I might have gotten myself in the weeds a bit with this essay - 😳. What was something you recently read that you feel so urgently the need to write about?
I can almost feel the reverberation of whirring brain cogs revolving in your head, Stacy. This essay is a wonderful insight into your thinking, which is just exactly what an essay should be. I find the subject matter quite difficult to grasp and I know I wouldn't have the patience to study this book myself but I'm glad it's given you a lot to chew on, so to speak. Thanks for sharing with us.
Yasmin, that is a thoughtful comment - thank you. I do feel like I'm spinning a bit, and ungrounded. There is so much to think about. We each have our "knowledge," right? And this feels so different for me - a new spin on what little I already knew.
I have taken the three parts of Ghosh and added to them in a way to help me make sense of the ... OMG, this has been happening and we, as a species, are simply not paying attention. Not just a shifting climate but the political maneuvering!
But, in truth, this spiraling is good for me. It feels purposeful and intentional.
What I like most about this piece, Stacy, is watching you stretching to get your arms and mind around something that is, to use a current meme, everything everywhere all at once. Complexity is a bitch. Nature, and its little cousin human nature, can take a lifetime to get some clarity about, and then only a little.
To answer your question, I felt an urgent need to write about this book:
I've saved your post for reading. I appreciate that books create urgency. Maybe that is what Ghosh is getting at. Reading is learning. Learning is actionable.
I'm not sure if that is a good thing, stretching my arms in such a public way. Maybe, what I hope is that by doing this, it will give others a bit of comfort to do some of the same. To be pushed into having a mini-crisis of awareness and then dig into it, research, look a bit more, evaluate self and what to do with the information. As I mentioned above to Yasmin, we all have our own knowledge, own our wheelhouse, per se. I've spent a long-time learning and advocating for public lands and wasn't looking at the political thread with the detail that might have ... no, strike that ... we can't dabble into all at the same time.
I find Substack quite a forgiving space allowing for experimentation. I allowed myself to publish my poem "Lost city elegy" about trauma which felt like a bit of a leap. I see no downside to publishing a "discovery essay" like yours. Save the perfect pieces for the peer reviewed journals (not!).
We Substack (as a verb, right?) for different reasons. My reasons for writing on this platform have changed a lot over the past couple of months - but I've not before hurried a stream-of-consciousness-like piece out mostly as it is being typed. 😏
I might have gotten myself in the weeds a bit with this essay - 😳. What was something you recently read that you feel so urgently the need to write about?
Also, share any thoughts about this essay.
Sometimes the best thing we can do is get into the weeds to find out way out again with new insights. Keep exploring!
Thank you, Dawn. This feels like good weeds to be tracking into. Like a hunter finding and following the trail.
I can almost feel the reverberation of whirring brain cogs revolving in your head, Stacy. This essay is a wonderful insight into your thinking, which is just exactly what an essay should be. I find the subject matter quite difficult to grasp and I know I wouldn't have the patience to study this book myself but I'm glad it's given you a lot to chew on, so to speak. Thanks for sharing with us.
Yasmin, that is a thoughtful comment - thank you. I do feel like I'm spinning a bit, and ungrounded. There is so much to think about. We each have our "knowledge," right? And this feels so different for me - a new spin on what little I already knew.
I have taken the three parts of Ghosh and added to them in a way to help me make sense of the ... OMG, this has been happening and we, as a species, are simply not paying attention. Not just a shifting climate but the political maneuvering!
But, in truth, this spiraling is good for me. It feels purposeful and intentional.
There is great depth to this approach, Stacy. And personal growth.
There is value in wanting to continue learning.
What I like most about this piece, Stacy, is watching you stretching to get your arms and mind around something that is, to use a current meme, everything everywhere all at once. Complexity is a bitch. Nature, and its little cousin human nature, can take a lifetime to get some clarity about, and then only a little.
To answer your question, I felt an urgent need to write about this book:
https://bairdbrightman.substack.com/p/on-freedom-by-timothy-snyder
I've saved your post for reading. I appreciate that books create urgency. Maybe that is what Ghosh is getting at. Reading is learning. Learning is actionable.
I'm not sure if that is a good thing, stretching my arms in such a public way. Maybe, what I hope is that by doing this, it will give others a bit of comfort to do some of the same. To be pushed into having a mini-crisis of awareness and then dig into it, research, look a bit more, evaluate self and what to do with the information. As I mentioned above to Yasmin, we all have our own knowledge, own our wheelhouse, per se. I've spent a long-time learning and advocating for public lands and wasn't looking at the political thread with the detail that might have ... no, strike that ... we can't dabble into all at the same time.
I find Substack quite a forgiving space allowing for experimentation. I allowed myself to publish my poem "Lost city elegy" about trauma which felt like a bit of a leap. I see no downside to publishing a "discovery essay" like yours. Save the perfect pieces for the peer reviewed journals (not!).
We Substack (as a verb, right?) for different reasons. My reasons for writing on this platform have changed a lot over the past couple of months - but I've not before hurried a stream-of-consciousness-like piece out mostly as it is being typed. 😏
Thank you for being supportive, Baird.
May exploration,
experimentation, awe,
aid ailing we-world.