Notes From the Road — 12 March 2025
Wandering updates from my travels in Van Gogh, trails I'm exploring, photos I've taken, and more
WANDERING UPDATE
Hello Friends & Fellow Seekers of the Good True Beautiful!
The winter chased me last week, pushing farther south than it had any business going. Naturally, I fled, seeking warmer, snowless fields, and found them in Prescott, Arizona. Two things about Prescott…okay, really three:
Apparently, the locals do not pronounce the name of their fair city the way it is spelled, i.e. PRESS-COT. They pronounce it “PRES-kit,” like biscuit, but with “press” at the front. I kept thinking they were trolling me, but after the 10th time hearing it, I figured maybe it was legit,
The whole place is surrounded by low mountains and is really quite lovely (I bet they don’t want me telling you this), and
Did you know there is a massive, gorgeous granite formation extruding out of the middle of the city? For real! It’s like the Black Hills of South Dakota, a bit, but much more granite and far fewer trees. Beautiful, though. I hiked all over it.
Sadly, I’ve already left, and am now meandering my way deeper into the desert southwest. Arizona is all really beautiful, actually, and I’m so grateful to be able to see it in the heart of the winter when it won’t give me heatstroke.
TRAILS I’VE BEEN EXPLORING
Here are 5 trails I’ve been exploring recently:
READING: I’ve recently been pondering my way through these 63 Principles for Life and Work by Nabeel S. Qureshi. They’ve been terrific thought provokers, and wisdom stokers, and while maybe I don’t agree with every one of them, they are prompting me to look in rooms and corners of my own assumptions I would not otherwise question. A healthy mental exercise, I think. Nabeel, by the way, is currently a stealth startup founder but was previously at Palantir. He has been a visiting scholar in AI at the Mercatus Center as well as an Emergent Ventures awardee.
LISTENING: If you’ve been following these updates for a while, you’ve probably noticed I’ve been collecting brilliant Brits of late. From Paul Kingsnorth (I’ve got more on him to share in a future update) to Iain McGilChrist (see my most recent “Notes From the Road” for more on him), to the great storyteller and mythologist Martin Shaw, and now to Malcolm Guite, who on first glance appears suspiciously like a refugee from Middle Earth (one part hobbit and another part wizard), but after hearing him teach and tell his stories, I recognize him as a sage, and I’m all the more eager to get into his books. Today, I want to share this incredible conversation he recently had with a young American podcaster, in which he uses the writings of Tolkien to explain how imagination is a truth-bearing faculty (a beautiful, powerful truth), how we in our modern culture have lost our connection to imagination and its critical role in understanding reality, and why we desperately need to recover it. This hour will enrich you, and, perhaps, even awaken something vital inside that you didn’t know was missing.
WATCHING: Severance. Ben Stiller (yes, that Ben Stiller, of Zoolander fame) has crafted a masterpiece of storytelling here that weaves genres into elaborate macrame designs, and explores huge questions about identity, corporate power, religion, relationship, and the nature of consciousness, all while keeping us white-knuckle gripping the edge of our seats trying to unravel the many mysteries this story invites us to solve. If you don’t have Apple TV, I’d recommend getting it just for this show alone. We’re midway through season 2, and it is pure storytelling gold. (Oh, and don’t even get me started about the cinematography. I’m stunned by what cinematographer Jessica Lee Gagné has been able to create from little more than green carpets and fluorescent lights.)
SEEING: I’m always on the lookout for fresh sources of inspiration for my own creative work, and recently I came across this very intriguing (and totally free) series on YouTube from Art21 exploring “Art in the Twenty-First Century.” There are 16 episodes, each only about 15 minutes long, and each one is like a little shot of arthouse inspiration for my creative soul. I’m taking them slow, savoring each one to let it have its full effect. If you’re looking for some fresh creative spark, watching these may be just the thing.
PONDERING: “There are always plenty of rivals to our work. We are always falling in love or quarreling, looking for jobs or fearing to lose them, getting ill and recovering, following public affairs. If we let ourselves, we shall always be waiting for some distraction or other to end before we can really get down to our work. The only people who achieve much are those who want knowledge so badly that they seek it while the conditions are still unfavourable. Favourable conditions never come.” — C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
PHOTOS I’VE TAKEN
YOUR TURN
What new trails have you been exploring lately that you would love other people to know about? Share them in the comments.
Until next time!
Michael
p.s. The Sojournist is an entirely reader-supported project I create on the go as I live on the road. Your support makes my writing possible and keeps it growing. Every time you hit “like,” it tells the algorithm to share the post more widely. Every time you share a post with someone, it spreads the word even more. Every new free subscription expands our growing tribe. Every new paid subscription keeps food on the table and fuel in Van Gogh. Whatever way you can help is hugely appreciated. Thank you.
I enjoyed lingering on each of your links!