eff yeah fall

Hello from mid-Michigan where it feels like fall! It started to get into fall-like temps at the end of August, which is not common but very welcome even though it's not actually fall yet. I'll take those cool breezes!

These days it's easy to feel like things are just a shit show all over. And tbh they are in many ways. But good folks are taking care of each other all over, too! My local school board has been doing the work and I'm really proud to know these fine folks and to know that they are looking out for the kids in my community. I am always looking for good stories like this to remind me that resistance is not only possible but actively happening right now. What good work is happening in your community?

I participated in the Market for the Arts in downtown Mount Pleasant again this year and despite the weather trying to murder me with stress (multiple sudden instances of aggressive rain! 25 MPH+ winds attempting to take everyone's canopies aloft! trying to make sure all my stuff stayed dry and on my tables!), it was a good weekend. I got to see and catch up with a lot of folks and I did quite well in terms of sales - enough to make up for losing some inventory to one of the several sudden downpours! It's always fun for me to see people chuckle or react in a way that shows one of my pieces is resonating with them, and so interesting to see which pieces do that the most.

Best-sellers this year include:

This has been Such A Year For Peaches! I have four peach trees in our garden, and three of them have been going off non-stop for a month. The branches were so laden they were practically on the ground! (The fourth tree has lots of fruit but it seems to have stopped ripening - a branch was so heavy it broke, and I think that may have arrested the development of the fruit on the tree as a whole. Now I need to figure out what to do with it - prune it aggressively to remove all the fruit? If anyone out there knows more about peach trees, please let me know!)

I've been picking peaches daily (something like a dozen bushels already!) and inviting friends and neighbors to help themselves from the baskets on the front porch. If you're local and I didn't ask you, it may be because I don't have your number in my phone! Get in touch, it's not (quite) too late.

Those who know me will know that They Might Be Giants is (and has been since the late 80s and the cool nerdy kids a year ahead of me introduced me to Them) one of my favorite bands. I've seen them live more times than any other band, and they have such an extensive and ever-growing catalog of great music that no matter my mood, something of theirs will fit. They recently performed live at KEXP and you can catch a great video of the performance! They're also nearly ready to release a new album and I'm really looking forward to it.

I'm also a big podcast person, comedy pods especially, and comedy pods about pop culture double especially. One of these, Blank Check, covers movies in series organized by director, and are currently doing a series on the Coen Brothers. They just recently covered The Big Lebowski, one of my favorite rewatches ever and possibly the movie I've seen the most times. They had Seth Rogan on as a guest for this episode, and there was a lot of commentary about how he was the perfect guest to discuss this movie because it is a stoner movie and he is a renowned stoner. This framing was so surprising to me! I am pretty much the opposite of a stoner (stoners love weed and getting high, and I have zero interest in either of those things for myself) and I have NEVER over dozens of times watching it read Lebowski to be a stoner movie. Sure, the Dude smokes some joints along the way, but it's not, to me, a celebration of weed culture, it's just one of the cultural signifiers that tells you who this character is. I don't think there's a right or wrong way to enjoy Lebowski, but I do find it interesting that there can be two such different ways to look at the same piece of art. This is one of the reasons art is great!

You are probably aware that there is a big right-wing effort to defund libraries and the arts these days. Please look to the library and arts organizations in your state and follow their recommendations for contacting your elected officials. It's really important!

September patreon is happening now! If you'd like to receive this exclusive sticker, sign up for this month at the letter box tier. Big thanks to those who already support in this way - I appreciate you!