June 2022: Baby Names
Post originally published june 8, 2022
I'm sitting here writing "press" emails for the new record. Outside my door, Natalie reads "The Color Monster: A Story About Emotions" to a group of four-year-olds. I address a package of CDs to KEXP in Seattle and WPM in Laramie, asking them to consider "Alice," a song about school shootings, in light of the recent tragedies. Color Monster says, "When you're afraid, you feel tiny. You think you don't have the courage to face the gray shadows." I wonder what kind of world it would be if the radio stations sent snail mail back. Natalie and crew observe bees. I observe screen. I heard once that a good sign-post for being "on track" in a creative career is receiving large quantities of "no's." Team four-year-olds plays a hide and seek variation: don't move and you're invisible.
Adulting is strange. Trying so hard not to be invisible. When do we grow thick skin? When do we deem our business more important than bees?
I sure hope you enjoy Baby Names. I love this song. It makes me think of all my friends trying so hard to make beautiful lives. The new album Good Luck Road is less than a month away from release! And CDs are available today.
Jenner
"My time here is short – what can I do the most beautifully?" – George Saunders