I used to listen to “I Get Money” before every shift as a waiter.
Castles in the Sky #7
I’ve been in a funk for a few weeks. I wanted to get the newsletter back on a weekly cadence, but after missing it a few times I felt I needed a unifying theme to give me the permission or reason to publish again. This made the funk I was in worse, but then I thought, “how about making the funk I’ve been in the focus of the newsletter?”
I googled, “being in a funk” for inspiration. The problem is that instead of returning results about being in a funk, Google just kept showing me pictures of George Clinton. So I’m basically trying to intellectualize feeling sorry for myself, but Google keeps showing me pictures like this:
George Clinton was one of the most influential funk musicians of all time. From Wikipedia: “His Parliament-Funkadelic collective developed an influential and eclectic form of funk music during the 1970s that drew on science fiction, outlandish fashion, psychedelia, and surreal humor.”
I thought, “Wow, if Parliament can draw on all those things and put out bangers like Flashlight, maybe I don’t need a unifying theme at all. Maybe I don’t need a reason to write, or to give myself permission, I just need to do it.”
Which brings us to the —
🍌Quote of the Week
“Style is whatever you want to do, if you can do it with confidence.” - George Clinton
🍌In The Newsletter This Week
I struggled to find what to write about, but once I was inspired by George Clinton, I couldn’t stop writing—so there’s a lot in this one.
New Writing This Week: Street smarts, book smarts, and parenting
What I’m Thinking About: Sharing What You’re Passionate About and Reflecting on Nostalgia
Crowd Work: Thinking about how place shapes identity.
New Writing This Week
🍌Can You Learn Parenting From a Book?
I spend a lot of time thinking about the balance between book smarts and street smarts. Lately, I also spend a lot of time thinking about my six-month-old daughter. This essay started as a review of the only really good parenting book I’ve ever read, but it evolved into a discussion of the difference between book smarts and street smarts—and how I needed to draw on both to be a parent. Here is an excerpt from the beginning of the essay:
What I’m Thinking About
🍌Get a Good Title for This Section or Die Tryin
Last week, YouTube recommended I watch a video from a father-son YouTube channel. The son is in his late teens or early twenties, and he picks popular music from the last thirty years to listen to with his Dad. His Dad has not heard any of the music before. The son is knowledgeable and really loves the music. The Dad is earnest and deliberately takes the time to understand and enjoy what they’re listening to. In this particular video I was recommended, the father and son are listening to “Many Men” by 50 Cent.
I hadn’t listened to “Many Men” in years (even though it was sampled by a hit song in 2020), but watching the dad in that video love “Many Men,” made me think of a few things.
First, watching other people love things—or being introduced to something by someone who loves it—can make you love it. I remember when I got to college I listened exclusively to rap. That might still be the case had not my friend Andrew, the virtuoso guitarist, taken the time to sit me down and listen to Led Zeppelin’s albums and explained why they were good and he loved them.
Second, I’m glad that the music I like is uncorrelated with what is new and cool. That’s not to say that I don’t like keeping up with new, cool music. But have you ever noticed most people’s idea of the best music ever is what was popular when they were 14-24 years old? I try to keep an open mind as I get older, and this has allowed me to discover and enjoy music from across genres, geographies, and eras.
Third, I’m glad I’m at an age where I like what I like without being self conscious about it. For a long time, I felt corny for loving gangsta rap so much—but it’s been a huge part of my life. “Many Men” got me over being bullied in high school, and I used to listen to “I Get Money” before every shift as a waiter. Now I listen to what I like: pool-party house music when I work out, elevator music while I’m writing, and gangsta rap when I need to get motivated. Not caring about what others think about what I like is freeing.
Fourth, loving something from nostalgia is completely independent of loving it from quality. After listening to “Many Men,” for the first time in a decade, I was shocked at how good I still thought it was. So, I went back and listened to a bunch of other songs I liked in 2003. I got a lot of joy out of listening to these songs, but they frankly just don’t hold up. While it was nice to hear songs from my adolescence, I realized that just because I used to like a song, doesn’t mean it’s a good song.
Finally, I would be remiss if I did not tell you to follow their YouTube channel. In addition to being two super chill dudes with good opinions, the son has absolutely exquisite taste in music, such as when he gets his Dad to listen to:
🍌How Where We Live Shapes Us
David Perell (who taught the writing course I loved so much) recently published an essay called What’s Up With Austin? I really enjoyed it. I recommend reading it, and I hope that it encourages people to start writing about how where they live shapes their life and who they are.
Crowd Work
In standup comedy, crowd work is when the comic speaks directly with the audience. This section is a place for us to directly engage one another.
What city did you grow up in? How did it shape who you are?
That’s all for now—see you next week!
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One of the best lyrics of all time IMHO was "We got the funk", sung by Parliament. Don't ask me why.