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Joshua Whiting

librarianish person, writer, creator


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Accumulation

Posted: 2021.12.04

The things you don't say accumulate - screenshot of my horoscope iOS notification

The things you don’t say accumulate.

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Your art is more important than your audience

Posted: 2021.11.25

Your art is more important than your audience - screenshot of my horoscope

Your art is more important than your audience.

– so says my A.I. / algorithmically generated horoscope today, the notification popping up while I was mid-contemplating just how to curate collections and microthoughts such as these on this website, and whether to continue to do it just for myself or reconnect somehow with a social media network for the possible benefit or irritation of unknown others.

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Yay Thanksgiving!

Posted: 2021.11.25

Yay holidays! Yay traditions! Yay America! Yay humans! We’re the best! We’re smarter than turkeys!

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Reading Link: Facebook Sent Me Down a Centrist Rabbit Hole

Posted: 2021.11.19

I Made the World’s Blandest Facebook Profile, Just to See What Happens

by Kaitlyn Tiffany in The Atlantic

It seems like not many people are talking about this aspect of why Facebook is so horrible because it is also horrible in so many other ways. This is actually one of the main reasons I finally deleted my Facebook account, though.

I didn’t have a ton of “friends” (230ish, which I’m sure is below average for someone on Facebook for over a decade) and most of them didn’t share much that was real (or if they did, the algorithm didn’t see fit to share it with me), so my feed was filled with so much inanity and corporate stuff, and I still just scrolled through it compulsively, hoping something interesting would happen.

bland toxic facebook article screenshot

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Reading Link: Teen Librarians Are Not Pornographers

Posted: 2021.11.17

Teen Librarians are not Pornographers and Other Things You Should Know About the People Who Have Dedicated Their Lives to Serving Youth in Your Community

by Karen Jensen of Teen Librian Toolbox

Loved this blog post that I happened upon today – being on School Library Journal’s network she’s kind of preaching to the choir, so I don’t know if this will convince or speak to anyone outside of libraries, but it’s honest and heartfelt and made me personally feel just a little bit better about my life.

teenlibrariansarenotpornographers-screenshot

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Reading: All Boys Aren't Blue

Posted: 2021.11.14

Yesterday morning I finished reading All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson. This morning I wrote six to seven pages of thoughts and notes about it, that I’m likely not safe to share anywhere right now, including here in unsyndicated nowhereland.

It’s a powerful book, though, if you’re willing to spend the time with it. And I’m afraid that fear of that power might be the true root and rot of the issue that seemingly requires me not to talk about it.

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potatobroccolicheesesoup

Posted: 2021.11.14

I ended my cooking drought by making some potato-broccoli-cheese soup this afternoon, and now I’m ending my daily posting drought by sharing it here.

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fillingupspace

Posted: 2021.11.13

fillingupspace

I filled up another ‘Field Notes’ notebook. I’m obsessed with these, and I already have too many, but I justify it because I do really like to write in them, I think I write more because of them. And now I even draw silly stuff in them sometimes. I’m sure I’ll use them all eventually.

stack of my filled 'Field Notes' notebooks with Grand Teton on top

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Listening: Mesita - Empty Island

Posted: 2021.11.09

THINGS I DIDN’T POST DURING THE PANDEMIC - 01

mesita - empty island - cover image

Back in the spring of 2020 Mesita was writing, recording, and releasing the music of the pandemic in realtime, but I didn’t post anything about it at the time because I wasn’t really posting things, and I feel bad about that.

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rockofages

Posted: 2021.11.08

It’s an intended project of this website, but currently I’m not sure to what extent I want to re-share old photos and posts from prior websites, social media accounts I don’t use anymore, or just random things from my photo library or ideas and happenings noted down that I never got around to sharing in the first place. And if I do share them, should I have a system or chronology to the sharing, or just rely on randomness and serendipity? Re-post them now as fresh posts, or backdate them to when they occurred?

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''felloff''

Posted: 2021.11.07

I was doing so good at posting something every day here in nowhereland but then I got sick and stressed out and distracted, and I fell off.

Starting again for November.

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''happyapple''

Posted: 2021.10.31

My wife jokingly asked my kids to figure out what I should be for Halloween, and my daughter quickly came up with this concept and then actualized it. So I wore it while I lurked out in the street behind my kids during their trick-or-treating.

