18 September 2020
“In the summer we lay up a stock of experiences for the winter, as the squirrel of nuts….”
This Week
Lately I’ve been trying to re-balance my internet diet with less doom and more nourishment. It’s a careful calibration, because I do want to stay informed and in a ready state to contribute what I can. But there’s a point where you can get oversaturated with the bad and damage your ability to respond. So I have sought out ways to connect with my more obscure interests that foster personal enthusiasm—and no one is more surprised than I to report that I’ve found some of these ways on Reddit.
Here’s the thing I’ve just learned about Reddit: each subreddit is its own community, so if you find the right communities, you can have a pretty decent time. Of course, quality from subreddit to subreddit will vary depending on topic, moderators and users. But I’ve found a few that have been a delight. It reminds me much of the early days of the internet, when fan sites abounded and the ability to connect with other humans through digital expression was mostly used as a way to understand you weren’t alone in what you liked. The second website I ever made, twenty years ago, was dedicated to my favorite movies. The first was a collection of my writing. This was largely even before blogs, so people making websites tended to make them to celebrate and share the things they were into. There’s a now refreshing simplicity and positivity to it. And I’ve rediscovered a bit of that in certain subreddits.
This isn’t meant to celebrate Reddit or ignore the downsides of the platform, or the downsides of any other internet platform. The fact that I feel it necessary to report finding places on the internet that don’t exhaust, irritate or scare me rather illustrates the larger problem. But finding these places has not only soothed me in strange, troubled and occasionally boring times, it has provided encouragement to a part of me that still internalized the idea that interests and pursuits must be productive to be worthwhile. I realized that I still, deep down, thought that I shouldn’t be spending time on anything that didn’t have a practical result. Reddit has turned out to be a good reminder that learning, thinking, exploring and enjoying can be worthwhile for their own sakes.
Your mileage may vary, of course. But, for what it’s worth, a non-comprehensive list of subreddits that I enjoy:
r/miniatures: Miniature items, rooms, houses, dioramas. Not only do I love to look at what other people have made, it inspired me to get my first miniature room kit, which I’m assembling right now.
r/typewriters: I haven’t yet justified dropping money on a typewriter for myself, but it is one of my winter plans. These people like typewriters and help each other identify and fix them. It’s nice.
r/handwriting: This subreddit taught me that I’ve been holding my pens/pencils in an inefficient way for decades. Switching it up has made it easier to write with a fountain pen and control the way my handwriting looks.
r/deadmalls: I like dead malls. That’s all.
r/hannibaltv: I follow a few subreddits dedicated to different television shows and while they are all fun spots, the Hannibal one is particularly joyful.
r/columbo: I think this might be one of the most wholesome places on the internet. Just people who dig Columbo.
I wish you luck in finding places of joy and acceptance, online or off, here, there or in-between.
Links
America is trapped in pandemic spiral.
“Taken with other recent research showing that the most habitable climate in North America will shift northward and the incidence of large fires will increase across the country, this suggests that the climate crisis will profoundly interrupt the way we live and farm in the United States.”
Why Goodreads is bad for books. I have only ever really used Goodreads as a book tracker, but I’ve often wished its interface would evolve for usability. I link my book recommendations there to avoid pointing people only to purchase platforms but I’m open to other suggestions if they’re out there. I’d love to see a book recording and reviewing system as good as Letterboxd is for films.
The improbable journey of Dorothy Parker’s ashes.
For some reason, I’m just now learning that Eleanor Roosevelt’s son wrote mysteries in which his mother solves crimes, which is the perfect intersection of my historical and fictional interests if there ever were one.
Eight of the best tattoos in literature.
Favorite new Instagram account.
“This kind of reduction — of linking personal growth to accomplishment — does not honor the inconsistencies of life, the in betweens, the moments when finishing something doesn’t feel good enough, or when achieving something just makes you long for the next achievement. This is why tense matters. If we are defined by what we have done or what we will do, then we, each day, seem to forget the present tense: what we do. This tense is shifty. It elides. It loses itself in the past and drives off a cliff into the future. It is full of insecurity, of difference. But it is where we live.” Devin Kelly on not finishing and being out there.
Reading/Watching/Listening
Streaming now on Amazon Prime is a film that I’ve long had on my list to see as a horror oddity: Magic, a 1978 film directed by Richard Attenborough. A disarmingly young Anthony Hopkins is a ventriloquist with a suspiciously responsive and willful dummy. He returns to his childhood hometown to avoid the pressures of success and kindle a relationship with his old crush. Events ensue, which may or may not be killer-dummy-related. It’s not a great film but it’s enormously compelling in spots and the central conceit (is this all supernatural or psychological) is ambiguous enough to be effective overall. Also: Burgess Meredith.
I’ve sung the praises of Sara Gran’s existential detective series featuring Claire De Witt, so here’s a fast, lean earlier book from her that gives you a first-person view on a rapid demon possession: Come Closer.
I’ve been listening to The White Vault, a podcast series about explorers and hidden horrors, well-told and performed.
Your interests are good and cool and you should spend more time with them. Whatever they may be.
Love,
Jen
Connections
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This week’s quote is from Henry Thoreau.