“A single, massively multicellular protagonist.”

After a couple of weeks of grieving, we’re back to exploring more of that conversation about individualism. Don’t get us wrong, we’re still grieving. But we’re at a point in our journey where we feel like we can think about other things too, and that feels like progress!

Links:

Tickets to the festival we’re playing: clatsopunitedway.org/shipwrecked-music-festival/

Our Sunday Session with Gaelynn Lea: youtube.com/watch?v=qY3QgEs0X6c

The (fascinating) Atlantic article about why talking to strangers is actually very good: theatlantic.com/family/archive/2021/08/why-we-should-talk-strangers-more/619642/

“Hands in the river.”

We set out to do a short episode today, because we’re both feeling fairly emotionally overloaded. And, to our credit, we kept it under 50 minutes! Progress, not perfection.

If you have thoughts or feelings about Scott’s passing, and you’d like to share them, please either post in the group or send one of us a message. We’re here. ❤️

“A single drop of water.”

This was an incredibly difficult episode to have to record. (Content warning: suicide.) Our dear friend and Misfit Star Scott S. took his own life last Thursday, and so that’s what we’re talking about this week.

If you have remembrances, thoughts, or comments — apropos of either Scott’s passing, or suicide more generally — we’re here for you. Please message us in the Misfit Stars Social Network, on Facebook, or send us an email (we give our addresses toward the end of the podcast). We love you guys. ❤️

“Buddha walks into a hot dog stand.”

Our conversation today takes us into the culture of individualism, and the problems it poses — to addressing systemic problems, and also to societal cohesion writ large.

Here’s that Timothy Snyder piece (which you should absolutely read):
snyder.substack.com/p/floridas-holocaust-problem

And here’s the ticketing link for the festival we’re playing in August:
clatsopunitedway.org/shipwrecked-music-festival/

“It’s a game you can’t win.”

We’re back! We spent a refreshing couple of weeks away — first visiting family and friends for the first time since the pandemic, and then making our way back home via the California / Oregon / Washington coasts. And we’re right back to our old tricks! Specifically, our ongoing discussion about how we evolve as a society (heck, as a species) into whatever it is that comes after the world-historic turning point we’ve all just experienced.

Please let us know your thoughts after listening — we’d love to hear them.

And: the ticketing link for the Shipwrecked Music Festival — aka the one show we’re playing this year — is here: https://www.clatsopunitedway.org/shipwrecked-music-festival/

“I wouldn’t say I’ve been ‘missing’ work, Bob.”

We are STILL out and about visiting family and friends! We’re relatively sure we’ll be back next week? Stay tuned for the exciting resolution to this cliffhanger!

In the meantime, if you’re not caught up on the extended, ongoing conversation that we’ve been having over the past three weeks’ worth of episodes, now would be a great time to binge those and get current. You can find all our back episodes at misfitstars.com/listen.

“It’s a ‘fresher’ … I’m going on break.”

Stop the presses — we’re actually taking some time for ourselves! We’ll be back in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, if you’re not caught up on the extended, ongoing conversation that we’ve been having over the past three weeks, that would be a fine way to fill the Misfit Stars Podcast-shaped hole in your life. You can catch up on all our back episodes at misfitstars.com/listen.

(With apologies to the late, great Mitch Hedberg for the episode title.)

“Whose dreams are we dreaming?”

The train of thought we got on a couple weeks ago has not yet reached its destination! This week, we use some thoughts from my brilliant cousin Gretchen Siegchrist as jumping-off points for our continued discussion.

Whitney Fishburn’s newsletter, which we cite in this podcast, is here: https://documental.substack.com/p/decolonize-your-mind-make-up-better

“Constant conflict between narrow interests.”

Literally 30 seconds after we stopped taping last week’s episode, Shannon was like, “I HAVE MORE THOUGHTS.” So we’re using last week as a jumping-off point, and continuing forward. THERE MAY BE A THIRD WEEK.

The Ezra Klein piece we talk about in this episode, which you should 100% read, is here: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/13/opinion/stimulus-unemployment-republicans-poverty.html

And our friend Whitney Fishburn’s ‘docu-mental’ newsletter, which you should 100% subscribe to, is here (the basic subscription is free!): https://documental.substack.com/p/creating-herd-immunity-to-anxiety

“Our dreams generally don’t involve corporations.”

We read an amazing essay this week, and we wanted to talk with you about it. Here’s the link for that … please read it, and let us know your thoughts: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/05/post-pandemic-dont-want-to-reenter-society/619045/