Interesting Times No. 13
Dog parents; a fancy dinner; Medieval art; obsession; financial privilege; H.G. Wells; mushrooms; siblings; the 'unique baby name'; the potato that wasn't; Edward St. Aubyn; a 'safecracker'
Hello and welcome. I hope this offering of the internet’s high and low provides.
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JOURNALISM
‘The idea was to import hippopotamuses from Africa, set them in the swamplands along the Gulf Coast, and raise them for food. The idea was to turn America into a nation of hippo ranchers. American Hippopotamus: A bracing and eccentric epic of espionage and hippos.’
‘In a world of scientific miracles, what does faith have to offer us?’
‘Was Lord Byron the first “dog dad”? At Newstead Abbey, the Romantic poet’s former home, there is a stone monument topped with an urn: perhaps the most famous pet memorial in the world. It was erected in honour of Byron’s dog Boatswain — a beloved Newfoundland.
When Byron was 20, Boatswain died of rabies. Devastated, he composed a poem that captures his grief and the sense of losing an irreplaceable relationship:
To mark a friend’s remains these stones arise;
I never knew but one—and here he lies.’We can love our pets very deeply, of course, but: ‘Stop calling yourself a dog parent.’ And somewhat related.
I loved this! Such joy! ‘I'm common as muck and spent £150 in a Michelin star restaurant to see if it was worth it. […]The food had me in tears.’
‘It happened to me: I accidentally attended a crypto bro dinner.’
The HORROR. You could not pay me, what has the world come to, etc. ‘Dating apps rationalize the process of finding love. Relationship apps aim to do the same for keeping it’.
‘Twenty years ago this weekend, the Prince of Darkness let MTV cameras into his home to get a glimpse of his family life. It was a wild experiment that became a massive success. On the eve of the anniversary, members of the family and the crew behind the show reflect on how it all came together and why it marked a new era for reality TV. America’s Favorite Dysfunctional Family: The Oral History of “The Osbournes”.’
TWENTY YEARS ! ! ! They were good times, they were simpler times (in reality TV terms): the many, many dogs pooing everywhere; Ozzy appearing to be stoned all the time; Sharon being bonkers Sharon. Kelly was a spoilt brat, but that wasn’t her fault. If you find the right subjects then reality TV is FASCINATING, because what’s more fascinating than people? NOTHING! Unless they’re, errr, boring, of course. (My children tell me I’m nosy - I say I’m interested.) Anyway, I find Married at First Sight, Made in Chelsea et al to be not fascinating, sadly, because the people are mind-numbingly boring (although Mark-Francis from MIC was amazing); give me Ozzy, Sharon and the dog shit any old day.
‘Working as a house cleaner: “It is an intimate encounter that demands respect”’.
‘Persuading the Body to Regenerate Its Limbs. Deer can regrow their antlers, and humans can replace their liver. What else might be possible?’
And in case the above tapestry has piqued your interest: ‘How Medieval and Renaissance Tapestries Were Made’. And more: On ‘Animals in Medieval Art.’
On ‘The Welcome Return of the 12 Hour Lunch’. [Perhaps not entirely relatable to 99% of the populace?]
‘Humans developed both the capacity for immense learning and a reward system that pushes us to seek out new things. In our brains, that reward cycle originates largely with dopamine, a neurotransmitter. Though dopamine-releasing neurons constitute fewer than 1 percent of the brain’s neurons, they’re incredibly powerful. Dopamine is linked to our motivation and reward cycles and, thus, implicated in everything from love and lust to addiction and our habits as consumers. This is your brain on obsession.’
‘Friday essay: “this is our library”– how to read the amazing archive of First Nations stories written on rock.’
On ‘The Age of the Unique Baby Name. Parents used to want kids to fit in. Now they want them to stand out.’
‘Why Your Rich Friends Should Admit Their Financial Privilege. It helps everyone else feel way less self-conscious about their perceived financial "shortfalls"‘.
A thousand times yes. I have friends with more - I respect enormously the ones who overtly say, ‘I know I have more’. I have friends with less - I don’t know if I do a great job at acknowledging this with them. It can feel tricky, which is of course, in part, why people don’t acknowledge it. Something to work on.
Risky mushrooms.
‘H.G. Wells, the Rational Escapist. A passion for science made Wells famous. But he was driven by a longing for something more.’
