Last weekend I went back home to Atlanta. After a 6am flight, the first order of business: breakfast order at Waffle House. Felt good – and strange – to be back in my old stomping grounds downtown.
Second mission: a visit to the High Museum for their exhibition Faith Ringgold: Seeing Children, which was just about perfect. Especially liked the low-mounted art on the walls, and the storytelling area where they had a ceiling-mounted video of Faith Ringgold reading Tar Beach on a loop. (The opening sentence is one of the greatest in all literature.) The collection for Kim Chong Hak, Painter of Seoraksan was a really nice surprise. Beautifully lush, dense plant-tangled landscapes.
Aside from that, lots of time with family, seeing our local 700-foot waterfall, picking blueberries in the back yard, pondering “Western Art“, playing on the floor with paper collage and Legos, eating too much, and sipping evening coffees.
Going back home made me fall in love a little more. Seeing people care about someone you love is inspiring. Like when friends show up to your amateur concert or sports events. It’s validating. You want to live up to their encouragement.
Art
The Conversion of St. Paul, a bas relief in stone and glass by Lumen Martin Winter. Ran by this one on the face of St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church, had to pause to admire for a moment. A Maori feather cloak (kahu huruhuru) in a checkerboard pattern.
Books
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik, interesting twist on Rumpelstiltskin folklore.
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Only ~20% into it, but so far so good.
Running
Lovely long long run to and through Central Park yesterday, along with Riverside Park and the Hudson River Greenway. (It’s so nice to be able to pop into a deli for a mid-run snack.) The biggest breakthrough was bringing some running shoes to Atlanta and making sure I got a few miles in. It’s more the commitment than the value of the workout itself.
Articles & Episodes & Twoots
Geo Gerard biked every road in Atlanta and shares an accompanying photo collection: All the Roads Taken.
Dan Pelzer read a lot of books and kept a hand-written list for decades.
A man who puts jet engines on things.
What 300 Years of Firewood Prices Say About the Economy. Odd Lots is such a good podcast.
Indonesia climbs the value chain and The only thing worse than sweatshops is no sweatshops. A lesson here in not being too picky about how the poor grow wealthier. There is so much at stake!
“One big benefit of traveling is the diversity of places you can see. But another big benefit — not to be neglected — is the diversity of eras you can sample. I am so, so glad I saw what those places were like in the late 1980s, China most of all and also the hill tribes. No history books can compensate for that. So that is a very good reason to travel NOW. And to travel to places that are going to change a lot.“
“Learning is not the product of teaching. Learning is the product of the activity of learners.”
What if you could search every visible word on New York City’s streets?
One Photographer’s 50 Year Quest to Capture the Chrysler Building.
Music
Hamid Al Shaeri, The SLAM! Years: 1983–1988 (Habibi Funk 018). Like this one quite a bit! “Tew’idni Dom” (I love the key modulations) and “Ayonha” made it on my “2025 Bangers” playlist.
Doctor 3, Danilo Rea, Blue. Clean modern piano jazz.
corto.alto, Bad With Names. Horn-forward beats-lounge.
Mulatu Astatke, Mulatu Steps Ahead. The usual jazz/latin/funk blend, see “Mulatu’s Mood“.
Yamaneko, Pixel Wave Embrace. Video game-y bleeps and bloops, just a little grimey.
Sophye Soliveau, Initiation. Soul + harp, hard to go wrong. “Initiation II – Wonder Why” and “Simple Pleasures“.
Movies
Predator (1987). Still enjoyable. Arnold was so much slimmer back then. (Previously.)
Woody Woodpecker. I have my nephew to blame for this one. It’s not good.
The Wild Robot. A rewatch, another nephew selection. It’s fine! (Previously.)
Los cronocrímenes (Timecrimes). Pleasantly surprised with this little time-travel thriller.
The Illusionist. Good old-fashioned magical romance. Would pair well with The Prestige.
TV
Peaky Blinders, s1e1–2
Ballard, s4–6
Mark Larson 