12/02/2023: Discovering the photography of Saul Leiter

Social media is a scourge, obviously. But I have been trying to respond to the negative effects of

social media (cortisol-driving, attention-shredding, ego poking) with long-looking.

Long-looking is the practice of spending a lot longer on an idea, piece of art, song, etc. than you normally would so that it give up additional meanings.

If I am going to go to social media, I promise myself, I am going to sit with what I find with intention and patience.

Thank goodness, then, for Bill Shapiro who posts regular introductions to great photographers.

Recently: Saul Leiter. I spent a day with this picture in my head:

Paris, 1959

You can find more wonderful, deep images at https://www.saulleiterfoundation.org/color. (Significantly less important: what is the story behind Do I Want to be a Mom? the book on top of the pile in the studio where Leiter is photographed. It’s the main photo on the Saul Leiter Foundation main page)

More Notions

11/03/2023: Ray Bradbury punk rock graduation.

Ray Bradbury was so poor growing up that in order to dress up for his graduation he had to wear his uncle’s suit. His uncle had died recently. The suite was the one he wore when he died. His uncle was shot. The suit still had the bullet hole in it. I learned that from […]

06/14/2023: An artificial intelligence response to the Trump indictment

06/07/2023: Presidential Restraint

Matt Yglesias has a piece in the New York Times under the headline: “It’s Great to Have a President Who Knows When to Shut Up.” My favorite topic: presidential restraint. I spent a lot of time on the topic in my book, and why it’s necessary for the job. (Chapter 23: Restraint). There is no greater […]

05/10/2023: How would Christ campaign for president?

UPDATE: I tried the opposite:

05/06/2023: Campaign Short: Carter in Wisconsin 1976 and Cronkite asserts his personality

05/02/2023: AI really gets to the point

04/30/2023: Selling Candidates Like Soap

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by CBS News (@cbsnews)

04/29/2023: The Magic of Music

My cocktail chatter from the recent Gabfest: My chatter is on the magical properties of music. To me, musicians are the closest we have to actual Wizards. They can conjure a feeling and then make another human soul have that feeling or launch another feeling. Writing does this too, of course, but it’s rare when […]

04/22/2023: Long Tail Interviews on Prime Time

We cover the latest on Prime Time every day, but we also conduct a number of interviews that last beyond the move to fish wrap(*). Here are some interviews from the first four days of this week: 1. Why the fighting in Sudan matters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16ffhTXOsAQ 2. Evan Gershkovich’s friend explains his condition in a Russian […]