Apparently no one is discussing the fact that Kingpin--in the new Daredevil: Born Again tv series--absolutely listens to Ezra Klein. This man craves Abundance. He loves New York. He hates red tape. His favorite mayor is La Guardia*. A lot of the early episodes are spent on the writers of the show using Kingpin to point out the bonkers nonsense of city planning bureaucracy. Episode 4 (it's literally titled "Sic Semper Systema") features an extended scene of Kingpin standing in the rubble of an industrialized area excitedly describing--with the help of a model mock-up--a revitalized area: beautiful, bustling, a demonstration of dedication to the growth of the city he loves more than anything (aside from his wife)! There is then a discussion between him and his political-insider assistant where she has to explain to him how, um, actually you can't just start making nice things. You have to do X first. "Let's do that!" he says. Ooof, well, actually, you can...
Like a gazillion other people in the northern hemisphere, I'm in "spring cleaning" mode. One teetering step from it, more accurately. While many are purging their closets and junk drawers and pantries, I am reading articles and blog posts, hoping they can push me over the edge of my painful limbo of procrastination and into their world of sparkling fulfillment. Ten Weird Tricks to Give Away All of Your Dead Grandmother's China and Not Feel Even a Little Sad About It! Decluttering Is *Actually* As Fun As Disneyland! Make Your Japandi Dreams Come True By Creating a Capsule Wardrobe! Just Throw Things Into the Trash, Coward. Please, O People who Professionally Organize, I want my living room to feel cozy, my kitchen to be organized, my bathroom to be clean, my laundry to blah blah yard blah basement blahhhhh, etc! I want to enter any room in my house and feel relaxed and/or rejuvenated! And, oh, how my hands yearn to pick things up and put them down again--possibly back...
Picture yourself entering a small indoor pool. The light from a few high windows mixes with the fluorescent overheads and color of the water to give the whole space a green glow. Your fellow swimmers are three octogenarians chatting and treading water in one lane and a middle-aged man swimming breast stroke with a snorkel in the other. A lifeguard in her early 20s sits opposite from all, looking small in her safety gear. Empty bleachers, save for a single woman in a red swimsuit and blue cap, hoping someone will leave early so she can take her turn. Now imagine this scene, but subtract the classic public-pool-aquarobics pop music coming through the speakers. Replace it with the Twin Peaks theme. This is a true story. The lifeguard played the whole Twin Peaks soundtrack while we were swimming. It was the best pool day of my adult life.