#1: This blog about taking life seriously

​Are you serious? by Visakan Veerasamy, whose writing I’ve been enjoying a lot lately.

I resonated with this one especially as I approach my 28th birthday, am engaged to be married, and am thinking more about building a family. The thought I keep having is:

I want to mold myself into the person I trust that my family can trust.

And that requires a bit of seriousness… like I don’t need to absolutely abandon this stupidity/sillyness/retardation I’ve relied on to get me this far in life… like I can still have fun, while recognizing the cold, hard facts about the “seriousness” of my life.

And it seems to me – from my own experience, as well as looking at others who seem to genuinely enjoy their day-to-day – that working from a place of purpose and deep engagement is the most enjoyable approach to life.

So why not?

(In general, I’ve been reading a lot of his work and would recommend checking out more if you like the 👆 above: https://visakanv.substack.com + http://visakanv.com/)

#2: This work on permaculture by Mark Lakeman

Permaculture: a design system for sustainable living and land management that mimics the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems.

I think it’s especially interesting since this is something that is happening in cities, where people are already living… not some sort of drastic “move out to the country and create a homestead” type of a thing.

Have listened to these pods of his recently – both interesting in their own way, not too much overlap:

Rewilding Podcast: Rewilding Cities Through Placemaking Permaculture​
The Good Question Podcast: Revitalizing Urban Spaces​
​Pacific Rim College Radio: Mark Lakeman on Permaculture and Public Gathering Spaces​

#3: The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol (short story)

I just finished a short story collection from Gogol that included this – either this or The Noise is my favorite… both are very fun reads. Absolutely absurd - but a lot of fun (I'm sure this isn't for everyone).

Gogol reminds me of how much fun it can be… at least, that’s the feeling that I get from reading him: as though he really got a kick out of writing it.

This is the translation I read: LINK​

#4: This On Being podcast episode with Ellen Davis and Wendell Berry

Ellen Davis shared some very interesting interpretations of the Old Testament – and her idea that the King James translation, about how humans have dominion over the land and must control it, has led to such destruction in our Western World.

Some really beautiful poetry readings from Wendell Berry are featured in this episode – something that I guess is fairly rare (idk poetry at all 🤷) – but all very moving.

Just a really well-done podcast episode as well. Good stuff.

Spotify → LINK​
Apple Podcasts → LINK​