Michael Cunningham

@damintoell Oh great! So now you’re going to make me check out her profile. I don’t want to, but thems the rules.

An hour or so prior to that, there was another post where she praised her own writing as an “unflinching autopsy” with a “lethal, precise dissection” with the ever-present scalpel. Three separate autopsies in the same morning lol

New post dropped where she praises her own writing as “a lethal autopsy…conducted with forensic precision”

There’s a generation a lot of people forget exists. We were born at the tail end of the Boomers, but we are not culturally the same as people born in the 40s and early 50s. We are Generation Jones. And honestly, it explains a lot. We grew up in a world that still felt fundamentally analog, but we were young enough to be dragged headfirst into the digital revolution. We are the bridge generation between rotary phones and smartphones, between slide rules and AI, between Walter Cronkite and algorithm driven media. We remember when there were only a few television channels and the entire country watched the same thing at the same time. We also adapted to the internet, email, forums, social media, streaming and now artificial intelligence. We lived before and after the technological singularity hit everyday life. That is not a small thing. People born in the 40s came of age in a post World War II America that was still industrial, deeply hierarchical and institutionally stable. Their formative years were shaped by the Cold War, Vietnam, the civil rights era and a society where information moved slowly. Generation Jones came later. We inherited the aftermath of all of that. We were the kids who watched Watergate destroy blind trust in government. We watched manufacturing begin to collapse. We saw divorce rates explode. We were the first truly latchkey generation in massive numbers. We learned independence early because many of us had to. We grew up with one foot in old America and one foot in whatever this new thing was becoming. We played outside until the streetlights came on but we also learned DOS commands. We learned cursive and keyboarding. We had card catalogs and Google searches. We went from vinyl records to cassette tapes to CDs to MP3s to streaming in one lifetime. We remember maps. We remember memorizing phone numbers. We remember life before GPS and before every human interaction became filtered through a screen. And because of that, I think Generation Jones developed a very unique perspective. We are adaptable because we had no choice but to adapt. We learned technology as adults instead of being born into it. We remember a slower world but were forced to survive in a rapidly accelerating one. That creates a very different mindset than either older Boomers or younger Gen X and Millennials. A lot of us also reject the caricature people now associate with “Boomers.” We were not buying houses for the cost of a sandwich in 1965. The interest rate on my first house was over 14% and that was after buying down a point. Many of us got hit by recessions, outsourcing, pension collapses and economic instability just like younger generations did. We watched promises evaporate in real time. We understand older generations because we were raised by them. We understand younger generations because we had to evolve alongside them. That’s why the Jones generation often feels culturally homeless. We are rarely discussed, rarely defined and usually lumped into categories that don’t actually fit us. But we exist. We are the human transition point between the industrial age and the digital age. And frankly, there will probably never be another generation quite like us again.

My 15 mile commute in DC takes as long, sometimes longer, than my 45 mile commute in Houston. I find it harder and harder to justify.

Is there anyone still promoting Esperanto? Wasn’t it supposed to be the future of languages?

I don’t so much run as go on fast walks sporadically broken up by slow running. But today I went over four miles for the first time in about three years. Frankly I’m exhausted. I feel like I ran a half marathon.

@alexthechick And Carl is a Coastie to boot!

(long tweet warning) Here's the reason why the Dungeon Crawler Carl books are so stunningly popular: Carl is a good man. Oh, the writing is lively and the characters are wonderful and the plot is interesting and the relationships between the characters are well drawn. Also, they are funny if you know nothing about D&D and CRPGs and are absolutely hilarious if you do. Carl is a good man. A recurring theme in the books is Carl being told, reasonably and rationally, that he cannot save everyone and his response being watch me. And then he saves as many people as he can. These books are not cynical. Carl is easy to root for as a hero because, at heart, he is a good man. In a situation specifically designed to be every man for himself, he choose to try to save everyone. Because, again, he's a good man. This is one of the very few series that I would actually recommend the audio books over the physical (okay, fine, in addition to) as the performance by Jeff Hays is phenomenal. And then there's the Audio Immersion Tunnel version by Soundbooth Theater which is a modern take on a radio drama - full sound effects, music, the works. soundbooththeater.com/series/dungeon… It's so nice to see something succeed wildly when the hero is actually doing heroic things because those things are the right thing to do. /fin

Go ahead and try to tell me Bill Withers wasn’t one of the greats! open.spotify.com/track/1k1Bqnv2…

Oh, yeah! A new memory foam bath mat! Ah, luxury! (Yes as a matter of fact I do realize how pathetic my life is.)

Wait until you see the difference in the owners.

@TheJasonAnspach and @RealNickCole, just finished Escape from Red Eye. Wow! Loved it! Can’t wait for Bounty at Star’s End. Two things: 1. Nothing bad better happen to Sammy, and 2. WRITE FASTER!

The Infant was rear ended last week (not her fault). Insurance adjuster has been great. But the shop is saying the damage is far more expensive and now the insurance company wants to total the car. Really not what I wanted to hear. Sigh.

In my defense I did not intend to buy two packs of hot dog buns but I was overwhelmed by dreams of summer…

Me: For the love of all that is holy please stop buying bouillon cubes! La Esposa: Me: We have chicken, vegetable, something in Spanish! We have enough! La Esposa: Me: No more! (Knowing full well she won’t check the pantry and buy more.)

Beware of wolves disguised as shepherds. True shepherds don’t build their brand on the backs of their sheep so they can broadcast to more campuses, boast in boutique clothes, stand on bigger platforms under better lighting while selling their next breakout book.

Frankie Valli is the Strom Thurmond of rock and roll.

Neighbor has a robot law mower. Want.

Little bit of good. Little bit of bad. Little bit of happy. Little bit of sad.

I learned today that a coworker whom I’ve always held in high regard goes to church. Was very glad to hear that.

Do you make pancakes or cook pancakes? I say make. La Esposa refuses to answer.

Happy Easter!