Happy Apple - Final Costume

Happy Apple - Draft Rendering

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''sickdays''

Posted: 2021.10.26
I’m home sick with a cough/cold that isn’t COVID but seems contagious, but I’m behind on a lot of work, so I’m using what little creative energy I have to take care of a few things at work, rather than compose missives for or update the architecture of nowhereland. Other than that, reading or sleeping.
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''reading-bewilderment''

Posted: 2021.10.24

I wanted to tell the man that everyone alive on this fluke little planet was on the spectrum. That's what a spectrum is. I wanted to tell the man that life itself is a spectrum disorder, where each of us vibrated at some unique frequency in the continuous rainbow. Then I wanted to punch him. I suppose there's a name for that, too … Watching medicine fail my child, I developed a crackpot theory: Life is something we need to stop correcting. My boy was a pocket universe I could never hope to fathom. Every one of us is an experiment, and we don't even know what the experiment is testing. My wife would have known how to talk to the doctors. Nobody's perfect, she liked to say. But, man, we all fall short so beautifully. — Richard Powers, Bewilderment, p. 5

Started reading Bewilderment by Richard Powers today - library book copy on my back porch. 📚

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''AASL21updatday2maybe''

Posted: 2021.10.22
Update on AASL, after day two: maybe I should start playing the edu/library twitter game again. Maybe I should try practicing a bit of the synchronous lifestyle again.
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''AASL21innowhereland''

Posted: 2021.10.21
Attending the AASL national conference for the next three days, but I don’t play the edu/librarian twitter game anymore, so I’m only sharing anything about it here on my little site in nowhereland. I just hope to learn some things and probably not even talk to anybody? Not sure why I’m even sharing it here. #nohashtags
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A week, but so far a month

Posted: 2021.10.17

I’ve been slowly making my way through Thoreau’s A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. By “slowly” I mean I still consider it as a book I am currently reading, though I hadn’t read a word of it in several weeks until this morning.

A Week

So it is taking me months to get through Thoreau’s week- it started on “Saturday” and I’m in “Sunday” still. But to be fair to myself, I think it took Thoreau years to write through his week.

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''slimyfacebook''

Posted: 2021.10.13

This is how slimy they are.

I have to stay clean for 30 days to actually make this happen.

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''syndication''

Posted: 2021.10.12

So it looks like I finally have the syndication of short posts set up how I wanted (from my personal Hugo static site to Micro.blog, then to my more obscure Twitter account) at just the time I don’t think I care about doing such things anymore. Oh well.

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''boylife-goldeyes''

Posted: 2021.10.12

You could daydream about what a collab between Kevin Shields and Frank Ocean might sound like, if they ever got around to it in ten years or something.

Or, you could just listen to boylife’s song “goldeyes” right now.

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''moffitish''

Posted: 2021.10.11

Explored an undisclosed moffitish place with Luna in July.

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''one-new-or-new-old-thing-each-day''

Posted: 2021.10.10

Going to start posting one new thing (or new-old thing) each day here on my website. I’m finally moving to make this little place my central home on the web, an activity archive, etc.

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''randomstuff''

Posted: 2021.08.01

Could not get enough writing random stuff in my notebook this morning - now I have to type random stuff in my digital notebook this afternoon - and post random stuff on my website this evening.

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''readingtheoverstory''

Posted: 2021.08.01

I am on screenpage 455 of 1034 of The Overstory, by Richard Powers, reading it on my phone.

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''readingeverythingsad''

Posted: 2021.04.09

I’m reading Everything Sad Is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri, and it is really good but it is taking a while because some nights I fall asleep while I’m reading it and then some nights I scroll through Facebook or web comics or websites about comic books instead of reading it. And then I feel bad, almost as if I, king-like, have killed Scheherazade by not continuing to listen.

Everything Sad Is Untrue, both the unjacketed book and the dust jacket, separate, on my desk

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''randomstuffallday''

Posted: 2021.04.03

I suppose I could just fill up a notebook with random stuff all day

I suppose I could just fill up a notebook with random stuff all day.

I suppose I could just fill up the internet with random stuff all day.

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''backdated''

Posted: 2021.03.22
So I have digital and physical notebooks and a phone and computer filled with photos and random things from the last year that I haven’t shared or done anything with, and I’m seriously considering just starting to go through and post backdated stuff on this website, and on the various social media channels. We will see if I have the guts to be that consistent and that obnoxious.
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''makingmoves-disco''

Posted: 2021.02.19

Making some little moves again on my website in prep to possibly come out of social media retirement.

Been like a year - remains to be seen whether I can finally dissuade myself from getting distracted, disheartened, disinterested, dispirited, or otherwise discouraged.

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''borninflames''

Posted: 2021.02.18

I watched Born in Flames (1983), written, directed, and edited by Lizzie Borden.

Born in Flames Movie Poster

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''soul''

Posted: 2021.01.03

I watched the movie Soul last night, and I loved it.

Soul Movie Poster

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''autumneternal''

Posted: 2020.09.08

Did I somehow call forth the winds and fires by listening to this album so fervently last week?

