Beat (by) the heat

This season of melting, plus my weekly shareables: monster trucks, cat tours, and the surgeon to the stars

A couple of quick DOGLAND items at the top:

—I was on KJZZ radio in Phoenix to talk about the book—they helpfully provide both the audio and a transcript!

—A reminder that I’ll be in Athens, GA (go dawgs) to talk about the book on July 31. There are a couple more events coming up that I’m really excited about … I’ll post details as soon as they’re fully baked.

—I’ve received a few good questions for my upcoming paid-subscriber Q&A, but I’d love to get some more … I think I made a tactical error by announcing that at the same time I announced the book giveaway a couple weeks ago. So if you have a question about DOGLAND or anything else, email me at tomlinsonwrites@gmail.com with “DOGLAND Q&A” in the subject line.

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Brad Panovich, our favorite local weather guy, tweeted this Friday afternoon:

Two thoughts struck me when I saw this: One, I did NOT sign up for 101 degrees; and two, the last time it was 101 here was only two years ago.

I would like to speak to the manager.

I have spent most of my life reveling in the heat, baking and broiling and braising in it, chasing buckets on the basketball court or cutting okra in the garden or downing Bud Lights on the beach. (Those three activities made up a large part of my summers between ages 15 and 22.) Dealing with the heat is the price of admission for living in the South, and if I’m honest, I felt a little superior to all the newcomers who come down here and wilt like greens in a skillet.

There is also something sexy about a film of sweat, as anyone who has seen BODY HEAT will appreciate.

I used to go out and meet the middle of summer head-on. Now, though, I have decided I would rather not melt. I’m starting to dream of summers on one of the Great Lakes, or somewhere Canadian, or hell, depending on climate change, maybe Greenland.

Around the house we have started using the word “tolerations” to describe annoying things we put up with until we muster the gumption to deal with them. The heat has become a toleration for me. I have become a dedicated indoorsman.

I know I love the South too much to escape for good. And I know that come October, there’s no better place to live. But in the meantime I’m going to daydream about cool lagoons. Maybe just saying it is enough. Cool lagoons.

And I also know that escape is not always enough. One year my wife and I went to Wisconsin (her home state) for our anniversary, and they happened to be in the midst of a massive heat wave—100 degrees in a place that is in no way prepared for 100 degrees. We spent a night in her brother’s co-op, a big old house in Madison without any air conditioning. He lent us his only fan. To this day I swear I could see the air leave the fan and sink to the ground before it ever got to us.

The good news is, it won’t be like this here for long. Only (checks calendar) … three more months.

Dammit.

10 things I wanted to share this week:

1. Really loved making the latest episode of SouthBound with guests Deesha Philyaw and Kiese Laymon, two of the best writers in America. We went deep on the possibilities of the essay, how success changes the work, and when words first lit their spark. They’re about to launch their own podcast called Reckon True Stories … I’m already signed up and you should, too.

2. My weekly for WFAE was about how we’re due for a second-half comeback.

3. There’s not much that makes me want to go to New York, but hanging out with Angel Jimenez, and eating his roast pork in a trailer in the Bronx, might be worth a plane ticket by itself. (Taste)

4. Meet Neal ElAttrache, surgeon to the stars. (New Yorker)

5. Other places have home tours. A neighborhood in Minneapolis has something much better: a cat tour. (Washington Post)

6. My friend Jeremy Markovich has the story of the time the monster truck called Grave Digger drove seven miles across Currituck Sound in North Carolina for a July 4th celebration. They had to change the oil halfway through. God bless America. (North Carolina Rabbit Hole)

7. The reviews for the new BEVERLY HILLS COP movie are … not great … but Eddie Murphy himself is still fascinating. (NYT)

8. I’ve found the next movie I really want to see: THELMA.
   

9. RIP Kinky Friedman. I never much got into his music, but I did enjoy a couple of his mystery novels, starring a detective named … Kinky Friedman. (NYT)

10. Hope everybody had a great Fourth … there are a lot of great Fourth of July songs (I tend to lean toward Martina McBride in that contest), but there’s also a great Third of July song, by the long lost Atlanta band The Jody Grind. Kelly Hogan, the lead singer, is still around and still wonderful.
    

    Have a great week, everybody.