May 29Liked by Daniel Chamberlin, Rachel Buckmaster
Many f#%^ing excellent recollections and lovely shares here, thank you. One truth which incessantly bewilders me too is that "underlying sense of unfairness at not being asked if I wanted to be born". It's a contemplative unease, and one that I'm often uncomfortable even desiring in today's self-promoting world, nonetheless thank you for weaving this beautiful resolution into your Steve Albini appreciation, "He helped me to understand that if being alive is a result of the ultimate lack of agency, leading that life on your own terms is a reclamation of power." -- Totally. Right on. Good stuff right here.
thank you, Spiros. it feels good to articulate feelings I haven’t often expressed and to be met with understanding. I appreciate you reading + letting me know you relate - radical validation I didn’t expect!
May 31Liked by Daniel Chamberlin, Rachel Buckmaster
Rachel, I loved reading this. It’s a masterpiece. So moving and beautifully written. It ups my Albini knowledge and my music knowledge exponentially (you really should be Yasi Salek’s co-host on Bandsplain), but most of all it deepens my Rachel knowledge. It pulls into focus things about you that I’ve glimpsed and intuited over the years but maybe only ever partially understood until now. I can still remember coming back to Muncie one summer in our college years (probably ‘92?) and, on a visit to the off-campus house you were renting at the time, spying the green-and-red cover of your copy of Big Black’s SaF (can’t remember if it was CD or LP) and having no clue who BB were or how you knew about them. It was a moment, one among many, when I realized that my dear friend Rachel, in addition to being lovely and witty and brilliant and—yes—KIND, was possibly the most fascinating friend I had, with adventurous tastes and an inner wisdom and a cool worldliness that felt so beyond me. That feeling has stayed with me all these years, and it’s one of the (many, many) things I love about you. Thanks for this beautiful piece of writing, friend. (And thanks to Dan for giving it a home.) 💗
Dan's new post today reminded me that I was so verklempt from reading this comment I didn't properly thank you - for reading, for getting it, for sharing those memories, for being one of my favorite people of my whole (loud) life. So I came back here to do so! I love that you - one of the friends who has known me the longest and the deepest - learned something about me from it. I put it out there to process some complicated feelings about being 51 (you know them well) and about being alive (those I've shared much less) and ended up understanding how very not alone I am. The generous compliments on the essay mean SO much coming from you, and the lovely perspectives on me, well... I will treasure them the way I already treasure you. Miss/appreciate/love you, Andrew 🤍
Many f#%^ing excellent recollections and lovely shares here, thank you. One truth which incessantly bewilders me too is that "underlying sense of unfairness at not being asked if I wanted to be born". It's a contemplative unease, and one that I'm often uncomfortable even desiring in today's self-promoting world, nonetheless thank you for weaving this beautiful resolution into your Steve Albini appreciation, "He helped me to understand that if being alive is a result of the ultimate lack of agency, leading that life on your own terms is a reclamation of power." -- Totally. Right on. Good stuff right here.
thank you, Spiros. it feels good to articulate feelings I haven’t often expressed and to be met with understanding. I appreciate you reading + letting me know you relate - radical validation I didn’t expect!
love the way this is written, the honest voice and loving rhythm. thank you
thank you so much for reading. it felt good to write it and I truly appreciate knowing the love came through
Rachel, I loved reading this. It’s a masterpiece. So moving and beautifully written. It ups my Albini knowledge and my music knowledge exponentially (you really should be Yasi Salek’s co-host on Bandsplain), but most of all it deepens my Rachel knowledge. It pulls into focus things about you that I’ve glimpsed and intuited over the years but maybe only ever partially understood until now. I can still remember coming back to Muncie one summer in our college years (probably ‘92?) and, on a visit to the off-campus house you were renting at the time, spying the green-and-red cover of your copy of Big Black’s SaF (can’t remember if it was CD or LP) and having no clue who BB were or how you knew about them. It was a moment, one among many, when I realized that my dear friend Rachel, in addition to being lovely and witty and brilliant and—yes—KIND, was possibly the most fascinating friend I had, with adventurous tastes and an inner wisdom and a cool worldliness that felt so beyond me. That feeling has stayed with me all these years, and it’s one of the (many, many) things I love about you. Thanks for this beautiful piece of writing, friend. (And thanks to Dan for giving it a home.) 💗
Dan's new post today reminded me that I was so verklempt from reading this comment I didn't properly thank you - for reading, for getting it, for sharing those memories, for being one of my favorite people of my whole (loud) life. So I came back here to do so! I love that you - one of the friends who has known me the longest and the deepest - learned something about me from it. I put it out there to process some complicated feelings about being 51 (you know them well) and about being alive (those I've shared much less) and ended up understanding how very not alone I am. The generous compliments on the essay mean SO much coming from you, and the lovely perspectives on me, well... I will treasure them the way I already treasure you. Miss/appreciate/love you, Andrew 🤍