I was just excited about fall, and autumnal black metal…

Autumn Eternal by Panopticon

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Books Read in June-July 2020

Posted: 2020.07.25

For nearly the past two months I’ve been tracking all my reading updates just in a OneNote page. Transferring it here for transparency/accountability, or just some form of conspicuousness. Think I’m about to go onto Goodreads and log all of this, get caught up, be a social human of some sort, &c. Maybe I’ll post specific things about some of these books on here as well if I have time and inclination.

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Reading: Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude

Posted: 2020.07.12

My kids and I have been casually talking about turning our yard into an orchard, and re-reading this book in my backyard today inspires me to get completely serious about it. Impossible to read these poems and not want to start growing stuff.

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mlp:qim

Posted: 2020.05.03

mlp:qim

Arrangement by William Whiting. Photo by me.

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It's a Moot Point

Posted: 2020.04.18

It's a Moot Point by Melanie Faye - Cover Art

I had a dream that I listened to this song on a different streaming platform and the guitar solos were missing from the track. I feverishly scoured the internet trying to find the original version with the guitar solos and figure out what was happening. Tabs kept closing on me and websites glitched into oblivion. I wasn’t sure if the streaming platform or record label had demanded their removal, or if she had somehow become ashamed of them and self-censored, or if it was the Mandela effect, or some other kind of weird conspiracy, but I was going to somehow get to the bottom of this cosmic scandal against musicianship and bring the lost guitar solos back to light.

The next day I had to listen to the song several times on different platforms just to be reassured that the guitar solos had not actually disappeared, but still remained on the track in their fulness.

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Listening: The Slow Rush

Posted: 2020.02.15

The Slow Rush by Tame Impala - Cover

Exceeded my expectations, and I can’t remember the last time a new album from an artist I already liked has done that. There is a warmth here that I haven’t heard in any of his work up until now. This is the electro psychedelic yacht rock I’ve been prepared for my entire life without realizing, every single track an absolute adult contemporary jam.

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Listening: Which Way Is Forward?

Posted: 2020.02.15

Which Way Is Forward? by Obongjayar - Cover

Don’t know much about this guy but I came across a couple of his guest spots and singles, most notably “Still Sun” and “God’s Own Children,” last fall, and have been anticipating hearing more of his Afrobeat/Afropop/electronic/soul/hip hop/? music ever since. This EP collects those great singles along with some new tracks, all of it extremely solid.

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Book Review - The Roots of Rap

Posted: 2020.02.12

I posted a review of The Roots of Rap: 16 Bars on the 4 Pillars of Hip-Hop, by Carole Boston Weatherford and Frank Morrison, on Goodreads, and I’m expanding on it slightly below.

The Roots of Rap - Cover Image

I was excited about this book and assumed I would love it because of the subject matter, but I guess I’m a little disappointed and feel the need to talk about it.

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Read: The Undefeated

Posted: 2020.02.12

I read The Undefeated by Kwame Alexander and Kadir Nelson

Read: February 12, 2020

The Undefeated - Cover Image

I want to give this all the awards. It probably should have gotten even more awards than it did.

(A little ashamed to admit that I’m just finally getting around to this, but I’m repenting of my unreading ways and doing what I can do now. And despite my claims to keep track of all my reading here in 2020, I’m back on Goodreads as well, I guess…)

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Reading: Charlotte's Web

Posted: 2020.01.11

I’m reading Charlotte’s Web with my kids at bedtime

Started Reading: January 4ish, 2020

Holding Charlotte's Web in my hand

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Reading: In the Dream House

Posted: 2020.01.11

I Read In the Dream House: A Memoir

Started Reading: January 10, 2020
Finished Reading: January 11, 2020

Holding *In the Dream House* in my hand

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My Reading in 2020

Posted: 2020.01.10

I used to be meticulous about tracking even my most minute reading updates on Goodreads1, but I’ve fallen off in the past few months, and I’m not entirely sure why.2

In the meantime while I try to figure that out, I’ve decided to post random3 updates4 about my reading on Twitter and also to experiment with creating a new thread/series here on this website that will serve as a running log of my reading life.

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I Watched Parasite, 2019

Posted: 2020.01.07

This review may contain spoilers.

Can’t stop thinking about ghosts in the basement and cockroaches scurrying under the furniture. And how maybe children’s fears should be taken seriously. This is a metaphoric spoiler.

Parasite Poster Image

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I Watched Killer of Sheep, 1978

Posted: 2020.01.05

Kids singing rhymes
Dogs barking
Car ignitions turning over but failing to start
This bitter earth
Scuffling and throwing rocks
An ice cream truck on the next street over
That’s America to me

Killer of Sheep DVD Cover Image

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Happy Life Day

Posted: 2019.11.28

I forgot to observe Life Day several days ago, but I’ll observe it today on the Internet and on my website. I did share Life Day with my kids (just about 7 minutes worth) soon after when I had come to myself and realigned my priorities. They kind of loved it, and kind of thought it was terrible, which is just as it should be.


