To my neighbors

it's grilling season, bring your stakes

Versions of this newsletter have existed since 1998, so, to my neighbors (friends, anyone reading online, maybe even those who are actual neighbors), here’s what is in mind this morning:

• 🎵 Empress of - Woman is a Word
  I’m only an image of what you see / you don’t know me.

I was originally going to name this newsletter The Cyclops of Overlook, in honor of my neighborhood. An intent to share what is new and interesting in the area. A nod to the Colossus of Rhodes, a massive bronze statue of the sun god Helios. A wonder of the ancient world.

The weight of the ancient world is always growing, and it still takes hundreds of years to create only an inch of topsoil. The web as we generally experience it is all the regurgitated culture of the last sixty years. TikToks reposted to Instagram Reels into whatever Facebook dot com is doing.

Old dogs, old tricks. No one blinks as others roll over or beg then play dead.

There’s the larger question of for what is this? Then, for whom? Why am I doing this, this morning? The place and energy of publicly-visible social media has long passed, and while I’m heartened to see many friends shift to environments slightly more under their control (such as this, such as it is). I think a place to start may be to start with novelty before seeing if and how frequently I come back to this.

I’m optimistic for the species, overall,