My husband had never heard of Jimmy Buffett until we'd been married for about five years. Unsuprising really - he’s from the Birmingham in England and was raised on UB40. And then one night, drunk and bored at home, we played each other song after song from YouTube, going deeper and deeper into our respective pasts. When I finally landed on a live performance of Buffet’s
Intelligent, interesting, enlightening, poignant, brutal, beautiful writing that makes me yearn for a simpler time when our future dystopia was just an Orwellian one. Oh happy days!
Thank you for a short trip to cheeseburgers in paradise.
Very intelligent bringing together of various phenomena. John Berger (who also lived off grid after an impactful literary career) has a great essay called 'A Load of Shit'.
And yes, Rest in Peace Jimmy Buffet and screw festivals with their middle-class squalor tourism.
New rises and dips and swerves on your thought-provoking roller coaster ride as usual, Brooke. Nothing wrong with feelgood music, whatever the source. There's plenty of the other kind to go around, thank you.
The perils of trying to go off-grid and getting it wrong were clearly demonstrated by the recent tragic events in Colorado.
Never change your attitude and ... keep on emptying that bucket.
You write about Florida and your childhood a lot. Have you ever read any Carl Hiassen ? His observations on Florida would make some interesting commentary for you.
It’s funny that people denigrate cities. They are hotbeds of art, culture, society, trade, skills and many of the poorer cities are incubators for amazing art scenes. East Berlin was an incubator for German artists, Detroit has a pretty hip vibe despite the structural problems. I live at the corner of hip and hood here in DC
Intelligent, interesting, enlightening, poignant, brutal, beautiful writing that makes me yearn for a simpler time when our future dystopia was just an Orwellian one. Oh happy days!
Thank you for a short trip to cheeseburgers in paradise.
Very intelligent bringing together of various phenomena. John Berger (who also lived off grid after an impactful literary career) has a great essay called 'A Load of Shit'.
And yes, Rest in Peace Jimmy Buffet and screw festivals with their middle-class squalor tourism.
“You can’t have people without society…
You can’t vibes your way out of shit and death.” This stuck with me.
Hi Dr M,
Thnaks for a great essay as always. I only have one point of disagreement, and sadly it's very serious:
Is it *really* possible to talk about medicinal chemistry too much? ;-)
Cheers!
Your husband is from Birmingham and was raised on UB40 - sounds like a keeper !
My favourite Florida-flavoured writer is back!
New rises and dips and swerves on your thought-provoking roller coaster ride as usual, Brooke. Nothing wrong with feelgood music, whatever the source. There's plenty of the other kind to go around, thank you.
The perils of trying to go off-grid and getting it wrong were clearly demonstrated by the recent tragic events in Colorado.
Never change your attitude and ... keep on emptying that bucket.
You write about Florida and your childhood a lot. Have you ever read any Carl Hiassen ? His observations on Florida would make some interesting commentary for you.
It’s funny that people denigrate cities. They are hotbeds of art, culture, society, trade, skills and many of the poorer cities are incubators for amazing art scenes. East Berlin was an incubator for German artists, Detroit has a pretty hip vibe despite the structural problems. I live at the corner of hip and hood here in DC