It’s sort of funny that I work in marketing because I’ve always been terrible at marketing myself. Is funny the word?
Anyway, although you received this Monday’s post last Friday, hopefully, you haven’t forgotten that the theme was “Work.” Discerning readers will notice that today’s theme is also “Work” except in all capital letters. Language is an interesting thing, and you, being so smart as to subscribe to this newsletter, have likely already deduced that the capital letters signal, perhaps, a different meaning to the same word. (Explaining this concept to Lindsay’s fourth graders would be miserable.)
Work is a thing we must do to earn money to pay for our food and our shelters and our medicine because most of us have no practical survival skills. WORK, however, is the energy we exert towards things we want to do, create, or achieve. Some might call it “passion.” It isn’t the opposite of “work,” exactly, it’s more like a homograph with different implications, like “bass.” One meaning is a rad stringed instrument; the other’s a fish. You just know one is way cooler.
I’ve been trying to do more WORK recently, in part because I can’t seem to find anybody willing to pay me to work, but also because I feel better about myself when I have a project.
So, here’s the awkward part. I actually think I would like to build an audience with this thing. And there’s no better digital marketing mechanism than the cursed chain letter.
YOU’VE BEEN SLAMMED BY THE SATANIC SALAMI MONSTER! SHARE THIS NEWSLETTER WITH 500 FRIENDS OR YOU’LL SMELL LIKE SALAMI FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE AND DOGS WILL CONSTANTLY LICK YOU WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT.
If you don’t share, I’ll know.
But actually, there are many family members and friends I didn’t automatically opt into this. You don’t have to share, but it would mean a lot if you’re enjoying this stupid newsletter if you shared with a friend. I’ve really enjoyed seeing the subscribers, some of whom I haven’t spoken to in years. It’s a really cool feeling that somebody you don’t know that well is still interested in hearing what you have to say, and I’m chasing that feeling hard. It’s my WORK right now.
One Song: “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton
9 to 5 is a movie about women creating WORK out of work. Their WORK just so happens to be vengeance upon the corporate system, and Dolly offers the perfect anthem.
One Lyric: “If you want to kiss a funky beagle/Hitch a ride upon an eagle/Read a catalog from Spiegel/Go on and do it, do it, do it/Go on and do it, do it, do it/Hey do it, do it to it/But do it good - “Do It Good” by Bill Withers
One Page: Country Culinary Alchemist
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TikTok gets me more than I get myself. When I first downloaded the app, it served me so much Nate the Hoof Guy content that pretty soon my entire algorithm was horses getting shoed. I weaned myself from that addiction but I’m falling fast into a new dependency on Chinese country cooking, headlined by Country Culinary Alchemist. An extraordinary amount of labor and love goes into every one of these videos and it makes living in the Chinese countryside look mighty appealing.
One People: George and Robert Mtaki, Kilimanjaro Brothers
Most people don’t know that I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro after college. The few times it’s come up in conversation over the past several years, the response is invariably, “What? You climbed Kilimanjaro?” To which I reply, “What? Like it’s hard?”
I’m only half kidding. It was hard — especially getting down — but it was so much easier than it should have been thanks to George and Robert Mtaki, and the incredible porters who schlepped a campsite up the mountain for three straight days. My dad and I did the rich white people climb of Kilimanjaro and while I had some dirty feelings about carrying only my own gear and moving at a snail’s pace while these Tanzanian supermen sprinted ahead with twice the load just so they could set up my accommodations and dining, I grew to appreciate that this wasn’t just work for these guys, it was WORK.
George and Robert love what they do. The mountain is an economy in itself, of course, but it’s also practically another planet that they get to explore every day with their closest friends. I felt like a white devil colonizer on day one, but after playing cards and exploring the mountain with these dudes, George’s excitement for us was genuine when we cracked a beer at the base. I mean, I still felt like a white devil colonizer, but I could at least appreciate that getting people up this literal and, for many, symbolic mountain is a really rewarding line of work.
If you’re ever thinking about climbing one of the Seven Summits, check out Kilimanjaro Brothers. I’m still hoping to do a few more in my life.
One Hollywood: Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, Hulu
Is anybody living the American Dream more than Guy Fieri? This guy travels all over the country to watch more talented chefs prepare their locally famous dishes for him and house them on television, likely getting paid millions of dollars a year to do so. There was a time when I thought Guy Fieri was the ultimate symbol of late-stage Capitalism: A slovenly, over-eating, loud-mouthed meatloaf of a man whose only notable trait appears to be an unwillingness to let the Smash Mouth era of style die.
I’ve been watching late-night episodes of Dines, Drive-Ins, and Dives on YouTube TV recently and there’s something irresistibly charming about it. Maybe it’s Fieri’s over-the-top excitement about everything; maybe it’s going behind the curtain of successful small businesses all over the country; maybe it’s the fact that these chefs willingly show you how to prepare their beloved dishes step-by-step… it’s just such a comfort watch.
If you put Guy Fieri in a room with mortal enemies, he’d serve up Uncle Sammy’s Colon Blasting Chili Fry Enchiladas from Uncle Sammy’s Lube Shack in Pensacola and all would be resolved by the last bite.
One Place: Dollywood, Pigeon Forge, TN
It’s a Double Dolly Dip because ain’t nobody love their life’s work like Dolly. Name one other country singer who has a theme park named after them. You can’t! Nobody WORKS like Dolly.
Dollywood’s a ton of fun when you look past all the childhood obesity, but you kinda have to do that everywhere these days, so slay queen.