Castles in the Sky 34 - June 2023
Monthly Wrap-up
Welcome to Castles in the Sky #34!
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Writing Updates
I wrote three new things in June.
June was a bit rough–my wife, toddler, and I took turns being sick all month. Even though I was either sick or taking care of a sick person for most of the month, I still pushed out three things I’m really proud of toward the end:
The Scrutiny Gap is an essay that explains something I’ve seen often, which is the discrepancy between attention and rigor paid to official narratives vs. that given to alternative explanations.
Corporate Bloodsuckers | No. 1 is a tense short story about a corporate hostile takeover with a paranormal reveal at the end. (No. 1? That’s right! I’m making a series of this.)
Simplicity, Expertise, and Bullshit is a companion piece to The Scrutiny Gap, where I try to address the relationship between understanding something and being able to communicate that understanding, and how I think people often conflate these things.
This is the second newsletter edition in the new format.
The last time you heard from me in the newsletter I made three big announcements:
The weekly newsletters are now monthly.
Between monthly newsletters, I will be writing whatever feels right on whatever cadence seems right.
Castles in the Sky is opening up paid subscriptions for those who want to support my work.
I want to know how you feel about fiction.
I would love to get some comments from readers on their fiction-reading habits. One odd thing I’ve noticed about fiction is that the posts are some of the lowest engagement (in the form of people liking and sharing the actual article). However, when people email me later, see me in person, or shoot me a direct text or email, they often talk about one of the short stories.
This is crazy not just because the online reception doesn’t match other feedback, but also because I’ve written nearly 20x as much non-fiction as fiction on Castles in the Sky. This makes me wonder a few things:
Do you read fiction? What? How often?
Do you read it online? Where?
Do you have a preference in my writing: non-fiction or fiction?
I plan to write a lot more fiction but am curious if the fiction is a separate audience from everything else.
My writing will be a lot more ambitious.
To give you an idea of what I’m up to, I’m going to copy the full text of a long-form Tweet I wrote on July 3rd:
A month ago I wrote “do the weirdest thing that feels right” and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. Tonight I had a crazy thought followed by an absolutely radical, insane, unrealistic thought, and I can’t remember the last time I felt this energized.
I was planning my week and the crazy thought was to just write down all my weirdest and most persistent goals, the ones I’ve wanted to do for YEARS but always opt for more reasonable or doable things instead.
I then decided to start shifting my life in the direction of these goals. Instead of wondering if I can accomplish them I will ask how I can accomplish them. I only wrote down the things that really spoke to me at a deep, intractable, irrational level.
A real bucket list was born.
Then, as I was falling asleep, I had my absolutely radical, insane, unrealistic thought. I literally sat up in bad and ran back to my list to re-read it. I realize that, except for one goal, all of these goals are limited only by my ability to do them. Meaning, if I have the right plan and do the right things, the only question is how hard am I willing to work?
And from nowhere I crossed out “Bucket List” and wrote “Five Year Goals.” I realized that not only were all the goals something I could do, but they were something I could do in a few years, not a few decades. Tomorrow is the first day of this journey.
As I’m sure you could guess, a lot of these goals have to do with writing and content creation. I hope to outline some plans soon. The major tension I am examining right now is: what is the tradeoff between constraints/commitments, and doing the weirdest thing that feels right? I hope to develop a good working hypothesis soon and make some big announcements.
Life Updates
Being sick is the worst.
Between bad colds, low fevers, summer flu, and stomach bugs, someone in my little family of three was out of commission for almost all of June. Luckily, we are surrounded by family. And amazingly, there was only one day when my wife and I were sick at almost the same time. So there was always someone to keep the home fire burning and we’re OK now, but it was not a very productive month and I am just catching up.
My surgery has finally been scheduled so I will start making video content.
I’ve mentioned several times over the last year that I have a big surgery coming up. It is double jaw surgery, where they will break and reset both my upper and lower jaws. After many scheduling issues, it has been officially scheduled for early December, which is a relief because it means I can finally start making YouTube videos. Let me explain.
For most of my life I’ve had an underbite along with a very specific speaking voice. I saw a speech therapist a few times as a kid but abandoned it after two or three visits. I’m not particularly self-conscious about it, and most people tell me they don’t even notice. A couple of years ago, I wanted to start making YouTube videos so I recorded myself telling stories alongside some “day in the life” B-roll footage.
When I went to edit the footage, I could not understand what I was saying. I decided I wanted to make videos enough that I would go back and talk to a speech therapist. The specific therapist basically said it wouldn’t be worth us meeting more than once or twice unless I wanted to get double jaw surgery, too. I asked if I was a good candidate for double jaw surgery. I’ll never forget when she said, “if you’re not a good candidate, nobody is a good candidate.”
I started the long process of seeing the doctors, dentists, and orthodontists I needed to help me prepare for surgery. During these visits and the research I did to prepare for them, I discovered that the problem the double jaw surgery will fix is not merely cosmetic. It is a certainty it will lead to significant health problems if left unaltered. So, over the course of preparing for the surgery, my motivation completely changed from, “I want to speak clearly in YouTube videos and now is a good time for that,” to “I really need to do this for my long-term health.”
Which is great! Because in the last 18 months, I’ve had a dozen people tell me I have to start making video content. It’s probably the most consistent advice I’ve ever received from a group of diverse, uncoordinated people I trust. Plus it’s something I want to do! So please be on the lookout for some video content from me (most likely starting in August).