(This embed is queued to start at the key celebration of life moment at the closing of the special, so have no fear in pressing the play button.)

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Holiday Fun

Posted: 2019.11.27

Swinging and Listening to Sung Tongs

I forced the kids to listen to my Sung Tongs vinyl today while they made snowflakes and swung around.

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The New Taxonomy of the JdwhitingDotCom/Froz-T-Freez Internetical Multiverse Drive-In

Posted: 2019.11.10

I’m retconning my website. I might as well be transparent about it. I feel like my lack of consistently sharing anything out from this site to the wider Internet*, along with the fact that it is my little corner of the Internet and I can do whatever I want with it (and that’s kind of the whole point) gives me the freedom to add, change, shuffle, and randomly publish new posts as though they were several months backdated, as well resurrect content from my old zombie websites, &c.

Old Josh's Froz-T-Freez Masthead

This site, https://jdwhiting.com, shall become the center of a new and expanded JdwhitingDotCom/Froz-T-Freez Drive-In Internetical** Multiverse. Will this center be a singularity? A black hole? I don’t know yet, it remains to be seen. It’s a bizarre exercise done in darkness, but nevertheless it is going to be an ongoing aspect of this project since I plan to use this site as my personal all-inclusive internet archive.

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DigiWriMo?

Posted: 2019.11.01

So years ago I remember coming across a thing called Digital Writing Month from some educator-writer type people I followed on twitter, and when seeing the usual pre-November hype for NaNoWriMo (which I always like the idea of but don’t actually want to do) I suddenly remembered it and thought I might try it this year, because it kind of fits with the project of this site.

Digiwrimo.com Can't Be Reached

But I guess it’s not really a thing anymore.

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THE VVITCH

Posted: 2019.10.19

It is currently 4 AM and I am awake for some reason, and I just heard a noise downstairs of unclear origin.

Maybe I shouldn’t have watched this with my 4 month old puppy around. Was that a mistake? Will she live deliciously now? Will she grow up and randomly kill us all one morning like that damn goat?

The VVitch Movie Poster - TMDB

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Two Hands

Posted: 2019.10.14

Two Hands, by Big Thief - Album Cover

If I had a ‘Favorite Albums of 2019’ list I’d be adding Big Thief’s new album Two Hands to that list.

I can’t think of a band that seems more devoted to the work right now than Big Thief. This is their second release this year, and it seems they’ve been touring and recording almost nonstop for several years now.

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Demos, Drafts, Fragments, and Improvisations

Posted: 2019.10.13

2.

I’ve decided that I’m just going to start sharing more of my demos, drafts, fragments, and improvisations, so they are out in the world before they become irrelevant, instead of languishing half-finished in my notebooks as I wait for some mythical moment when I will have endless time and energy to create the thorough, perfect thing.

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You Are Beautiful

Posted: 2019.10.12

You Are Beautiful, by Mesita - Album Cover

I wanted to write a full essay that thoroughly explores my thoughts about this album, Mesita’s Twitter song project, and how it all is actually impacting my views on life, art, &c., but since I already have notebooks and drives and clouds half-filled half-empty with so many other such good intentions that I never follow through on, I’m just going to post this now, and state that I think that Mesita’s You Are Beautiful is pretty much one of the most honest pieces of art I have ever encountered.

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While Reading: Weird Little Robots

Posted: 2019.10.08

Weird Little Robots - Cover (plus my daughter's collection of dismembered lego minifigs)

I’m reading Weird Little Robots by Carolyn Crimi and Corinna Luyken to my kids right now, and so far it feels kind of like if Kate Dicamillo had collaborated with Stephen Spielberg on one of his 80s Amblin projects. In other words, I’m enjoying it. And my kids like it, too.

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KAINA - 'House'

Posted: 2019.07.16

“House” by KAINA. Beautiful, timely song opening a killer new album.

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Now (July 7, 2019)

Posted: 2019.07.07

Some of the things I’m working on and thinking about these days…

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#NaPoWriMo

Posted: 2019.03.16

Think I’m going to try writing a poem every day in April.

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Iheartfacebook

Posted: 2019.03.14

Last night I posted a grumpy response tweet about my wild hope that Facebook and Instagram would just stay broken forever.

Then I thought that maybe that was a little too mean, and I deleted it.

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Addenda to My Twitter Bio

Posted: 2019.02.06

Terms, conditions, and disclaimers to your reading of the content of this web site and all content I may create or share on twitter or any social network.

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Copyright 2019, 2020, 2021 Joshua David Whiting. Made in Millcreek, Utah, USA. Contact me. Built with Hugo and my own WP51 theme, still a work in progress. Hosted via Github and Netlify.