read Richardson everyday, for the same reason you mention!).
Lookn back I do feel ya here and in this time especially as the darkness draws near but fear not!
As a youth, I can understand where you are coming from. I also share a passion for “outdated” approaches, though I have little patience in my writing, and so rarely finish. It feels strange being surrounded by social medias that I cannot connect to, but in some ways I would say that at the end of the day, writing still will exist. Writing is seen as a fundamental trait of civilization, and so cannot be taken out from under us this easily. I like to think (by which I mean I came up with this simile on the spot) of social media and suchlike as a “slang” almost. It will replace parts of what we know, but at the end of the day it serves a purpose, and neither one will completely obliterate or overpower the other.
Thanks for this. I like slang in language, and can appreciate how different mediums bring a new kind of slang into our view. But I agree with your main point--writing is what I call a durable technology, around for milennia, and it will stay that way.
It's amazing that Faulkner was out of print at one point! Each year, I read a Faulkner book aloud to myself, just to hear the language.
Too sad!!