A surprise guest joins the journal and we mourn a great one
The Sternal Journal
The show must go on
Dearest Sternal Journalists,
About 20 minutes ago, I said out loud, "Oh shit! It's Monday. Sternal Journal!" I imagine Ben Bradlee and Marty Baron have had similar moments in their careers. It happens to the best of us newspaper men, you just forget you have a paper to put out.
And when Messrs. Bradlee or Baron find themselves minutes from deadline with not an iota of ink to print, do they go running to another prestigious journal for content? Of course they don't.
But let's be honest, they're way better at their jobs than I am, so that's what I did. For just over a week now, my dear friend, trusted colleague, and mortal enemy Chris Milliken has been putting out a Plague Diary every 2 to 3 days and, to me? It's been a hoot.
I think you'll find it to be the same, so I've included a download link here. It's a PDF and will probably open in a new window, don't be scared. Click it. You might fall in love. Do it. This digital world is all we have right now. Come on, motherfucker.
That was to the Weekend Edition of Chris Milliken's Plague Diaries. It includes a poem, a pizza, and a continuous non-review of the film, Private Live. It's great. The edition, not the movie. I've never seen the movie.
If you'd like to be included in future Plague Diary entries, e-mail Chris at chris.d.milliken@gmail.com (you don't need to include the periods if you don't want, but let's not be heathens about it.)
You can also follow him on twitter and instagram at @chrisdmill.
Before I go, as I was writing this, I was delivered the tragic news that children's book author and illustrator Tomie DePaola passed away today. I grew up on his books, most notably Strega Nona.
You probably have a thing from your childhood that, when you bring it up and someone doesn't know about it, you say, "WHAT THE FUCK?!" or some variation. For me, that is Strega Nona, and by proxy, Mr. dePaola.
I think those things (the "WHAT THE FUCK" childhood things, I mean) are a really, really important and unique blend of important and unknown. The unknown part being that like sure, maybe 20-60% of us know it, but in a time where most "great" things are oversaturated (to regretfully borrow from Taylor in the Kanye conversation), we need to cling to the great things that aren't.
So if you don't know Strega Nona, find a digital copy (unless you're reading this in the future, then go out and buy it!). And whether or not you know Strega and Tomie, share your "WHAT THE FUCK" childhood moments with someone tomorrow.
We're all cooped up, and we're looking for the important shit we haven't already heard of. I mean, share enough with me and maybe I'll stop Instagram live-ing.
Alright, that's it for today. Many thanks to Chris Milliken. RIP to Tomie dePaola.
Three kisses,
Julian