A train ride with the ashes of your literary hero
And other recommendations
So far, I’ve introduced two of the three types of posts I plan to present on The Silent Sod: plant photos with commentary (Photo-synthesis) and longer reflections on death, memory, and meaning. Today, I’m going to share the third type of post I hope to offer at least monthly, a roundup of recommendations for books, articles, podcasts, etc. that are relevant to the themes of this Substack.
Listen
A recent trip to New York City led me to The Bowery Boys, a podcast about the history of the city. One of my favorite episodes so far was about what happened to Dorothy Parker’s ashes after her death. The story involves a neglectful executor (Lillian Hellman), the NAACP, and as you probably guessed from the title of this post, a train ride. The bearer of her ashes on the train, Kevin Fitzpatrick, who’s a guest on the show, drank a cocktail in her honor while they traveled together.
This reminds me of a variant of that age old question: what person, living or dead, would you want to have dinner with? Instead, you might ask: if you could travel on a train with the ashes of one of your heroes (literary, sports, film, art, etc.), who would ride with? And what beverage would you drink?
Read
If you’d rather read about what happened to Dorothy Parker’s ashes or want to learn more, check out this New Yorker piece, The Improbable Journey of Dorothy Parker’s Ashes, by Laurie Gwen Shapiro.
The loss of a pet can be devastating, and one that a pet owner may suffer several times over the course of their own life given the discrepancy in life expectancy between humans and animals. This New York Times article, When Your Pet Dies, Who Do You Turn To, by Lauren Gill takes a look at pet bereavement support options.
Watch
Grab your tissues and watch the trailer for A24’s Tuesday, a film starring Julie Louis-Dreyfus and Lola Petticrew, about a mother who must come to terms with her daughter’s impending death. It also features a parrot who is giving serious Falkor from The Neverending Story energy.
Look
Jeremy Mudd is an Ohio based photographer, and I love how he captures my home state. He posted a series of photos recently on Instagram that he shot in the middle of the night, including this clever memorial to Mat Holder.
Contemplate
On the recommendation of a friend, I’ve been listening to the audiobook The Mountain is You by Brianna Wiest. The author poses a lot of questions to help the reader counter self-sabotage and build a more authentic life, but I especially liked one question, which was some variant of this: What would you do with your life if social media didn’t exist? Here’s an article, Just So You Know: You’re Only Failing According To Social Media, by the same author that gives some background for this question.
Until Next Time
This is great!