One of the newsletters I look forward to reading every week is Austin Kleon’s weekly roundup. Every Friday he comes up with a list of 10 things worth sharing. And he’s a master curator, so I almost always click on at least one link in that email.
I don’t know if I could come up with 10 things worth sharing every week, but I think I could do it for a whole month (or for this month, anyway). So, without further ado, here are 10 things I think are worth sharing from November 2022.
1. Mike Birbiglia’s interview with Wendy MacNaughton
I’ve been a fan of Mike Birbiglia since his This American Life days and a fan of his podcast, Working it Out, since I discovered it in 2020. Birbiglia started the podcast as a way to continue sharing his comedy through the pandemic and work out (hence the name) new material live with his guests.
His most recent episode is with artist Wendy MacNaughton and I really enjoyed hearing her talk about drawing, putting on “art eyes,” and her story about being a sketch artist for 9/11 defendants on trial in Guantanamo Bay.
2. My podcast interview on the Technically Speaking pod
And speaking of podcasts, I can’t resist the urge to share the episode I did with Taylorr Payne and Austin Grammon, the co-founders of SpeakerFlow and the dynamic duo behind the mic at the Technically Speaking podcast.
We spent a lot of time talking about ghostwriting and I could have hung out with those guys all day. I LOVE the title of the show: Write a Book Without Writing a Book. I might need to hire them to do all of my marketing. Lol.
3. Here and Now story about ghostwriters
I happened to catch a story on NPR about ghostwriters. So, you know my ears perked up. The reporter, Grace Griffin, interviewed 2 ghostwriters who write celebrity memoirs. She found them on TikTok.
You won’t find me writing celebrity memoirs or on TikTok anytime soon, but I love to see ghostwriters stepping out from behind the curtain to talk about their experiences. Maybe this age of vulnerability and unprecedented access to public figures, including celebrities, through social media is allowing us all to let our guards down just a bit more.
This story reminded me that while social media can be a quagmire, it also allows for beautiful slices of humanity to shine through.
4. Tara McMullin’s book What Works
I’m only about halfway through Tara’s book, but I’m loving reading the culmination of all that she has discovered about goal setting and its social, emotional, and cultural underpinnings. I’ve always appreciated Tara’s refreshing approach to goal setting. She’s a great writer (in fact, I enjoy all of the content she creates) and I know a bit about the hard work that went into this book. It’s so great to see it out in the world.
5. Marathon Girl by Hannah Lynn Crane
This is a hilarious and self-deprecating docu-comedy. Hannah Lynn Crane sets out to run a marathon and films her trials and tribulations. I laughed, I cried, all in just 21 minutes. If you haven’t seen it, what are you even waiting for?
6. Austin Kleon’s post about Ray Bradbury’s advice on feeding your creativity
I’ve been in a bit of a creative slump for the past few weeks, so I’ve been looking for advice on filling my creativity bucket. I got some great advice in this thread on LinkedIn when I put the question to my audience. I also enjoyed Kleon’s interpretation of Bradbury’s advice: every night read one short story, one poem, and one essay. Do that for 1,000 nights and you’ll be full of ideas. Sounds right to me.
7. Scott Simon’s interview with the guy who owns Thomas Edison’s piano
Scott Simon interviewed Robert Friedman, who collects Steinway pianos and is also author of The Steinway Hunter: A Memoir. Friedman owns Thomas Edison’s piano and what’s really interesting about this story is that there are bite marks in the piano. Huh?
Apparently, “the sensation [of biting a piano while it’s being played] is amazing. It goes up through your skull, your head resonates like a tuning fork. It’s an amazing feeling. It goes through your shoulders, but you get the true vibration of the instrument, and you hear the piano equal, if not better, than if you just hear it through your ears.”
I’ve never tried biting a piano, but now I kind of want to try it.
8. Newly discovered tapes of Vince Guaraldi’s “Charlie Brown Christmas” soundtrack
Vince Guaraldi’s “Charlie Brown” is my favorite Christmas album to listen to this time of year. It’s nostalgic and just great jazz. Now you can get your hands on four hours of listening pleasure available “consisting of a new stereo mix of the 11-track album and a remastering of the original 1965 version; three full discs of the original recording sessions from September and October 1965, in which Guaraldi, his drummer and bassist developed the various themes; and a fifth, high-resolution Blu-Ray audio disc.” Wow.
9. Jeopardy!’s Tournament of Champions
I watch Jeopardy! nearly every night (in fact, I’m watching it as I write this) and I have been looking forward to the Tournament of Champions since whenever they announced that it would be happening. Also, the player I was pulling for, Amy Schneider, won! So you know I was excited.
The current champion, Cris Pannullo, is also on a 18-game streak. It’s a good time to be a Jeopardy! fan.
10. TED-Ed video about how pearls are made
Science is cool. As usual, I feel as if I learned this once upon a time in school, but it was great to get a refresher. In this video, Rob Ulrich investigates and explains how despite their iridescent colors and smooth shapes, pearls are actually made of the exact same material as the craggy shell that surrounds them. Pearls, urchin spines, the shells of mussels, snails and clams, even coral—all these structures are made out of the same chemical compound: calcium carbonate.
So how does this single ingredient form such a vast array of materials? You’ll have to watch the short video to find out. :)
Photo credit: deagreez