Start the week #28
A nice video, a catty corrective, interesting Substack reading, and more
Greetings!
Today I have a couple of videos for you, a couple of links to other Substacks, a catty corrective and some other stuff.
But enough of this persiflage! On with the newsletter.
Terry
The weather
Yesterday it was 30 degrees here (London, UK). To celebrate (if that’s the word), I thought I’d share this video. The settings are bonkers. Interesting that it refers to the Kinsey report of 1948, about sexual behaviour in the human male. That’s pretty high-brow for what was in effect a pop song!
Calm down
Here’s a Vivaldi concerto. The link below sets it to start on the second movement. When I first heard it I felt the tension just drain away. At the end of a school day once I came across a colleague who was absolutely fuming at the way she’d been treated by the Deputy Head. I offered to give her a lift home. She accepted and I put this on without saying anything. By time it finished a couple of minutes later, she’d stopped ranting and was looking forward to the evening. I hope you enjoy it too.
A great story
I’m always on the lookout for amazing language, so I was delighted to see this story pop up in my inbox:
I love the title as much as anything. Do read it (the story I mean, not just the title).
Why Kathleen writes
Dr Kathleen Waller has talked about why she writes. I’ve thought of writing about this myself. She makes some interesting points:
Giving and receiving feedback
Here's a very incisive and important essay from
on this subject. Well worth a read by both readers and writers.
A Catty corrective
A couple of people have told me that my reporting on feline phenomena such as sneezing all over me has made them glad they don’t have cats. I feel I ought to issue a bit of a corrective. Here are just a few of the benefits we’ve found. First, a picture of them:
From left to right: Minty, Mocha, Willow.
Seven benefits, numbered for ease of reference.
They deter mice. Before we had cats, we tried everything to stop mice coming in from nearby fields. Nothing worked. As soon as a cat moved in, the mice packed their bags and, as they say in blues songs, moved on down the line.
It’s nice to know we give them a good life. Willow came from a cat rescue place. Minty and Mocha were left in a cardboard box outside the vets just after they were born.
They’re very loveable.
They’re very loving. Don’t believe all that nonsense about cats being aloof and independent.
They’re good weather predictors. They consistently stuff themselves about a week before the weather turns really cold.
They’re good heat generators in cold weather. They snuggle up to us to keep warm, and in so doing they keep us warm.
When one of us is ill, they sit with us and purr.
What I published last week
Last week saw me publish a huge amount of stuff. Even I find it hard keeping up. So I thought I’d itemise it here in case you missed something.
19 June Start the week #27 was a video special that included a video of Kurt Vonnegut lecturing on the subject of story shapes.
20 June Research on the move, looked at how I take documents around with me without destroying a forest in the process (for paid subs only, but there’s a seven day free trial offer in the article).
21 June Reply to Rebecca #15, in which I talk about The Importance of Being Earnest, a black and white TV, and a walk around London’s East End.
22 June Review of a technicians exhibition, in which I present two reviews: the one I sent to a magazine editor, and the edited version that was published. Which do you prefer?
23 June Classification of articles that may be included in a newsletter, in which I discuss a classification of animals by Borges, and how that was applied in other fields by Perec and an academic. This was a guest post on the Soaring Twenties Social Club.
24 June The Magic of Magic, in which guest contributor Nathan Slake discusses close-up magic, which is a fascinating topic. When I published this I hadn’t noticed that it was set to allow comments only from paid subscribers. I’ve corrected that now, so that everyone can comment.
24 June A kind of Magic (unpublished so far). Nothing to do with Nathan’s article, this is a short essay I penned for a creative writing class I’m in. I’ve submitted it to the tutor. Perhaps I’ll publish it here at some point, unless she tells me not to give up the day job.
25 June Experiments in Style: social media version. What would my story look like if told in a series of tweets?
Coming up
I hope to publish another ‘behind the scenes’ article for paid subscribers. That will be on Tuesday.
Next Saturday there will be an article about jazz. Specifically, how I came to discover it.
What? Nothing else? Blimey, give me a break, I'm knackered (see illustration)!
will be publishing her reply to my reply. That will be on Wednesday, which lets me off the hook.
Further reading
Here are a few referral links to newsletter directories. If you click through and sign up to these services, you’ll be sent links to other newsletters you might be interested in. And the people who run these services will promote this one too. So it’s a potential win-win-win situation.
I find this one especially useful for discovering newsletters and articles concerning leadership matters, which I’m quite interested in.
I very much like the variety served up. I receive one suggestion a day, and have subscribed to a few of them.
This has links to long reads. I haven’t really explored it yet, but it seems quite interesting. If you sign up using that link apparently I’ll get $4 credit towards an advertisement. I’ve no idea how much an advert costs though.
Finally…
Your call to action is to subscribe to this newsletter if you don’t already, and to share it if you do.
If you value my work, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription, which is currently just $45 a year (aka under 87c a week) or $5 a month. I’m going to raise this very soon.
Or share this newsletter, so that more people let to hear about it.
Or recommend it, to make yourself feel good and to build up a stock of good Karmic points (not guaranteed, I’m afraid: you could be a mass murderer for all I know).
Or buy me a cup of tea. (It all helps. I frequently write in a cafe, to escape from the cats, and the drinks ain’t cheap!)
Thanks for reading this.
Terry
I thoroughly enjoyed today's reflections, Terry. So glad you linked to Sharron Bassano's "Misadventure in Budapest." Sharron's writing is always witty and engaging and this piece showcases her fine sense of humor.
The piece by Tom Pendergast on feedback is a must read. Thanks for sharing it.
Lastly, despite your well-reasoned defense of keeping miniature tigers as house pets, I remain skeptical, as I bleed easily. I did appreciate the cute drawings but I will continue to keep my distance.
Thanks Terry!
Being a newly adopted human of a cat, I agree with these benefits (although I didn’t know about the weather predicting). I’ve had so much pleasure from a cat napping in my lap these last few weeks!