Dear readers,
I wanted to write a quick roundup for you all, highlighting some of the activities and events enjoyed in this space throughout 2022. This was a really full year for Granola, and I hope more of you will be able to enjoy the resources and interviews posted here in the weeks and months to come.
In January, I considered kindness as “a radical practice of creating kinship and combating alienation.” For paid subscribers, I shared some thoughts in January on the enthusiastic local food movement in Cornwall, garden planning in dark, cold months, and the curious history of orange cheese.
In February, Jake Meador wrote of the earth as our mother, suggesting that nature is “defined in its essence by mutuality and generosity.”
Throughout the month of February, paid subscribers joined me in a commitment challenge as we read Pete Davis’s book Dedicated: The Case for Commitment in an Age of Infinite Browsing. We discussed the importance of small things, becoming a “long-haul hero,” “tiny, loving interventions,” the beauty of attention, our vision of the good life, and the indefatigable dedication of Wall-E. We finished with a Q&A with Pete Davis, discussing his book and the issues that animate it.
We also got to talk to Joy Clarkson in February about her fantastic book, Aggressively Happy: A Realist’s Guide To Believing in the Goodness of Life. “There are real reasons to be disappointed, to be worried, there are real reasons to be sad,” Joy said. “But I think I wanted to know [if it was] possible to find happiness—and not just to find it, but to cause it, to be a source of joy and hope in this world for other people.”
In March, Charles Camosy warned of the crisis of elderly care the U.S. (and other countries throughout the world) might face in years to come. Charlie and I talked about these themes, a Consistent Life Ethic, and about his new book, Losing Our Dignity: How Secularized Medicine is Undermining Fundamental Human Equality, on Zoom a few days later.
I also celebrated my book’s one-year anniversary in March with a giveaway, and shared some of the reviews written about it in its first year of life!
In April, I wrote about health as wholeness, and of life as a “meshwork” or “entanglement” of ties. As Tim Ingold puts it, “Things are their relations.”
We also talked to Jessica Hooten Wilson on Zoom in April, about her new book Learning the Good Life: Wisdom from the Great Hearts and Minds That Came Before.
In May, I shared some thoughts on “writing home” and Henry David Thoreau, considering the vital importance of both anchoring works in place, and writing for specific communities we care about.
In June, I was at the peak of writing my dissertation, recovering from illness, and had a very sick child, and so I wrote nothing for Granola. Thank you all for your kindness and patience as I wrapped up big projects, finally got everyone in our household on the mend, and prepared to move back to the States!
In July, I reflected on our year without a car, and the ways that carlessness stretched and grew my family. We got our kids to walk pretty much everywhere, and enjoyed seeing them embrace the different sorts of attention and care that are possible when we see the world on foot. Several of you wrote excellent and thoughtful responses to the July post on cars, so I shared excerpts from them in a separate post.
In August, I considered the importance of letter-writing, and what analog letters offer in our own time. This post kicked off a letter-writing challenge for paid subscribers that lasted the whole month of August. We considered Emily Dickinson and where we write letters, Charles Dickens and penmanship, the power of tiny letters, and Jane Austen and when we write letters. We finished the month with a stationery / book giveaway!
In September, I reflected on my family’s return to Idaho, and what it meant to us—the challenges and beauties of moving home after over a decade of life in other places.
In October, I wrote about the virtue of temperance and grocery store shopping. For paid subscribers, I shared some thoughts on the virtue of magnanimity, and considered the vice of acedia in the context of feeding small children dinner.
We also talked to Bonnie Kristian in October about her new book, Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community.
In November, we kickstarted our 3rd annual fall book club with some thoughts on Henry David Thoreau, attentive listening, and wonder. Paid subscribers joined me in reading Walden over the course of the next several weeks. Together, we considered Thoreau’s call to live deliberately, to build a proper phenomenological frame, to disrupt time, to pay attention to nature’s voice, and to see things anew. We finished up our book club with a Zoom webinar, featuring fantastic thoughts and commentary from Jeffrey Bilbro, Ashley Hales, Matthew Miller… and my 2-year-old.
Finally, in December, I shared a winter reading list, focusing on books that help us more fully consider issues surrounding place, stewardship, and community.
All told, this year, we managed to read and/or discuss six books together (most often with the authors of those books, excepting Henry David Thoreau). Granola hosted five free Zoom webinars with authors and thinkers from a variety of backgrounds and fields of expertise. I hosted two month-long challenges for paid subscribers, and two giveaways for readers.
I hope you enjoyed the content shared this year. If you do like Granola, and want to support this work, consider a paid subscription! A *lot* of you have generously offered a few dollars a month to help support this venture. Because of you, I’ve been able to reimburse guest authors and Zoom webinar guests. I’ve also been able to contribute a little bit toward household expenses, which is a huge blessing. Thank you!