‘Charlie Santore sees Los Angeles from the inside, by breaking into safes whose owners can no longer unlock them. “A lot of times I’m driving with my girlfriend or my son,” Santore told me, “and I’m like, ‘I opened a safe here, I opened a safe here, and do you remember the time we opened a safe there?’” The city is full of safes, he meant: Everyone is hiding something. The truest museum of contemporary Los Angeles, it seems, is everybody’s safes, scattered across the neighborhoods, storing the most precious objects in the city. And it is only a safecracker like Santore who gets to see what the rest of us are trying to hide.’
‘Dug the Potato: A timeline of triumph and tragedy.’
DAILY MAIL HEADLINE OF THE MONTH:
‘Is your KITCHEN making you fat? From eating off white plates to the music playing on the radio, expert reveals how your home could be ruining your diet...’
‘Kitchen’ is in caps for dramatic effect; the word ‘expert’ is used: classic DM; there’s the obligatory use of the word ‘fat’, plus a general tone of panic. 3.5/5
William Eggleston, Field of Daisies and Lupins, 1978. Photograph.
BOOKS
‘What Ukrainian Literature Has Always Understood About Russia.
For centuries, Ukraine’s writers have—surreptitiously, brashly, satirically—fended off attempts to erase their national culture.’
‘Russia and the Soviet Union: A Syllabus of Background Readings […] from our archive [which] provide context for the developing conflict in Ukraine.’
And ‘Russian Books That Outlived the Censors: A Reading List.’
Edward St. Aubyn’s lauded ‘Patrick Melrose Novels’ are largely autobiographical; they depict a clever man, a detached observer, who is droll, funny, withering, a victim of horrific abuse, a heroin addict, a member of the British upper classes (and who skewers them as only an insider can) - a person who has had both the tremendous good luck of being born into a family of means and status, and the terrible, life-altering bad luck of being born to an abuser. If you haven’t read the books, I can only say that I think they contain a combination of insight and humour rarely seen, along with chilling depictions of depraved human behaviour, and that you should read them as soon as you possibly can.
Here’s an interview with St. Aubyn which gives insight into ‘the sublime, ugly agony of Patrick Melrose’, and how the novels came to be.
‘[T]he first pandemic novels have arrived, but are we ready for them?’
‘Damien Owens: “People confuse seriousness with intelligence. Life is a comedy-drama”. The [Irish] writer on on finding his voice and his fascination with other families.’
‘A long tradition of murder and mystery in the desert city known for architecture, design, and monied denizens. Crime and the City: Palm Springs.’
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS:
PODCASTS
‘What really drives people towards cults is language, says linguist Amanda Montell. Her new book Cultish: the Language of Fanaticism explores the linguistic patterns that cults and cult-like brands use. And it's not just the most sinister cults like Jonestown, Heaven's Gate or Scientology; Montell argues that the modern wellness industry, multilevel marketers and even brands like Amazon and Lululemon are employing "cultish" language and techniques.’
Being a nosy person, this is right up my street; Relatively: About Siblings. ‘For most of us, our relationships with our brothers and sisters are the longest lasting of our lives, sometimes spanning 80 or 90 years. Sibling relationships come before friendships or romances, and usually outlive any links with our parents. On Relatively, Catherine Carr will bring siblings together to talk about the connections they have with each other as adults, as well as what it was like growing up. But she'll also talk to them separately, to get a private take on the relationship. Expect nostalgia, honesty and lots of teasing.’
‘“How can there be anything wrong with trying to do good?” asks Anand Giridharadas in his new [in 2019] book, Winners Take All. “The answer may be: when the good is an accomplice to even greater, if more invisible, harm.” Giridharadas has done his time in elite circles. His education took him through Oxford and Harvard, he spent years as a New York Times columnist, he's a regular on Morning Joe, he’s a TED talker. And so when he mounted the stage at the Aspen Institute and told his fellow fellows that their pretensions of doing good were just that — pretensions — and that they were more the problem than the solution, it caused some controversy. Anand Giridharadas on the elite charade of changing the world.’
John Pascoe, From Songs of Innocence: Photographs of a New Zealand Childhood, c.1940s. See you next month,
-Ellie
A great collection of things, as always! I particularly liked the Anand Ghiridharadas interview. Also the background reading on Russia seems very helpful - I didn't know JSTOR did freebies!