Is this thing on?
My very first post! Unless you accidentally got one before this...
Right. I'm doing this. How are you? Welcome to messsy, which was in fact, supposed to messy. And instead it is misspelled. And I’m going with it. And that's all you need to know about that.
The reason I chose messsy (okay, I chose messy, but stay with me) as the title for this newsletter is two-fold. One is that I didn’t want to be cornered into a tiny topic that would not compel my roving mind on a weekly (tbh more like bi-weekly or monthly) basis. The other is that messiness as a concept is what is resonating most strongly with me at the moment. Our world is hella messy. Our lives are hella messy. Our brains are super messy.
And messy isn’t necessarily bad. In fact, it might just be what we need to embrace to get through this whole thing. And by this whole thing I mean: No way am I defining this whole thing, but you’ve got your own whole thing to touchstone.
A friend ever-so-slightly encouraged me to watch Severance. I immediately fell into a binge. I’m a bit jealous of the controlled environment shows that feel like Severance. Not only are they easily COVID-production compliant, but the design of the visuals and the narrative is so neat and precise. I don’t write neat. Majority Rules, my futuristic drama pilot, exists in a messy world feebly attempting to exert control. Majority Rules is messy. Severance is neat. Both explore what happens when we try to control or rather when some people try to control other people.
When people or systems enforce neatness in some spaces, I am beginning to see that it actively increases messiness in other places. What makes some people’s lives more orderly makes other people lives less so. Some people are forced to live with more discomfort—if we can imagine messiness as bringing discomfort—than others. And those who have no tolerance for messiness or discomfort are often the ones trying to dictate the whole plot, which led me to this troubling thought: Our world is run by anxious prisoners who want to make anxious prisoners of the rest of us.
Uh-oh.
If we are going to make it through this time with something like our integrity and compassion in tact, we are going to have to increase our tolerance for messiness. Let go of the binary order-versus-chaos model for something that is in flux, open-ended, requires patience, and takes maybe for an answer.
I don’t know about you, but I find this work to be the toughest. The not knowing. The constant non-closure. And the most rewarding—the curiosity, the open-ended questions, the completely new ideas.
This is what I plan to use this space for. Plus a recipe. And maybe a recommendation. I hope you’ll hang out here with me. Because I miss you.
Bacon-marinated Tempeh
What’s a global pandemic for if not refining and creating new recipes?
I’ve made this a few times. You can grill the tempeh or pan saute it. Either way it’s spookily smoky! It definitely substitutes for bacon if you’re making a recipe meat-free.
Thinly slice the tempeh. As thin as you can get it.
In a bowl or almost flat dish mix:
2parts olive oil (for aout ½ package of tempeh this equals 2tbsp)
1 part maple syrup
1.5 parts soy sauce/tamari
1/4 tsp salt
¼ - ½ tsp paprika
½ tsp- 1tsp liquid smoke
Add tempeh. Marinate about 15 minutes.
p.s. Liquid smoke be feisty. Use with caution!
David Lynch Theater Presents: Weather Report
I don’t know exactly when it started, but David Lynch began recording weather reports for KCRW. Watching this during the pandemic quarantine became a grounding ritual for me. The solidity of David Lynch’s presence and his constant state of inquiry were welcome breaks from the exploration of all the other messiness. If you haven’t yet discovered this, it might just make your day!