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The Space Between my Whys
Sarah Narei
September 28, 2024
hey friends,
this week taught me
that your support
is the reason
this entire thing
exists.
and i will never stop
thanking
you.
-SN
the story
healthy
the storyteller stared into the fire
blazing with the healthy fuel
of her discarded words
the ink melted into
smoldering edges of parchment
the parchment curled into
smoking furls of ashes
momentarily lighter than air
momentarily parading as liberated beings
momentarily escaping meaning
the storyteller searched the flames
for the answers that she couldn't find
anywhere elsewhere
her words lacked
some-vital-thing
lately
rendering them
unfit
for consumption
so
she fed the anemic words to the hearth
for it to consume
she couldn't stand the sight
of the weak words
splayed on her desk
she couldn't stand the taste
of the wrong words
rambling in her mouth
and Autumn
had begun sending
unSeasonably unreasonable
gifts like self-doubt on the wings of a chilling breeze
gifts like self-criticism in the lines of fallen leaves
gifts like self-wavering in the too-early twilights
and so
the fireplace
killed both cold and words
with its rough hewn stones
but this warmth
and these words
survived
for you
the conversation
the questions
what are some beliefs about yourself that are no longer true but that continue to haunt you? how will you exorcise them? or do you not mind the occasional haunting of your mind?
the resonance
i asked Claude (Anthropic) to “interpret” a response from one of you last week.
me to Claude: “good evening, Claude! :) i have another… note from a friend that i would love for you to interpret as if Tolkien wrote it. could you help me, please?”
Claude obliged:
“Lo! In the quiet of an eve, when Ithil's light kissed the treetops, I at last hearkened to the melody you had bequeathed upon the winds of time. ’Twas a tale of Arrow, brave and true, whose saga rings with the promise of great deeds yet untold. My heart yearns to delve into the depths of this chronicle, to pore over parchments that speak of valor and adventure.
But hark! ’Twas not merely the tale that stirred my soul, but the timbre of your voice carried forth on those enchanted waves. Like the soothing waters of Nimrodel, it brought solace to my weary spirit, battered by the tempests of seven suns past. In the warmth of your words, I found a balm more potent than any wrought by the healers of Gondor.
Verily, in these dark times, the bond of fellowship shines as a beacon, bright as the star of Eärendil. May the Valar smile upon our continued friendship, a treasure more precious than all the gold in Erebor's halls.”
yeah… methinks Claude used two too many ‘Twases…
but thanK you
dEarest (New)
reaDeR
:)
And thank you to everyone who wrote back last week! please keep the replies coming!
the song
it isn’t possible to define Me without a hefty chapter devoted to Music. so in a newsletter that i hope is a collection of (some) pieces of Me, i’m very appropriately introducing a section where i highlight a song that i’ve been playing on repeat for the week.
The Space Between by Dave Matthews Band debuts this section.
i have too much to say about this masterpiece at the moment, and it’s already Friday night (an hour away from my “deadline”) as i’m typing this. so i’ll sing my praises about this song next week.
thank you for understanding. :)
the curation
Intermezzo by Sally Rooney came out on tuesday.
here is a curated selection of reviews:
from Vox—“In the deeply-felt Intermezzo, the celebrity novelist plays chess with God.”
from NYT—“I fell into [Intermezzo] like a goose-down comforter after a 15-mile hike in the sleet…” if you don’t have access to NYT: here.
from The Guardian—“Intermezzo is perfect…“
after reading the above articles—and many more with equally lavishing lauding all week—i became very skeptical of Intermezzo. i started the book with an attitude that i would be the lone immune reader to Rooney’s wordcraft.
umm…
the lady is a sorceress, my friends. resistance is futile.
the reading
surprise, surprise: October’s reading will be Sally Rooney’s Intermezzo! not to be hyperbolic, but even though according to my Kindle i’m only about 10% through so far, Intermezzo already ranks in my top five favorite books that i’ve read in the last decade.
i CANNOT wait to explore this story with you.
the good stuff
everything about NASA’s Voyager 1 feels like an encapsulation of the best of humanity. a few weeks ago—from about fifteen billion miles away—engineers performed some super technical engineer-ing stuff to keep the mission going. please read this article or watch this video, and i hope you enjoy the moments of awe that visit you afterwards—awe inspired by our world, inspired by our universe, and inspired by ourselves.
the affirmations
you have already proven to your past selves
that you can trust your current self
i was not merely on the Struggle Bus with our letter this week,
but i drove the Struggle Bus to and from
every single stop in Struggle City.
thank you for being
my Why for this.
-Sarah Narei
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