I am starting 75 Hard.
75 Hard is described as a transformative mental toughness program, but most people know it as an exercise challenge. It is simple, but not easy. Each day for 75 days, you have to check off a list of tasks. Those tasks are:
Pick any diet and stick to it with no cheat meals or alcohol.
Perform two 45-minute workouts, one of which must take place outside.
Drink a gallon of water.
Read 10 minutes of non-fiction.
Take a progress picture.
I’m finishing my first week as I write this newsletter and so far, so good. There are two things I want to emphasize if you’re going to try it. First, doing it with a partner helps. My wife is also doing the challenge and we support and encourage one another. Second, thank God for YouTube. Of my five days so far, three times I almost forgot to workout and being able to throw up a Youtube video of a Yoga routine is really helpful.
A big reason I’m doing this challenge is that I’ve been really inspired by explorers lately, and the drive to do strenuous things. I hope to write about the challenge and these people who have been inspiring me recently.
My Favorite Things
Favorite things I watched
I watched Beef on Netflix and it was pretty good but the intensity really ratchets up in the last 2-3 episodes. What I liked about it the most is also the reason I’ll probably never rewatch it: it kept you on your toes and didn’t close any loops in a satisfying way. It was nearly impossible to predict what would happen next.
I watched a great documentary on Amazon Prime called Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles. (Beyond anything else, one bizarre thing about this documentary is that it was produced in 2019 but somehow feels like it’s ten or fifteen years old.) It’s a documentary about the making of the musical Fiddler on the Roof, its adaptation to the film version, and the story’s lasting cultural impact.
Fiddler is my favorite musical ever, and the film is among my favorite movies of any genre. When my grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and we would visit, I would sit in the living room with him and we would watch it on repeat for hours. Part of the documentary is about how wildly popular Fiddler is across culture and contexts because it is so specific, and from that, so universal. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend watching the musical immediately. If you have, you’d probably enjoy the documentary.
After watching Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles, Amazon Prime recommended I watch City of Joel. I am a sucker for low-budget or made-for-TV documentaries about insular religious communities, breakaway sects, cults, and fringe intentional communities. This one was really good. It was about an insular religious community of orthodox Hasidic Jews called Kiryas Joel in a hamlet just outside New York City, and the neighbors who are chafing at Kiryas Joel’s growing borders and growing power in local politics.
The documentary was pretty even-handed in representing both sides. But as it started, you get the feeling you’re going to mainly get the viewpoint of the complaining townsfolk. Then there’s a scene where one representative from the town meets a representative from Kiryas Joel at a park in Manhattan. It is edited for you to sympathize with the town-member until the representative from Kiryas Joel begins reading vile comments from internet news stories on Kiryas Joel, and the tone shifts dramatically.
There is also a very powerful scene where they’re interviewing a Jewish woman in Kiryas Joel about the families there, as many of the families have a lot of kids. She reminds the filmmaker that Kiryas Joel was started by European refugees and that, “every child to them is a defeat to Hitler.” It was a powerful moment. Overall, the documentary did a great job presenting a compelling argument on both sides of a specific, nuanced issue.
On a much less serious note, I loved this video about the origins and successes of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. It’s about a couple plucky weirdos making great art that resonates with a lot of people, doing the weirdest thing that felt right. And finally, if you’ve been reading me for a while you know how much I love Trailers–and I really enjoyed Foundation season 1 on Apple, so I wanted to share this trailer i saw last month.
Favorite things I read
As I’m writing this in early July, I’ve actually finished two books—but those will be in next month’s wrap-up. In June, I didn’t read a lot but I want to highlight one essay from my friend Michael Dean’s newsletter
called The Mucha Method:
I commented: “I love this, especially the idea that you don't have to sacrifice your artistic integrity to make what matters to you, BUT the art your soul calls you to make and the art that you enjoy making and get paid for do not have to be the same.” If you’re someone who experiences any tension between what you’re doing and what you want to do, artistically or otherwise, I highly recommend reading the full essay.
I also loved, loved, LOVED this short poem by
for Father’s Day.
Favorite things I listened to
It is hot as hell in Houston where I live right now, so as is my tradition I have my Mood: Summertime playlist in heavy rotation on Spotify.
I think the playlist is pretty eclectic, but I’m also a millennial from the Gulf Coast, so there’s a lot of age-appropriate pop and rap alongside Latin music, New Orleans second-line jazz, and Zydeco.
Crowd Work
For as little as I wrote, I got some awesome feedback and shout-outs this month.
First,
wrote a great response to Simplicity, Expertise, and Bullshit. I highly recommend checking it out:Frankly, I agree with a lot of what he says, and plan to write a longer response.
In the comments of Simplicity, Expertise, and Bullshit, I had a great exchange with RLT:
And their response:
I also got a great shout-out from Sadia at
:If you don’t yet, you should subscribe to her Substack.
Final Note for those of you who make it this far—thanks for being my die-hard readers. After only two months of this “monthly wrap-up” format, I am thinking that it may not be what I was thinking. Would love your thoughts in the comments or privately via email if you prefer.
Best wishes for your surgery--it sounds epic!--and I hope is a complete success!
Sad over the loss of Milan Kundera so I’m having to reread Immortality and the Unbearable Lightness of Being.
I enjoy your articles.