#MatteredToMe - April 3, 2020: History, Cheer, Mending, and Surprise Joy
Hello, everyone. It's Friday. Here are some things that mattered to me recently:
- Danny Ghitis posted a little “quarantinetet” to IG recently, and I thought it was such a jaunty tune, such a lovely little performance.
- William Meredith's poem “The Cheer” has such a warm-heartedness to it, I found it quite buoying. “The cheer / reader my friend, is in the words here, somewhere. / Frankly, I'd like to make you smile.”
- This season of the podcast Scene On Radio has been exploring the history of inequality in America. They did a bonus episode last week showing how the themes they've been exploring of capitalist exploitation and anti-democracy are showing up in the current crisis. It underscores for me the importance of understanding history.
- Lyz Lenz wrote about growing up in an apocalyptic evangelical culture, about leaving that culture only to be faced with crisis after crisis, about offering what you can and taking time to look away. The last sentence, especially, meant a lot to me.
- Finally, this video from a 2009 Swell Season concert (courtesy of Stephen Thompson on an episode of Pop Culture Happy Hour this week), in which Glen Hansard pulled a singer out of the audience for an impromptu duet, was so wonderful and cathartic, and, yes, it made me cry.
As always, this is just a portion of what's mattered to me recently. I've been thinking a lot about what I need versus what I want. I hope that you're getting what you need right now. What's mattered to you lately?
Thanks, and take care.
-Mike