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Hey y’all!

I feel I owe you all an apology - the last few weeks have been like pulling teeth over here.

My cat almost died. Then tornadoes hit my county and we lost power for a while. Meanwhile, my day job as a faith-community organizer has been really busy because Mississippi is one of only 9 that hasn’t yet expanded Medicaid, and this year we have a real shot at finally getting that done, so I have been practically living at the Capitol. Oh yes, and I’m also about to help some folks here start a new nonprofit I’m really excited about but I’m not quite ready to talk about yet. Someone I cared about a lot died from an overdose last week. Plus a couple of dozen minor snafus along the way.

All that combined means my schedule has been erratic, to say the least. It’s been a chaotic nightmare, to tell you the truth. The great philosopher Michael Tyson once said that everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. Likewise, I have meticulous plans for productivity that do not survive attacks on my routine.

But the other morning I was walking in my front yard early in the morning, feeling particularly frustrated, and I came across this stand of Spigelia marilandica* in my yard. It was given to me by my gardening friend Ms. June before the pandemic, when I first moved here. It was just a tiny clump at the time, and I had never grown it before, so I stuck it in a semi-shady spot and figured I would end up killing it. I promptly forgot about it. But every spring it keeps coming back, and has gotten to a point where this fall I will divide it. I think it might be my favorite of our native wildflowers.

This newsletter started almost a decade ago because I believe that beauty can save us, and that to counteract the ugliness of the world, you need a reservoir of beauty stored up to draw on. That when I needed it, the beauty was there and available to me is not a sign of failure - it’s a sign of success.

I want to be clear here, because it’s easy to miss my point: It’s not that when I was feeling particularly frustrated, I went to look at something beautiful, although I think that is important. It’s that when I was not feeling stressed, I planted something that would nourish me later. In other words, the Hugh of 2019 took care of the Hugh of 2024. And the Hugh of 2024 is grateful.

Here’s hoping you are looking for ways when you are on your uppers to be kind to you in the future. As my father was fond of saying, you shouldn’t wait to dig a well until you’re thirsty. My garden is where I go when I’m most stressed.

How about you? Do you have routines or places of refuge you go when you are stressed? Hit reply and tell me about them if you want.

*The common folk name for this plant is Indian Pink. I mention that for two reasons - one is that you may have to use that name if you are searching for it in your networks, and the other is to say that many US Native peoples (but far from all) really dislike that word, and so I am working to remove it from my vocabulary as part of my work around decolonizing my language. People get attached to folk names for plants because that is what their grandmother called them. But then, my grandmother called Black people some names we don’t use anymore, and I figure if we can change what we call people, we can change what we call plants, too.

Five Beautiful Things

You can say the perfect job does not exist, but have you considered squirrel photography?​

A special probe allows scientists to hear the sounds of the worms in the earth, and this is as close as I’ve come to witnessing magic. At least, this week.

The Swiss, man. Their design style is on point. Like this Instagram account just devoted to posters.

I’m married to someone who has sound sensitivity issues, and so we listen to a lot - I mean a LOT - of brown and white noise in our house. Check out this incredibly impressive noise generator, which also contains pre-mixed sounds if you are feeling lazy.

Choir!Choir!Choir! and the artist Feist did this incredibly moving tribute to Sinéad O'Connor, and I’m not crying. Ok, maybe a little.

TCB

Last issue, the most clicked link (~14% of opens) was just some bears playing in a peddle boat shaped like a swan.

Also, last issue I forgot a link to the choir singing the Jesus prayer. It’s here, with my apologies. Note that back issues are archived here, and after someone tells me I forgot a link, I will fix it on the archived version.

I got exactly one issue put out in April, my worst month in the 9 years I have been actively publishing this newsletter. This week I am two days behind, but at least I got it out. That I have good reasons doesn’t make it better. Thanks for sticking in there with me.

Thank You!

This work is free and ad-free because of my Members, who pay something each month to make it free for everyone else. You can learn how to be a member here.

Other ways to support my work include buying me a cup of coffee, sharing the web version of this letter on social media, send me cash via a half-dozen ways, send a postcard to the address at the bottom of the page, or just forward this email to your friends. But however you do it, I'm grateful beyond words for your support.

Be well,

HH