Leading up to this installation (Season 1, Episode 3) I kept a list of things I might want to share with you. Here is the list. It will be exciting for you to discover which things made it into the email newsletter and which things fell by the wayside or will maybe appear another time. Here is the list:

Dale

Last year I spotted several boxes of old slides in a dumpster near my apartment. Of course I took them home and bought an old handheld viewer to look at them. There are hundreds and they are mostly pictures of peoples vacations, easter Sundays, world fairs, zoo trips, and children’s birthday parties backdropped by dark wood paneling.

And then, in the middle of it all was Dale. I’m guessing at Dale’s name, but I think it’s as likely as any. I fell in love with Dale the enigma and with this series of slides of Dale taken in 1978 in his Pasquale’s Pizza & Pasta polo. Was he sitting for an employee-of-the-month portrait? Who gave him the bird necklace? Is Dale alive? Have I seen his certainly now 75-year-old frame in my neighborhood and not recognized him?

If you know this man, will you please let me know?

Do you have a favorite pen?

I do. It’s the Pilot G-2. The G-2 is an elevated workaday writing implement that is elegant but not pretentious, affordable but not cheap, and reliable but not constantly bugging you looking for validation or praise. It does its job—well—and waits stoically for its next outing.

The G-2 comes in three (3) weights and many colors. I’ve only used the black, but I love equally the .7, .5, and .38 (which I affectionately call the 38-Special (I don’t like guns (or the ‘80s hair band) that much, but the clang-tint is undeniable)).

Here they are, along with some writing samples of each:

There’s probably much more to know about the Pilot G-2, but I don’t know it. If you have a favorite pen and you’d like to share what you love about it, I would love to hear.

Troop 6000

It’s Girl Scout Cookie season and if you are planning on stocking up, maybe you’ll consider purchasing from Troop 6000? Troop 6000 was established in 2017 and is a Girl Scout Troop that serves New York City youth who live in the shelter system, at no cost to them. It seems like a lovely thing that exists, and just the kind of thing you might like to support. If you’d like to you can buy cookies directly from them HERE.

Do you want to listen to Pearl Jam with me?

I’ve been listening to a lot of the music of the ‘90s, which is the music of my teenager-hood. As you know, the music of your teenager-hood never, ever leaves you, even that which you realize later in life wasn’t very good.

This is decidedly not the case with Pearl Jam’s sophomore release, Vs., which was released in 1993 AD and which I still listen to in 2025 AD.

I’m wondering if you’d like to listen with me. I would start a group text including anyone who says yes or even maybe, and we would decide on a day and time to all listen to the album from beginning to end, texting each other along the way.

If you would like to do this, please reply to this email and include your phone number so you can be part of the group chat.

Here is the album cover, which I love. I’ve always assumed it is a sheep (R.I.P, probably), though looking at it now I guess it could be another animal. Maybe you know.

Have you ever lived alone?

I have never lived alone. The closest I ever came was two years as an RA in college where I had a single room, though I shared a house with 10-15 other people. And there were also three weeks right after college when I lived in my friend Joe’s spare room. I bought my own Raisin Bran and ate it every day. It was heaven.

I recently read Sandra Cisnero’s The House on Mango Street, and found it deeply enjoyable and curious. I read some to my son, who is 10, and though it’s not a children’s book per se, and does contain some more adult-world scenes (allusions to domestic abuse, sexuality, etc.), he found it riveting and it was lovely to share a piece of literature that we could both connect well to.

I heard Sandra talk once about growing up in a full, chaotic household and her deepest wish being to live alone so she could work with no distractions. Everyone in her family thought she was crazy. Why would you want to be alone? Don’t you want a husband to take care of? You’ll be lonely! What will you do all by yourself with all that space? I think I understand though, and am fully and deeply enchanted by the way this desire is expressed in this chapter toward the end of the book.

That’s all for now! I hope you see something really beautiful today.

You can read previous episodes of this email HERE.