Currents - Pete's Newsletter - Issue #24
Photos of the Week
Some shots from Santorini, a photographer's paradise.
Cover Song of the Week
Shovels & Rope turn up the soul in their cover of the Neil Young classic Unknown Legend.
The song tells the story of a woman with a big heart whose talents and charm could have led to an extraordinary life, but instead, with the cards stacked against her at every turn, we celebrate her ability to simply survive.
Documentary of the Week
During our flight to Greece, I sat entranced for three hours smiling, nodding and even allowing a stray tear to slip as I watched the HBO Documentary The Defiant Ones, which tells the parallel stories of Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre coming up in the music industry of the 70s, 80s, and 90s.
The Doc shares a tantalizing view into entrepreneurship (Iovine) and creativity (Dre). It also dives into some of the turbulent issues of the 90s: police brutality, violence in the hip-hop industry and attempts from conservatives to censor the arts.
This is an intense documentary, filmed over the course of three years, with full access to Jimmy, Dre, and interviews with many other artists (Springsteen, Petty, Snoop Dogg etc). You can find it on Netflix.
Book of the Week
This is the first Dan Brown book I didn't put down after a couple chapters. It is a good beach read, set in some of my favorite places in the world: the Basque Country, Madrid, and Barcelona.
Thought of the Week
The song Violent by Grapetooth has been bouncing around in my mind all month. Sure, it's a catchy new-wave track, but more sticky is the main refrain of the song which asks the question "How violent are you? ...How violent are you?"
The question alone suggests that we are all violent, it is simply a matter of degree. This idea has stuck with me as I have gone about my idle days in Greece, observing the world at arm's length. From this distance, I see violence across the world that is masquerading as beliefs, values, and politics.
When the U.S. adopts a zero tolerance policy for illegal immigrants and proceeds to separate innocent children and infants from their parents, this is not policy, this is not "law and order", this is violence. The United Nations agrees.
When kindergarten children in Massachusetts are taught a chilling nursery rhyme to prepare them for mass murder in their school, I do not see second amendment rights. I see Americans choosing inaction and violence.
When a group of people decides to put their interests, their "rights" ahead of others, it is not patriotism, it is not American values, it is violence. And when people begin to accept and justify violence against groups of innocent people, they are taking their first steps down what can be a long and dark path.
...
A couple nights ago, as I sat out on our terrace, my brain reeled as I pondered these issues and struggled to make sense of that day's news - the suicide of Anthony Bourdain.
I looked out over the sea and was reminded that there are those who attempt to contain the world, hold it tightly within their grasp, stop it from changing... control it. And there are others who open themselves up to the world and accept its people, variety, colors, challenges, and inevitable changes.
We must not forget that we did not create our world, we are only a small part of it. Our world is 70% ocean, with salty, cool waters flowing across the planet, pushing and pulling, shaping everything around them. The ocean is vast and we are small. But as humans, we have a special power, we have choice.
We can attempt to control the powerful ocean, and spend our lives building walls and ports, made of stone and wood... only to watch as with time the currents wash them and our temporary world away.
Or we can build ourselves a boat, set our sails wide, let the wind and the currents take us where they may, and turn our face into the sun and smile and say “Yes... I accept the ocean and the wind and the sun. I accept this everchanging world, and I thank god for this brief opportunity to float amongst the stars."
We can not control the currents of the ocean, or the exhale of the wind, but we can accept them, embrace them and when we lose our way... chart a new course.
“It seems that the more places I see and experience, the bigger I realize the world to be. The more I become aware of, the more I realize how relatively little I know of it, how many places I have still to go, how much more there is to learn. Maybe that’s enlightenment enough—to know that there is no final resting place of the mind, no moment of smug clarity. Perhaps wisdom, at least for me, means realizing how small I am, and unwise, and how far I have yet to go." - Anthony Bourdain