Two Visions of New England: April 21-27

A Kindle makes for strange bedfellows at times. This week, I finished up Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot and, needing to start something new before I fell asleep, I downloaded Elin Hilderbrand's The Hotel Nantucket because my wife has told me about the readers who flock to Nantucket each year for a festival around her work and because I was able to borrow it for free. The genres couldn't have been further apart, but I was surprised by the overlaps they contained in their depictions of life in New England. I also was surprised by how much Colin Woodard's American Nations has stayed with me, as it came to mind, in particular, as I thought my way through King's work and then later in the week as I had a conversation with my wife about why Columbia rolled over for Trump while Harvard fought back. The size of their endowment only explains so much as many major corporations and law firms have given in to the recent extortion demands readily, but American Nations' description of the New England and New Amsterdam cultures' relationships to power really came home to me as I saw the different paths charted by each culture's most prestigious learning institution. Again, I highly recommend Woodard's book.

Reading

• 'Salem's Lot (finished): As I made it to the end stages of the book, the number of vampires hits a critical mass and it started to feel more and more like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. If Body Snatchers are a stand-in for communists and the film a metaphor for the Red Scare, though, then I struggled a bit finding the philosophical center of King's second novel. Ultimately, my time spent reading Wendell Berry of all people as well as American Nations came together to provide a way of understanding something that had bothered me in the story. As more and more people disappear from 'Salem's Lot, no one does anything. In fact, most of the townspeople go out of their way not to ask questions or to confirm their fears, and the town ultimately fails because they don't look out for one another. It feels wrong after reading so much Berry earlier this year, and it mostly hit me in terms of disappointment until I remembered the argument in American Nations that the driving force of the New England culture was an overwhelming drive to be sure all members of the community obeyed the accepted social and religious norms. Knowing this is the cardinal sin in the New England culture recasts the inaction of King's townspeople as a total moral failing and the ultimate reason the town itself disappears and why the surviving characters had to leave town rather than continue to fight the good fight. (There's a touch of another communism-adjacent allegory, High Noon, in this element as well.)
• The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand (read): Afraid I was getting ahead of my reading group, I shifted gears and wanted something that would go down easy – and Elin Hilderbrand proved just the thing. This was my first time reading her work, and it's basically like drinking prosecco: bubbly, pleasing, a touch sweet, and it ain't champagne. I could have done without the passages from the ghost's point of view, and I'm confident she could have cut about 20% of this, but the food writing in particular made up for any shortcomings. Is the food on Nantucket really as good as Hilderbrand makes it seem?
  
• The Anarchist's Workbench by Christopher Schwarz (started): In spring a middle-aged man's thoughts turn to wood.
  

Articles & Episodes

• An Interview with Nate Bargatze in The New York Times: "Christina Agathy"? This can't be true.
• "Scholars Have Lost the Plot" by Milan Ternlunen (Public Books): I'm not usually one to complain about scholars and teachers "over-reading" or anything like that, but this piece was more interesting than I expected. The claim that slow (i.e., close) reading comes at the cost of missing out on the joys of plot rings true for me, particularly as I find myself craving plot now these days. There's an argument to be made here that this is a metaphor for the larger disconnect between the intelligentsia and the common man right now, but I won't rise to the bait this time.
• An excerpt of Jason Bailey's new book on James Gandolfini and Tony Soprano (Vulture.com): This book looks great, but my main takeaway from this piece was how close Little Steven and Mike Rispoli (who played ended up playing Jackie Aprile) came to getting the role of Tony. It's one of those roles I can't actually imagine anyone else playing.
• Erasable, Episode 224: In honor of their eleventh anniversary, they look back at what stationery meant to them at age 11. This is my comfort podcast in general, and this episode is a pretty good introduction to the three guys who host it.
• Good Hang with Amy Poehler - Jack Black episode: My wife has raved about this podcast, and I love Amy Poehler so it felt like a safe bet to dip a toe in this waters. I didn't love Jack Black here – it sounded to my ear like he was in performance mode when I really wanted to hear two friends talking – but I agree with my wife that the bit where Poehler speaks to a third friend about what makes her guest special is a great way to start each episode.
• "Turning a Pallet Into a $500 Chessboard" : He seemed like a nice guy, and it's an interesting project, but he really won me over when he thanked his mom for being on of his three top supporters on Patreon.
• Steve Ramsey's guide to the tools you need to start a woodshop: I don't know enough to have a real opinion on Steve Ramsey. He's accessible to the utter novice like me, he doesn't push you to spend money for stuff you don't need (he actively tells you to buy cheap brands like Ryobi), and doesn't have affiliate links on videos like this. Once I have a workbench and have bought my first few tools beyond the chisels, plane, and mallet I currently own, I'd like to try his Weekend Woodworker class.