I know for a lot of people summer is the favorite time of year (sorry, Fall is clearly the best season). For me this is the season where things flatten out into their natural rhythm. That’s not a bad thing, but with this project it means I’m heads down prepping for some big milestones, and you’ve probably noticed me pulling back a bit from some other things. I want to acknowledge that here too.
I’ve mentioned the upcoming milestones on a few recent episodes. In early September we’ll hit Anonymous Episode #50, which should land almost exactly alongside Anonymous Caller 100. I want to do something special for that 100th call (I’m actively working to find a specific kind of caller), and that 50th episode is likely to be as close to “live” as this podcast gets. My hope is to record it and turn it around in just a few days, similar to how we handled Don’s Exit Interview.
Then in October we hit the two year anniversary. The first episode came out October 2, 2024, and it was just me talking to you about why this project existed at all. Last year I did a solo check-in to share what I’d learned in year one. This year I’m honestly not sure yet what, if anything, I’ll do. Year zero to year one felt like a much bigger jump than year one to year two, so it might just be a normal Anonymous episode. I’m open to hearing what you’d want to see, though. I do have a plan to announce something new around that time, which I need to actually get to work on.
Loosely tied to this episode, we’ll also hit the three year anniversary in November, when the voicemail line first launched during Day of the Dead. The voicemail is essentially dead at this point. That’s a little sad, but this project has grown and changed so much since then that I don’t see it as a loss. I might try to bring it back with something special for the anniversary. We’ll see.
That’s the next couple of months. Some things have quietly faded the last few months too: the Saturday Contemplations, the Field Notes posts, the monthly posts. I’ve had a hard time finding motivation to write scripts for those, or really anything beyond this one. They started to feel like a chore instead of something I enjoyed, mostly because I felt like I was repeating myself and not giving you anything new. In a world with this much content already out there, I don’t want to post something just because it’s on the calendar. I’m still figuring out what to do with that. And I think a lot of what I want to talk about in year three is what it means to have spent over 100 hours talking to 100 strangers, and counting.
A much more practical journal entry from me this week but that’s just what you get from me in the middle of summer!
RESOURCE
Yellow Bike is a volunteer-run nonprofit community bike shop in Austin that’s been around since 1997. They fix up donated bikes and give them to people who need them, teach bike mechanics and maintenance to anyone who wants to learn, and keep old bikes and parts out of the landfill along the way.
The caller’s friend was part of this organization. It’s just one piece of a full life that got remembered on this call.
ARTICLE
The caller gave a great breakdown of ofrendas and Day of the Dead on this call, but if you want more, this piece is a good next step. Día de los Muertos is rooted deeply in Indigenous Mexican and Catholic practices, going back thousands of years to when Indigenous Mexican peoples honored the dead and celebrated the cycles of life, and it's often reduced to skulls and parties in a way that misses that.
READING
I cruised through The Count of Monte Cristo over the past couple of weeks. When I'm reading a longer book I have this mentality of trying to read about 5% a day, which helps me get through it but can also feel a bit rigid. I'm going to take the next week or so to jump into some shorter, fun books before adding in a more "educational" read. I know a few of these have been sitting On Deck for a while now, but hopefully not for much longer.
Just finished: Whalefall by Daniel Kraus (43)
Currently: Train Dreams by Denis Johnson
On deck: The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks, It’s OK That You’re Not OK by Megan Devine
(And if you are really curious you can always check out what I’ve read recently here)
QUOTE
"When someone dies, the relationship doesn't die with them."
— David Kessler, Finding Meaning
THIS WEEK’S CALL
Anonymous #43 — Is Being Forgotten Worse Than Dying? (Listen Here)
Episode Type: Facing the Question. For more info about what this means check out the Episode Guide (link)
SMILE
One of the things I hate most is when I start a conversation with, “I saw this thing on Instagram.” It’s the world we live in, but I’d rather reference something I read or saw while I was out in it. This week’s smile is, once again, something I saw on Instagram...
Now, this could easily not be a smile, but the overlaying text makes me feel ok about laughing when I saw this. It also made me think a little bit. How often am I that little goat, panicking and overreacting about something that really isn’t that big of a deal?
Have a good life.
— Z
ARCHIVE
2011 // 2010 // 2009 // 2008 // 2007 // 2006 // 2005
No posts
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.