Your favorite escapes

Peaceful tips from Shedheads, plus my weekly shareables: Tom Hanks, Elvis, and Quincy Jones

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A couple of announcements:

—I have notified the three winners of the DOGLAND large print edition giveaway from Tuesday’s newsletter. Congrats to Shedheads Susan, Pamela and Cindy! I wish I could give a copy to everyone who asked. If you’d still like a large print copy, you can order one through your favorite indie bookstore or most online stores … here’s the Amazon link if you’re so inclined.

—For those of you in the Charlotte area, I’m speaking this Sunday evening at a pancake supper to support the Counseling Center At Charlotte. It’s at Park Road Baptist Church at 5 p.m.—get your tickets here. (It says Oct. 27 on the ticket page … that was the original date and we had to postpone until this Sunday).

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Y’all came through this week when I asked you to share your areas of refuge in these fraught post-election weeks. Go back and read the whole comment thread if you have time, but I wanted to share a few of my favorites—things I plan to steal for my own peace of mind.

• Yesterday, I encouraged friends instead to take the small step of donating to a food panty or other organization that contributes to helping those who need it the most. It doesn't have to be any big donation. Just enough to cover a meal or two. Action Absorbs Anxiety. (from Mrs. Paul and Jamie)

• I always end up at Reddit's /awww channel. It loads even if you don't have a profile. (from Ellyn)

• Dan Rather's Steady email and Hometown Holler have been my go-to places. (from Nan)

• I have also really settled into the rhythm of whatever sports is on TV at night. I’m a Denver Nuggets fan, and I’ve watched almost every minute of their games since the election. Even whatever random college basketball game is on, I’ll watch. (from Hayden)

• I go to the river - along the Carolina Thread Trail. Once there on the riverbank, i feel a peace and the presence of those friends and loved ones who are no longer with us. I always come away feeling better and a bit exhilarated. (from Jerry)

• I'm a big fan of musician Carrie Newcomer. She released a song in 2016 called "Sanctuary". I hadn't listened to it for a long time and your post reminded me to play it today. It's also beautiful and hopeful and encourages me to look to those I love for support and gentleness while I move through grief and fear and anger. (from Tiffany)
  

Keep sending your thoughts and ideas. We could all use a stockpile right around now.

10 things I wanted to share this week:

1. My favorite listen from the last couple of weeks was Tom Hanks’ appearance on the CONAN O’BRIEN NEEDS A FRIEND podcast. Sometimes I forget just how funny Hanks is … he is very funny here, and along the way you learn a lot about the movie business. Plus Tom works blue!

2. Very much enjoyed the new Netflix doc RETURN OF THE KING: THE FALL AND RISE OF ELVIS PRESLEY. It’s about his 1968 comeback special and the long creative dry spell that led up to it … I had forgotten both how far he’d fallen and how much of an absolute badass he was in that special. The featured commentators include Bruce Springsteen, Billy Corgan and my bud Wright Thompson.

3. Skateboard king Tony Hawk ran across a cool old photo from a Fayetteville, NC newspaper of a young girl skateboarding down the street while holding an umbrella. He wanted to know more. The moment I heard this, I knew my friend Jeremy Markovich would track her down for NC RABBIT HOLE. He delivered.

4. Nick Cave asked his readers something similar to my area of refuge question—he wanted to know where they find joy. He compiled the answers and they’re beautiful.

5. Something that will make you keep believing in this country: The Onion had the winning bid for Alex Jones’ horrible misinformation machine, Infowars. They plan on turning it into a satirical site. (A judge is holding up the sale for the moment to make sure the process was sound.) (NYT)

6. We have started watching the new season of THE LINCOLN LAWYER and it’s just as good as the first two. (Netflix)

7. I mentioned last week that I deleted my account on Twitter … like many others, I’ve moved over to Bluesky, although I haven’t posted much there yet. The pool of people there looks a lot more pleasant so far.

8. RIP #1: Murray McCory, who invented what millions of students know as the JanSport backpack. I bought one somewhere around 30 years ago and it’s still banging around the house somewhere. (NYT)

9. RIP #2: Bobby Allison, the legendary NASCAR driver whose life and career were laced with tragedy. My friend Matt Crossman wrote a beautiful story about him a few years ago. (The Accidental Adventurer)

10. RIP #3: Quincy Jones, the most successful and probably the greatest music producer in history—he did everything from SINATRA AT THE SANDS to “We Are the World,” not to mention THRILLER. Here’s one you might not know he produced: The Brothers Johnson’s 1976 hit “I’ll Be Good To You.” (Obit from the Guardian)
    

    
    

    Have a great week, everybody.

—TT