PicoBlog

My series on John Inazu's book "Learning to Disagree" will continue next week, featuring an interview with the author. It’s been one year, today, since my second book —Testimony — was released. Thank you to everyone who has bought the book, supported me, and been kind enough to tell me about their experience of reading it and how it’s often matched your own stories. Some of those notes are below.

Hello everyone, Today Sam Shepard would have turned 80 years old. So strange to think of him gone, so strange to reconcile the passing of time. I was in my early twenties when I met Sam. Our relationship was like the moon with it’s many phases. In fact we both got tattoos together at the Chelsea Hotel in 1971. Mine was a lightening bolt, his was a crescent moon. When Sam passed away on July 27, 2017 I was on the road.

Tuesday, April 4, 2023 Entry #71 I’m still writing about Bruce Springsteen and New York City, still feeling the excitement and energy of seeing the Boss here and trying to linger with the pulsating sights and sounds of the Big Apple from these past days. I was also in New York during a very different kind of moment, the frightening and awful day day on September 11, 2001. I was in town to officiate a wedding, and Amy and I arrived a few days early to catch up with friends in the city we loved and had only recently moved away from.

Twenty years ago, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. left a message on my voice mail. He said that he had a few questions he thought I could answer. I was thrilled. The son of Robert F. Kennedy, a United States senator and civil rights icon, wanted to talk to me. I was a huge fan of RFK. I had read his book, Thirteen Days, which contained the quote, “The lowest reaches in hell are reserved for those who, in times of moral uncertainty, are ambivalent.

Since The Burger Show arrived to proclaim Oklahoma as the buckle of the burger belt, it inspired me to focus on the best the 405 diningscape has to offer. It was no small task. A number of marginal factors that throw obstacles in the way, but nothing complicates it more than the relativity of a burger itself. The burgers Wimpy once gladly paid for on Tuesday were barely more than a sausage-biscuit in size.

I feel as though my style has changed tremendously this year, but is somehow more “old me” than it ever was! More on the actual outfit progressions in some other upcoming posts… If you’re new here or just need a reminder to propel you into 2024 inspiration, are some tools, tips, and tidbits that changed the way I styled myself in 2023. ncG1vNJzZmiomZy6ornIZ6qumqOprqS3jZympmegZLq6ecWaraiqmamybn6Pa2pmq6SuuaZ5zJqlraqRqA%3D%3D

This is my “Favorite Films of 2021” list. But unlike a lot of these lists you’ll see, mine is unranked, incomplete, and I cheated and included first-time watches of older films. I’ll keep it spoiler-free and I’m not reviewing films here, just sharing why each item on the list was special to me. I’ll start with one of my favorites (of my favorites). Wes Andeson doubles (triples?) down and becomes even more himself.

Welcome back to The Onion: 20 Years Later, where we review the print issue from exactly 20 years ago, find out what’s still funny and examine the cultural impact. Today, we revisit May 2, 2001. This week is funnier and lighter than last week! And I’m so happy to talk about Smoove B, my favorite Onion columnist, who last wrote in 1999 and thus has never appeared in this newsletter. Scroll down a bit for that.

Hi friends, In what has become a Field Notes tradition, I’m sharing my favourite reads from 2023 with you today. As of right now, I’ve read 139 books, give or take, this year but these are my own ten best for fiction and non-fiction apiece plus a few honourable mentions and my favourite poetry/blessings books of 2023. Open up your library request page or online/local retailer of choice and let’s build up that To-Be-Read pile or a Christmas wish list made of entirely books like the pseudo-hermit bookworms we are at heart.