Newsletter v.3.5 | Don’t be a Centipede!
Hello Newsletter member,
Today I just realized that there were a few people who signed up to the newsletter via the old Convert Kit signup page that did not get migrated over to the new version of the newsletter powered by Ghost. I just moved over those last few people. (If you want to see what you might have missed go here.)
I’ve just set things up so that the old The Gorman Limit website now redirects to where I put all The Gorman Limit stuff on [S][J][P]. I also made the old newsletter sign up redirect to the main [S][J][P] site.
I’m also doing a bit of light work on the main [S][J][P] site, nothing major, backend stuff that makes the site work well.
But enough technical stuff.
Podcasts:
It has been a busy podcast week. I recorded, mixed, edited, and posted TGL 011 - Negativity & The Death Drive, and TGL 012 An Addendum | More on Jouissance, Death Drive, & Negativity (Lack). Both these episodes are another example of me using the podcast to do two things.
- I’m using it to expand the limit of what I know in podcast format.
- I’m using it to produce lectures that I can use for the teaching I do.
As a result, episode 012 builds on the content in episode 011, which builds off the content in episode 010.
As I write this I’m planning out what will be InForm 046 with Jared, and I’m also trying to find the time to schedule more interviews with some very interesting people.
Writing:
This week has involved a lot of writing stuff for my tenure dossier. I made lots of progress on that throughout the week, but it was hard progress to make. (This is not the sort of writing I enjoy, but it needs to get done.)
Be that as it may, I did write a few posts over on the main [S][J][P] site. The strangest post I wrote was this one.
The Liminal Station:
I heard Hannah Peel interviewed on the Contemplative Podcast, and then hecked out her album Fir Wave, which is excellent.
The other album I’ve been listening to is the album Stream of Consciousness by Spenser Brown. In my opinion, this album is the perfect sonic fit at the beginning of summer. It also something that has made working on my tenure dossier (i.e., work I hate doing) more bearable.
Ghosts of my life
I’ve been a fan of the work Craig Mod does for several years. (If you don’t k one who Craig Mod is, please, take a look at the work he does!)
Right now, Craig is doing a long walk in Japan, and documenting it with a daily email. This morning I read the email that contained this horror story.
It wasn’t until I pulled my pants down to do my morning business that I saw the three-inch-long mukade centipede that had taken up residence in my underwear. Never has a man screamed and removed his pants so quickly in a tiny bathroom, change flying out of pockets everywhere, change falling in the toilet, change bouncing off the walls, urine spurting wild like a broken hose, the poor mukade curled up in a ball in the crotch of the smart-wool undies on the floor, me standing pantsless, hopping back and forth screaming CHRIST FUCK SHIT SHIT FUCK, running (still pantsless) from the toilet (no one else was staying at the inn) still screaming (wondering how long the PTSD would traumatize), grabbing a wooden walking stick from the genkan, running back to the toilet, coaxing the little bugger to curl up on the stick and plopping him safely outside where lord of all things holy and good and pure and fine and humane in the world knows the thing belongs.
This reminded me of a story from when I had just started being a clinician.
I had this patient, a seven-year-old kid who I had been told had some “major ADHD.”
The first time I meet with the kid he started rapidly pacing back and forth in my office, and he said, “Ok. Here’s the deal. I don’t know you. I don’t know how to talk to you. You know what? I this is your office. What are the rule?”
I told him I was not sure what the rules were.
He looked at me like I had said I Murder old people because it’s fun and I can. Then he said, “That’s stupid. You need some rules. This is you’re space! It seriously needs rules. Rules are important. Rules tell people what they can do and what they can’t do. Let’s make a list of rules together.”
I said ok. He told me that because it was my office I should make the first rule, which seemed reasonable.
(I should mention the kid has been pacing this whole time.)
I said, “Rule number one is -Don’t be a centipede.”
The kid stopped moving and looked right at me. He had this surprised look on his face. He said, “Huh. I think that’s the only rule we need.” Then he sat down and asked me if I liked legos.
...
I think this story is the best bit of this newsletter. It’s buried here in the middle, only for the people who read this far. That seems like a good place for it.
Anyway.
Living in The Jackpot:
From a New York Times article .
Zombie forest fires are on the rise.
Zombie fires?! Yep, zombie fires. Google it.
Anyway, the NYT article says,
According to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, fires in far northern forests that smolder throughout the wet, cold winters and pop up again in the spring could become more common because of climate change. That presents challenges — but also opportunities — for fire management, and for minimizing the release of greenhouse gases, the researchers say.
Most of us think of forest fires as being contained within a single year. And for the most part, they are. But in the Arctic-boreal forests of Alaska, Siberia, Canada’s Northwest Territories and similar landscapes, fires can burn deep into the carbon-rich soil where they linger and lurk, often undetected.
So, the fire is never out. Even in the winter it is just shouldering, waiting for the world to get warm.
Then it can come out and burn?
Perhaps I’m being a stickler, but how is that zombieish? I mean, it’s terrifying, it sounds like a monster, but a zombie?
It seems more like a werewolf. If someone is a werewolf they are normal for long story of time, but the monster puts werewolf is in them, dormant, sleeping, but under the right conditions it will come out and week havoc.
Either way: zombie fire or werewolf fire, it’s something to be concerned about.
Spread the word?
If you’re liking this newsletter, the TGL podcast, or other stuff I make: Spread the word! People can sign up to get the newsletter here. People can subscribe to The Gorman Limit Podcast here, and they can subscribe to InForm: Podcast here.
Fin
That’s it for today.
Have a good weekend.
Damn the demand! Save the desire!
And make glorious mistakes.
-N