Beautiful, and I really loved this - The “woke mind virus” that tech lords rail against is a front for their actual fear: that you are observant, awake, and alive.
I was born near where the spook light appears on that long lonely road and have seen its glow many times when I was young and still lived in the Ozarks. Thank you for writing about that mystical phenomenon. Not well known and so worth visiting.
You made us laugh out loud with this: "I had a list of things I wanted to see before America ended, fantastical things like accountability and prosperity and the Hornet Spooklight. I knew my odds were best with the Spooklight, so to the Devil’s Promenade I came."
We loved your conversation and meeting you at the book signing at Elliott Bay Book Company.
Back before color television when I was in high school it was called the "Joplin Spooklight" and although my friends and I were too poor to afford the gas for the trip, we talked about it constantly.
I grew up in the Santa Clara Valley, before it became “Silicon Valley” and representative of every bad influence that has ruined America and beyond. When you slight my childhood home with that name, I feel my little girl self shamed for once living in one of the most sublime areas in the nation. The Valley of Heart’s Delight, it used to be called. And it was. Imperfect and with its own regrettable history like any place. But in 1960, safe and sunny and comfortable and liveable and covered in fruit orchards and blossoms in the spring. Before IBM and HP and Intel and Apple chopped them down and built on top of them. I hope you remember to hold us old Valley people in your heart whenever the tech bros come to your mind and throw shade on a place that once was so graced with beauty and possibility, just 50 miles south of San Francisco.
I just read a comment elsewhere that said that eighty seven percent of Catholics would be okay with Trump as Pope if it meant that he wouldn't be President anymore. I don't know if this is a joke or not. The line between the humorous writing of The Onion and reality has collapsed. The joke isn't simply on us now. We are living inside it.
I was five pages from the end of LART when the alert for this post arrived on my phone. A wonderful, wonderful book. And, yes, feeling and “…sense memory is beyond the scope of artificial intelligence.”. Thank you so much.
This is wonderful, as is your latest book, "The Last American Road Trip," which I am currently reading, reading slowly because my eyes keep filling with tears of recognition (along with so much grief AND so much love!), even though I have never been (geographically speaking) to many of the places you describe. Thank you for sharing your amazing gifts with us, and for your tremendous heart and courage. Safe travels to you and your family, Sarah. And safe home.
Beautiful, and I really loved this - The “woke mind virus” that tech lords rail against is a front for their actual fear: that you are observant, awake, and alive.
Thanks!
So true. So stirring.
Sarah, you are an American treasure!!
I was born near where the spook light appears on that long lonely road and have seen its glow many times when I was young and still lived in the Ozarks. Thank you for writing about that mystical phenomenon. Not well known and so worth visiting.
I take such joy out of reading your words. The meaning, yes. But even more from the way you use words.
These days are not easy. Your essays help me make sense.
Thank you!
Sarah always makes me think.
You made us laugh out loud with this: "I had a list of things I wanted to see before America ended, fantastical things like accountability and prosperity and the Hornet Spooklight. I knew my odds were best with the Spooklight, so to the Devil’s Promenade I came."
We loved your conversation and meeting you at the book signing at Elliott Bay Book Company.
Thank you!
i wasn’t sure if I wanted to laugh or cry.
What a blast from the past. When I saw the headline I thought 'it can't be about THE Spooklight', but indeed it is.
My parents grew up in that area, I heard Spooklight stories as a child, and we absolutely drove out there a few times looking for it.
Haha -- yes it's THE Spooklight. I hope they got to see it!
Back before color television when I was in high school it was called the "Joplin Spooklight" and although my friends and I were too poor to afford the gas for the trip, we talked about it constantly.
Your words feed me. We are so hungry for - so desperate for - the real.
I grew up in the Santa Clara Valley, before it became “Silicon Valley” and representative of every bad influence that has ruined America and beyond. When you slight my childhood home with that name, I feel my little girl self shamed for once living in one of the most sublime areas in the nation. The Valley of Heart’s Delight, it used to be called. And it was. Imperfect and with its own regrettable history like any place. But in 1960, safe and sunny and comfortable and liveable and covered in fruit orchards and blossoms in the spring. Before IBM and HP and Intel and Apple chopped them down and built on top of them. I hope you remember to hold us old Valley people in your heart whenever the tech bros come to your mind and throw shade on a place that once was so graced with beauty and possibility, just 50 miles south of San Francisco.
I just read a comment elsewhere that said that eighty seven percent of Catholics would be okay with Trump as Pope if it meant that he wouldn't be President anymore. I don't know if this is a joke or not. The line between the humorous writing of The Onion and reality has collapsed. The joke isn't simply on us now. We are living inside it.
I've thought the same as a joke but it's getting a bit too "fulfilling the prophecy of the antichrist" now what with Trump posting it himself...
I was five pages from the end of LART when the alert for this post arrived on my phone. A wonderful, wonderful book. And, yes, feeling and “…sense memory is beyond the scope of artificial intelligence.”. Thank you so much.
Thank you for reading (all of it!)
You’re 4 for 4!
This is wonderful, as is your latest book, "The Last American Road Trip," which I am currently reading, reading slowly because my eyes keep filling with tears of recognition (along with so much grief AND so much love!), even though I have never been (geographically speaking) to many of the places you describe. Thank you for sharing your amazing gifts with us, and for your tremendous heart and courage. Safe travels to you and your family, Sarah. And safe home.
Thank you very much Elizabeth!
You are a bright and essential candle in this darkness. Thank YOU.
“This is…collective anti-
consciousness. The “woke mind virus" that tech lords rail against is a front for their actual fear: that you are observant, awake, and alive.”
This is going in my ‘encouragement journal’ along with your “you must find beauty in the wreckage,” which helps me hold onto my humanity every day.
“But I would rather be sincerely stupid than artificially intelligent. I would rather kill time before time kills me.” I love it !!!😍💙
I want to believe.
Just fantastic. Thank you.
Thanks!
“The phallic graffiti tower where three states meet.” Kind of looks like a Bansky painting.