TypingClub. I learned to touch type back in high school. While I’ve maintained decent skills over the years, I recently noticed my typing getting a little sloppy. There’s been a bit more backspacing and hunt-and-pecking than I’d like to admit. The itch to tighten things up led me to TypingClub, a free online platform that gamifies typing practice. It’s fun, and my typing has noticeably improved. I’ll probably get my kids started on it; proper keyboard skills still matter even in our swipe-and-tap world. The bigger challenge? Convincing Kate to abandon her pervasive hunt-and-peck ways. She’s been pecking away with just a few fingers for decades and somehow manages to make that work, even as a professional writer.
The Case for Telling Total Strangers to Shut Up. August Thompson’s New York Times Magazine piece about his evolution from movie talker to serial shusher hit home. Like Thompson, my tolerance for “main character syndrome” in public spaces has plummeted as I’ve gotten older. Too many people treat restaurants, theaters, and hiking trails like extensions of their living room. Thompson nails it when he says shushing isn’t just about quieting annoying behavior; it’s about self-respect and protecting shared spaces. Sure, you risk being called a “Karen,” but someone has to enforce basic social contracts. The alternative is surrendering all public spaces to the loudest, most inconsiderate people in the room. I talked about enforcing civil norms by harnessing your inner Larry David in an AoM podcast episode with Alexandra Hudson.
Tragedy, the Greeks, and Us by Simon Critchley. I read this book a few years ago and really enjoyed it. Critchley makes the case that ancient Greek tragedies aren’t just for classics majors but essential reading for anyone who wants to better understand the vicissitudes of being human. Critchley walks readers through plays like Antigone and Oedipus Rex and shows how these 2,500-year-old stories tackle the same fundamental problems we face today: the tension between individual conscience and state authority, the price of knowledge, and the inevitability of suffering. He argues that tragedy doesn’t offer solutions or happy endings but teaches us to live with irreconcilable contradictions.
Seager Co. As an Okie and son of the American Southwest, I’ve always appreciated Western-inspired apparel, though I’m not enough of a real cowboy to pull off straight-up Western wear. That’s what drew me to the Seager brand. Their vibe is western, but with a crossover current of laid-back surf culture. I love their trucker hat selection — they did a great job capturing that vintage, 1970s Western vibe.
On our Dying Breed newsletter, we published Sunday Firesides: Do a Deadlift for the Departed and 5 Things Farmers Have Taught Me About Work, Life, and Legacy.
Quote of the Week
Great merit, or great failings, will make you respected or despised; but trifles, little attentions, mere nothings, either done or neglected, will make you either liked or disliked in the general run of the world.
—Lord Chesterfield
