Hi friends,
I hope you are feeling good. The Midwest is warming and perhaps blooming. My heart rejoices but my sinuses mourn. God does not give with both hands.
It is a joy to write to you all. Also… I’se ti’ed boss. My semester is coming towards the end and we’re in that moment that happens in a college semester where everyone wants to be done, especially as the weather warms. Ah well. Only a few more weeks. We will get there.
I have been itching to write again. I am hopeful for the time to come soon when I’ll have the headspace to approach the page in earnest. There are lots of transitions to come and I am excited to write through them.
I have been reading more. Some has been for work commitments or to blurb books but it has been joyous. Among the things I’ve finished recently was Never a Lovely So Real by Colin Asher. If you don’t know Algren’s work then I deeply suggest you get hip. His book Chicago: City on the Make is one of the classic nonfiction books about Chicago out there and it is one of the rare books that does live up to its hype. It was a joy to learn more about Algren. I most loved learning about his deep friendship with Richard Wright, his love of my beloved Chicago White Sox, and his travels during The Great Depression. I recommend the biography for sure.
I also reread Langston Hughes’ The Big Sea recently. Read it if you haven’t. It is a gift that our forebears wrote their own stories. Hughes has some great firsthand tales of things I relate like being a college football fan of a team that mostly loses (Vandy for me, Kansas for him), pledging a fraternity (he writes with gusto about his hazing, I have no comment), and coming into his own as a writer at a moment when Black literature was fashionable. It’s worth your eyes.
Okay I am rambling. I have one big piece of news and an attached ask:
During the early days of the pandemic I was able to work on a great story that became a scripted podcast called LAKE SONG. The podcast is a limited series brought to you by Make-Believe Association and was a great joy to help develop with talented collaborators. If you haven’t listened I think you would enjoy it. Last week we got the great news that WE WERE NOMINATED FOR A WEBBY AWARD. The Webbys are the big deal awards for stuff people make on the internet like podcasts. Please vote for us.
Thank you all. More soon. I hope we all get some sleep and some money and some freedom.
Peace,
Nate
PS. One other thing. I will probably post soon-ish about this more but I have been back in the studio making some music with my friends. We released a song not too long ago with Blacc Kristoff (a group of 3 talented and kind MCs), Canada Wet (aka my wonderful spouse Alison C. Rollins), and Daily Lyrical Product (my rap group with the big homie Lamar aka JusLove). Listen to it here.
PPS. If you find yourself in Chicago this Thursday April 13th and want to see me I’ll be in conversation with the author Jamila Minnicks about her wonderful debut novel, Moonrise Over New Jessup. The event is at Semicolon Bookstore at 7 PM. I hope to see you there if you’re free.
I keep reading “Uncut Slang” as “Uncle Slang” which I like to think is the name of the man who writes all the entries on Urban Dictionary.