A summary of posts included on More to Come in May 2023. If you receive my monthly email update, feel free to skip this one.

Pausing to take in the fragrance of May’s flowers is a small way to capture a sense of wonder in the world. It is also a reminder to slow down and stop struggling to control things beyond our understanding. Life is unpredictable. Who knows, for instance, if the iris will bloom in April or May each year?

Writer Satya Robyn suggests “the unpredictability is how I learn. The uncontrollability is how my heart is stretched open. Not dodging things means I end up bashing into joy.”

Bashing into joy sounds like a good lifestyle choice at the moment.

This newsletter clues you in on the observations and recollections that made it to More to Come… in May. Bashing into joy — where I write about the genius of Willie Mays, owning my decision to retire, accepting unpredictability, and finding joy along the way — was the top post in terms of reader views this month.

Speaking of unpredictability…

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THE TOTAL UNPREDICTABILITY OF WHAT MORE TO COME READERS WILL FIND OF INTEREST

Sometimes you surprise me.

• When I wrote an essay that began with my history of sin (well, actually, the history of my thinking on sin), I had no idea it would be near the top of reader views. When we can’t be bothered to love describes the clash of cultures in my head when this four-decade Episcopalian who nonetheless still finds elements of his Baptist upbringing lurking somewhere deep in his soul was sitting in his current church listening to a black Methodist minister speak words from a Jesuit theologian. Yes, it is about sin, but it is much more about love.

At other times, I’m less surprised about what rises to the top of reader views.

• Author interviews are usually a reader favorite. My most recent was with business consultant, winery owner, former college president, author, and long-time friend Rich Moran. Banish apathy is the core message of Rich’s new book, Never Say Whatever: How Small Decisions Make a Big Difference. Rich told me that we make about 35,000 decisions in a day. In an informative back-and-forth, we talk about why small decisions matter and how to rid yourself of a “whatever” attitude.

• Thanks to the Biden/Harris administration, the US is in the midst of an astonishing economic run. Celebrate the good news! was popular because many regular readers appreciate hearing good news about our civic life.

And then there are the things I wish more of you had found.

• Sometimes readers pass over what I find fascinating. Take The Book of Eels for instance. I mentioned the lack of response to Candice and she said, “David, it’s about eels for goodness sakes!” Unperturbed, I want to point you to One odd and fascinating creature. Even in an age of great scientific discovery eels remain a mystery. Which makes them utterly fascinating to thinkers from Aristotle to Rachel Carson and a great subject for a writer who wants to explore what it means to live in a world full of questions we can’t always answer.

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BOOKS ON CRIME (REAL LIFE, FICTIONAL, AND THINGS THAT SHOULD BE CRIMES)

Now that I’m five months into my newfound interest in murder mysteries, I’ve taken to calling 2023 The Year of Reading Dangerously. That hit closer to home in May when three of the five books I read were about criminals and criminal behavior. They were not limited to fictional who-done-its.

• The most important book I read in May was highlighted in A civilization searching for its humanity. Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent is a persuasive and honest look at the American failure of character. Our hierarchy built only on the color of one’s skin is the “infrastructure of our divisions” ― an infrastructure that is another manifestation of the caste system as seen in India and Nazi Germany.

• Beware the half-truths and false narratives is my review of John Carreyrou’s Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup. This true-life story of the myth and the ultimate disgrace of Elizabeth Holmes, the Theranos founder, reads like a crime novel thriller. As I was finishing this book, the New York Times (predictably) wrote a piece white-washing Holmes’s white-collar crime entitled “Liz Holmes Wants You to Forget About Elizabeth.” The New York Times Pitchbot parody Twitter account and the brilliant Oliver Willis were not buying it.

• I review Georges Simenon’s Maigret and the Lazy Burglar in Exploring the mysteries of the human personality. Simenon’s well-known detective Maigret uses skill and empathy to discover the murderer of a burglar he respected.

• And then there was the always popular monthly list of The books I read in April 2023.

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MOTHER’S DAY AND BASEBALL

These posts focused on two staples of the month for me.

• Lessons from Mom was my Mother’s Day post. It never hurts to remember things your mom taught you, especially if your mother is as wise as Helen Brown.

• Why I love baseball recounts my recent trip to Fenway Park with good friend Ed Quattlebaum (with great seats behind home plate!) and a home-team walk-off home run win in my first in-person game at Nationals Park this year.

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WHATEVER ELSE TICKELD MY FANCY

The affirmation of human dignity, the passing of musical heroes and our ongoing senseless gun violence all made an appearance.

• Affirming human dignity suggests that those who value human rights, democracy, and civic life need to be consistent and persistent in returning to that fundamental belief and strong affirmation of human dignity.

• “If there was a Canadian Mount Rushmore, Gordon Lightfoot would be on it,” as noted in Gordon Lightfoot, R.I.P.

• Tina Turner also passed away in May. There was no one like Tina Turner, as I write in Tina Turner, R.I.P.

• On a happier note, You’re Not Alone ― a song featuring Brandi Carlisle by one of the up-and-coming singer-songwriters I admire, Allison Russell ― was nominated for the Americana Song of the Year Award. Give it a listen.

• Historian Heather Cox Richardson wrote of how we moved from a sensible reading of the 2nd Amendment to the crazed belief in the unfettered right to own guns. I quote her extensively in Still shocked, despite the regularity.

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CONCLUSION

Thanks, as always, for reading. As you travel life’s highways, do your best to treat others with kindness, undertake some mindful walking every day, recognize the incredible privilege that most of us have, and think about how to put that privilege to use for good. Women, people of color, LGBTQ individuals, immigrants, and others can feel especially vulnerable…because they are. Work hard for justice and democracy because the fight never ends.

Bash into some joy along the way. And finally, try to be nice, always be kind.

More to come…

DJB

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For the April 2023 summary, click here.

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Photo of bees at work on flower at Giverny by Claire Holsey Brown