5 Quick Things #325 🏘️

local communities, doing nothing, bored on purpose, & the true origin story

Hey there,

This past week we’ve been rewatching Band of Brothers since the boys just finished studying World War II in history, and goodness is that not a good series. I first watched it six years ago when I started teaching teenagers, and I was near-immediately convinced that this series is a must-watch for (older) adolescents as a cinematic rite of passage. It’s phenomenal storytelling (obviously based on true events), and the cinematography, sound, and acting are top-tier—but the significance in watching it, especially for teenagers, is reminding us of our universal need for purpose, meaning, and connection with human beings in the trenches of life with us (literally, in their case).

These men—mostly boys, really—more or less saved the world not yet a full century ago and didn’t bat an eye at the thought of serving their countries, protecting the innocent, and doing what they needed to do to help return the world to some semblance of normalcy. They served assuming there was a really good chance they’d die. But they rolled up their sleeves and just …did it.

How quickly we forget. Last year I asked one of my classes what their great-grandparents did during World War II, and none of them knew. None. Of course, I made them find out and return to class with a report on their findings. And I recommended that they watch Band of Brothers¹.

The Gardener, by Georges Seurat (1883-84) #

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5 Quick Things ☕️

1. New episode of A Drink With a Friend! This is a slightly different one, if only because I show up at the beginning and the end, but am largely absent in the middle thanks to tech issues. Nonetheless, you’re in for a treat because not only is

Seth Haines

back to chat, but joining the pod is

Hadden Turner

, whose writing is a delight! We chat about localism, the need to know our farmers, and why our neighborhoods—and we ourselves—are better when we buy as locally as possible (even when it’s just a few things).

2. “Online communities—whether chats, groups, or social media in general—give me a place to create a community to my liking: one that doesn’t see my in-real-life sins and struggles, never requires real sacrifice from me, is formed with people of my choosing, and can be silenced whenever I like. They’re convenient. …Real-life communities are the exact opposite, which makes them sanctifying. …Real community is inconvenient and requires more sacrifice, which often means slowing down and being less productive. That’s why we choose online groups over real-life relationships.” I nodded and amen’d my way through

Lara d'Entremont

’s essay that gets to the heart of why online “communities” will never truly satisfy our need for connection. If I’ve said this once, I’ll keep saying it again (but you already knew that): we were made for way more than online connection. Don’t settle.

3. “The Dutch have a concept called ‘Niksen.’ It is a focus on the art of doing nothing. The only purpose is relaxation and enjoyment. In our productivity obsessed culture, this is an act of revolution to set aside time to enjoy the moment. …How critical to allow oneself to be well and weather-worn by the wildness of this world instead of simply being worn-down by its tragedies and terrors. Whenever I spend time in the natural world, I no longer ask, ‘Why am I here?’ Instead, I am only grateful that I am.” What a beautiful, calming homage to gardening and a poetic essay on the need for doing very little—from

Begin in Wonder

.

4. Speaking of doing very little, a few weeks ago

Autumn Kern

reminded us of a necessary truth—yes for us mothers but also largely for all us adults: we need boredom. We believe this to be true for our kids, so why don’t we believe it for us? Ah, the human tendency to drown out the silence with noise… But yes, we benefit from boredom. Good stuff.

5. And finally,

Andrew Klavan

at

THE NEW JERUSALEM

gets to the crux (and I use that word on purpose) of where the origin of all the traditions that matter ultimately lie: “How often have we felt that a new thing was the return of the old? We realize our latest projects are actually the continuation of hobbies we enjoyed as children. Or a stagnant civilization bursts into new life and declares it is a ‘Renaissance,’ a rebirth of lost ideas. Like Shakespeare inventing modernity by seeking to imitate the playwrights of ancient Rome, life springs up from the soil of the dead past.”

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Currently Reading, Watching, Listening 📚

“A Good Man is Hard to Find,” by Flannery O’Connor² (teaching it next week!)

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Quotable 💬

“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.”

-Margaret Atwood

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What are peeps? 🐥

You do you, but I’ve never, ever understood the appeal to Peeps. Then again, I don’t like marshmallows. And I’m not a big candy person (give me a cookie any day). But even still… sticky marshmallows that are somehow both too mushy and too crunchy? Hard pass.

• An abomination unto the Lord: 70.1%

• A delicious, overly-sugared food-dyed Easter treat: 29.9%

Find this week’s poll here.

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Quick Links 🔗

• 📐Create your own Rule of Life

• 🎧 Listen to A Drink With a Friend

• 📖 Read my books

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Question(s) For You to Ponder… 🤔

What are three very specific, small things you’re grateful for right now?

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Have a good weekend,

- Tsh

p.s. Are you planning for the solar eclipse this Monday? Our family is smack-dab in the path of totality and we’re stoked to see it! Well… “see” it.

1. I hope this goes without saying, but here you go: it’s really violent. There’s also a lot of language. But hey… war. It’s realistic. Also, in the penultimate episode (9) there’s a pointless ten-second bout of nudity, and it’s quite annoying and does nothing to serve the plot. It’s at roughly the 8:17 mark if you’d like to ready your remote.

2. Here she is reading it out loud.