You Think You Know Someone

The Secret Life of Roald Dahl; plus, the pleasant punchiness of risograph prints, accordions 2.0, and a few things I'm enjoying.

Hello readers,

So we meet again. How are you doing? What's new in your worlds? What are you doing to take care of yourselves? And what else is on your mind?

For the past week or so, I've been escaping the headlines by listening to The Secret Life of Roald Dahl podcast. As I've learned, he wasn't just the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, The BFG, Matilda, and other children's classics. He was an RAF pilot during World War II, a spy who seduced lots and lots of married and influential women, a co-creator of a medical device that saved his son's life, a screenwriter, and a truly dark and complicated and disgustingly anti-Semitic person who wanted to be taken seriously as a writer for grownups. I'm telling you, this ten-part series was quite a ride, so if you're looking for a riveting story about a great, but personally flawed, storyteller, go check this out.

The show's later episodes explore whether you can or should avoid reading someone like Dahl if, for example, you know that they're an anti-Semite, in his case, or anti-trans in the case of J.K. Rowling. Host Aaron Tracy invited author Roxane Gay to argue for the cancel them side, while author Claire Dederer argued canceling is not always so easy to do. Can you separate the artist from their body of work? Should you? What do you think? Hit reply and let me know.

Another question that arose in this series: can you be a great writer without living a life that's as big and wild as Dahl's was? I had a good conversation with a fellow writer this week about this and the answer we arrived at was of course you can. I mean, right? Think about your favorite writer or writers and what sort of lives they led. Were they swashbucklers, quietly observant, or something else entirely?

Just wondering.

If I haven't said it lately, let me say it now: thank you again for being here with me every week. I've been doing this little newsletter for more than two years now, and I've sincerely enjoyed sharing these little stories and nuggets with you every Friday at noon. I hope they've brought a little bit of joy to you, or given you something else to think about, or allowed you to ingest something that's kinder and gentler to your nervous system. Thank you as well for your replies to some of these missives. I always love hearing from you. Your stories make my day.

Until next week, friends.

Paige

Writing prompt: Who is your favorite writer and why? Do you love them solely for their stories? Or, is there something about their life that you find totally cool too? If so, what is it?

Leave the door open for the unknown, the door into the dark. That's where the most important things come from, where you yourself came from, and where you will go.

-- Rebecca Solnit

Endnotes

Punchy, Playful Prints

Longtime readers of this newsletter know that I tend to frolic in various creative pursuits from time to time. Take bookbinding, for example. I thought it would be interesting to learn how to make the objects in which stories are printed (or secrets are scribbled), even though that sort of thing is done by machines these days. And you know what? Bookbinding is absolutely satisfying, I've discovered. In the process of learning about it, and zine-making, and so forth, I've become interested in risograph printing, an example of which you can see above. What is risograph printing, you ask? Created in Japan in the 1980s, it is done on machines that look like photocopiers, but work like screenprinters. You can make something geometric like the image above, or you can fiddle with photographs if you like. In the end, you get a brightly colored print with a quirky handmade aesthetic. "Physical things land differently," says Gabriella Marcella of Risotto Studio in Glasgow, Scotland. "A postcard through the door has a weight, texture and intimacy that digital communication doesn’t." Of course, I want to take a risograph class sometime soon. I know I'm not alone in that. After all, The Guardian did a recent piece about the charm of this style of printing, its global following, and the major exhibit of it taking place in the U.K. The story is centered on Marcella and her work with Risotto, which includes shipping super-cool artist prints to subscribers each month.

Just When You Thought I Was Done With Accordions...

Last week, I shared Thomas Wheatley's Axios piece about Accordionology, a Decatur, Ga.-based shop that has been repairing rare accordions for 25 years. After that, one of you delightful readers kindly shared with me this wonderful little documentary about Marc Savoy, a musician, master accordion maker, and champion of Cajun culture. The world is a dumpster fire, but by God, this video is 17 minutes of pure joy. So, do yourself a favor and watch this please, because it'll definitely give you the warm fuzzies.

Things I'm Enjoying

Learning that cuteness is an academic area of research. Lexicographer Kory Stamper's new book True Color: The Strange and Spectacular Quest to Define Color – from Azure to Zinc Pink. Discovering Laufey long after seemingly everyone else did. Light-ish Atlanta traffic because people are away for Spring Break. Seeing a neighbor baby get very close to taking her first unaided steps.

If You Have a Minute...

...please visit Sharswood Foundation and consider donating what you can. A few years ago, my friend Fred Miller bought a grand old home where his enormous family could gather for reunions. After a bit of research, he discovered that the home was the site of a tobacco plantation where his ancestors were once enslaved. It's an incredible story, and right now Fred and his family are hoping to restore the slave dwelling and cemetery located behind the residence. If you can help Fred in any way, I would be so grateful and know he would too. Thank you so much!