Taking a moment to breathe

Plus the links of the week, including Guy Fieri, paying the bills, and a hero dog

Photo by Bob Osias on Unsplash

I spent a couple of hours yesterday writing an angry commentary for WFAE about the latest school shooting and American gun culture. It’s not scheduled to air until my normal radio slot on Monday. By then you will probably have read dozens of other angry commentaries about the latest school shooting and American gun culture. Assuming you have the emotional strength to read them at all.

There’s more I could say, and probably will, in this newsletter and elsewhere. But for today I’d like to think about other things. If you’re not ready to do that just yet, I understand. But I need to breathe a little bit, get some fresh air, clear my mind.

Take care of yourselves, everyone.

10 things I wanted to share this week:

1. This week’s guest on the SouthBound podcast is Tripp Mickle, who covers Apple for The New York Times and wrote a fascinating book called AFTER STEVE on the post-Steve Jobs world at Apple. The key character is current CEO Tim Cook, who rose from small-town Alabama to run a trillion-dollar company.

2. My weekly for WFAE was about Pat McCrory, who lost his bid for a U.S. Senate seat last week, and finds himself in a Bourne Identity situation—but not the one he thinks.

3. This post by Ted Gioia about the vanishing middle-class musician has some solid practical advice for anybody pursuing a creative life. In short: Get a day job if you need to, and live as cheap as you can.

4. Roger Angell, maybe the greatest baseball writer of all time—and one of the best writers, period—died last week. David Remnick, editor of the New Yorker, wrote a remembrance. You should read anything Angell on baseball, but also make sure to read “This Old Man.”

5. DOG NEWS: While I work on my book about the Westminster Dog Show and the bond between dogs and their people, I’m devoting this slot to dog stories. This week: Eva, the hero dog who saved her owner from a mountain lion.

6. Guy Fieri is still hitting those diners, drive-ins and dives. But he’s also starting to get respect from the foodie world.

7. Susan Orlean writes the obit of a tough and resilient former addict who became a character in David Simon’s work, and also a friend.

8. Can’t wait for this: PERSONA, the upcoming podcast from Evan Ratliff about a French con artist who scammed not only people but big corporations.

9. Can’t wait for this, part 2: RICKEY, the upcoming bio by Howard Bryant on Rickey Henderson—one of the best baseball players of all time, and maybe THE most entertaining.

10. Lyle Lovett has a new album called 12TH OF JUNE that features his Large Band setup. Here’s his version of the the Nat King Cole classic “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” featuring the brilliant singer Francine Reed.
    
    

    See y’all next week, everyone.