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To my surprise and delight, I've been enjoying the new iPhone Journal app. They make it easy to ignore their annoying idea prompts, so you can dive straight into some personal writing.
Of course, published writers can lose the knack for truly personal writing. There tends to be an imaginary audience behind virtually everything we put down—which got me thinking that it might be fun to share some of my more interesting entries on my blog, month by month.
I don't think this requires any more of an introduction than that, so here are the best of the least private of my February journal writings (short, sharp shocks, all of them).
February 7, 2024. When the last human being to have one foot in the pre-Internet age passes into history, humanity will be faced with an utterly novel moment. Is it up to the challenge? I fear not.
February 22, 2024. How many ideas have passed me by when I was scrolling on my phone? How much eye contact have I missed out on? How much less kindness is there in the world because I wasn’t present to give it or receive it?
February 23, 2024. Not everyone of my generation pimps their favorite music to the youth of the world as an act of coercion; some of us do it to help the next crop of music lovers challenge their tastes so they can better find the great work of their own generation—and the great work within themselves.
February 24, 2024. I miss being more prolific with my writing and music, but I’m proud of what would be left behind if I were to die tomorrow. What work I’ve created, I’ve created with sincerity, assiduity, and sacrifice. What more could I have striven for? What more can any of us strive for? We lay our bricks one row at a time, for as long as luck provides the mortar. There is no other way.
February 26, 2024. Art is the magic that strikes at the heart of our shared identity. Without it we barely know each other.
Stay tuned for the March roundup!