Jason Anthony

1 week ago | jasonanthony.substack.com | Jason Anthony

Hello everyone:Some sharp-eyed readers will notice in this week’s celebration of the solstice some borrowed material from previous solstice notes. These twice-annual notes are more rite than essay, and so build on previous versions, but this piece does have its own path. Enjoy. As always, please remember to scroll past the end of the essay to read some curated Anthropocene news. Now on to this week’s writing:Happy Solstice to you all. May you find some peace and purpose in this celestial moment.

2 weeks ago | theatlantic.com | Jason Anthony

Listen1.0x0:0011:37Listen to more stories on harkBy 4 a.m., a breeze had begun to blow across the stadium near the center of Baghdad, but Qaid al-Sheikhli was still sweating through his dishdasha. He was six hours into a championship quarterfinals match of mheibes, one of the world’s most challenging mental sports. His team, al-Sa’doun, was down by 10 points. The clock was running out. When you hear the game described, mheibes doesn’t sound difficult. It sounds impossible.

2 weeks ago | jasonanthony.substack.com | Jason Anthony

Hello everyone:As always, please remember to scroll past the end of the essay to read some curated Anthropocene news. Now on to this week’s writing:For a million years and more we were creatures of place. We may have been strange tool-making, cave-painting, cerebral primates, but we were still threads in a local fabric of other lives. Now we think we are the fabric, served by those other lives.

3 weeks ago | jasonanthony.substack.com | Jason Anthony

Hello everyone:As always, please remember to scroll past the end of the essay to read some curated Anthropocene news. Now on to this week’s writing:I wrote last week at some length about the rewards of careful observation. There is so much awe and beauty and wonder to be found when we slow down and turn our attention to the real world.

4 weeks ago | jasonanthony.substack.com | Jason Anthony

Hello everyone:As always, please remember to scroll past the end of the essay to read some curated Anthropocene news. Now on to this week’s writing:There is a reason we hold in high regard a person’s “powers” of observation. Observation is neither passive nor casual. It is the active function of awareness, one of the most vital human traits. To be fully aware is to be fully present and attentive, self-reflective and clear-minded, biased toward nothing and conscious of everything.