Andrew Johnson is here!
I am just plain excited for this week’s guest writer, Andrew Johnson. The second Andrew to guest write Five Things. Andrew was my boss when I worked at a charter school here in Kansas City and the four months we worked together were super impactful for me. I was talking recently with a mutual friend from the school and she summed it up well, Andrew is a good man.
Andrew is an excellent writer, phenomenal father, and a devoted citizen. Andrew cares. Andrew cares in a way that makes the world a better place for other people.
Anyway, I’m grateful he is sharing with us this week.
If you’re new here, I’m Katherine, I started this newsletter almost four years ago as a way to share five things I liked every week. Theoretically, there’s a guest writer once a month. The last Sunday is paid subscribers only, and it’s usually on just one topic. Or ten. Also, I take the month of July off from Five Things. This isn’t a threat, but if you’re just a regular subscriber, you’ll only hear from me one more time before August. If you’re a paid subscriber, you’ll be the first to know if I kiss any boys in Spain…
This sentence now has links to the my instagram, and old issues of the newsletter. Also my Nuuly referral link. I hope today is beautiful for you.
Andrew, introduce yourself!
Hi! I’m Andrew. I’m a writer based in midtown Kansas City. I married my high school sweetheart, have three kids, never left my hometown – one of THOSE guys. I’m also the author of two books of essays and poems, and the newest one comes out this fall. (Check out my website if you want to read more of my work.) This month I will begin a two-year writing residency at Charlotte Street Foundation so that I can complete a couple more book projects. But right now I’m getting to enjoy a nice summer break with my family and do random things like write as a guest writer for Katherine!
I had the privilege of working with Katherine for a couple of months this year. I quickly saw in Katherine someone who cares deeply about remaining a human being in the midst of so many forces and algorithms trying to shove us all toward numbness, mediocrity, and uniformity. I saw in her someone who seeks to pivot and posture her life every day toward love and grace for everyone and everything she encounters. Ain’t Katherine great?
So in honor of what I love best about Katherine, I’m choosing to share five things that I’ve learned over the years to be ways to reject the algorithms, to remain as human as humanly possible, and to keep the heart thumping in the right direction.
Number One: Read the same books over and over again
I first read Annie Dillard’s nonfiction book Holy the Firm twenty years ago, and I first read G.K. Chesterton’s novel The Man Who Was Thursday over a decade ago. Since then, I’ve re-read both of these books probably a dozen times. What I love about re-reading the same two books again every year or so is that I can see things that I have never noticed before, which only underscores the basic notion that paying attention will always yield something new. It is also like holding a mirror up to the ways I have changed over time. Dillard’s book follows a narrator over the course of three days who is wrestling with questions about God and suffering. Chesterton’s book is a fast-paced caper that plunges into humanity’s relationship to order and chaos. Now that I’m turning 40, I know that questions about God, suffering, order, chaos, and humanity aren’t getting resolved anytime soon, and my posture toward it all continues to grow and change. Having a couple of stories that have stayed with me through the years have been incredible ways to “circle back” and acknowledge that our journeys tend to be cyclical rather than linear. Plus, I just really recommend those two beautiful books in particular.
Number Two: Listen to MUNA all Summer long
For the past couple of Covid summers, I’ve set an intention of taking a break from Listening Serious Music and going full throttle on dance and pop music. You don’t even want to know how hard I fell for Dua Lipa last summer. It was glorious. So what’s in store for this summer? It’s very quickly becoming the Summer of MUNA. I can’t get the synth and the bass combo of their songs out of my mind. If you ever got my wife to talk about my music consumption over the past few weeks she would be quick to tell you about her odd mix of annoyance and delight about the days I walk around the house singing Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” and how she tries to sing the female vocal part but I always cut her off because the female singer’s entrance of each verse is WAAY more fun to sing than the dude’s, so I just sing it all and have a duet all to myself. “LET ‘EM SAY WE’RE CRAZY. . . .” So what I am loving right now about MUNA is something deep in my bones that I love about Starship or 80’s Fleetwood Mac – just good synth dance pop that gets my body moving. I’m someone who can easily fall into the trap of overthinking and living too much in the front edge of my brain. So dancing through the summer to ridiculous synthy tunes is some good medicine
Number Three: Get the Facebook Newsfeed Eradicator
I would’ve left Facebook a long time ago if not for the News Feed Eradicator, which does exactly what it says: It eradicates the News Feed from the Facebook screen and thus removes the ability to waste hours to scrolling. It’s a Google Extension that simply removes the middle column of Facebook while still allowing me to use all other Facebook tools and remain connected on my own terms. And when I do want to “See what’s happening” I simply turn off the eradicator for a certain amount of time. After using the eradicator for the past five years, I’ve realized that I can turn off the eradicator for five minutes, see some highlights, quickly realize I’ve not been missing much, and then turn the eradicator back on. It’s great.
Number Four: Raise your hand if you make mistakes
When I was in the college concert choir, our choir director insisted on several “collective habits” during our rehearsals four days a week to make sure that each of us took seriously learning the music we would perform. Choirs are funny because they are collective efforts that entirely depend on the full participation of each individual. One habit: If you make a mistake, raise your hand. When rehearsing a song, everyone is going to make a mistake – coming in too soon, hitting the wrong note, saying the wrong word or singing the wrong part. But instead of trying to make your mistakes disappear into the crowd and moving on, hoping no one notices, Dr. Epley taught us the importance and simplicity of owning and acknowledging your mistake in the moment. I wrote much more about this in my weekly newsletter last week, which you can read here.
Number Five: The Cookies and Cream Oat Milk Milkshake at Pirate’s Bone
Pirate’s Bone opened their new location last month, and it’s only three blocks from my house. Their plant-based burgers and other food items are all incredible. But as someone who can’t consume milk or ice cream without my throat feeling like its’ being squeezed by Andre the Giant (not very sportsmanlike), I am constantly looking for a milkshake with a solid dairy alternative. And Pirate’s Bone has arrived just in time for sweaty summer weather that will compel me outdoors more easily if the promise of milkshake exists a mere three blocks away.
Thank you Andrew for sharing, and thank you everyone else for reading! See you next week. Same time, same place.