27. I saw the best minds of my generation becoming very silly

Dearest inbox intimates—I hope this note finds you hydrated and well-fed. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the phrase: “I saw the best minds of my generation becoming very silly” … I guess it’s my brain's way of contemporizing HOWL, I never wanted to invoke Ginsberg here… but a mindworm is a mindworm. 

It has been a silly spring, at least from where I’m standing, and I’ve been reflecting on irreverence, seasonal buoyancy and the tandem nature of rot and renewal. Interestingly, these polarities are named in work by American legal scholar, Jack M. Balkin in his work The Cycles of Constitutional Time. I was searching the internet for wisdom on how one body can hold so much grief and joy at once without combusting. I found myself slipping into a rabbit hole on how periods of constitutional rot produce demagogues. But I’m not talking about THE Constitution! Only my own. 

The abstract is fascinating, though: 

For the past thirty years the United States has been suffering from increasing constitutional rot. Constitutional rot is the decay of the features of a constitutional system that maintain it both as a democracy—responsive to popular will, and as a republic—devoted to the public good. The Constitution’s framers believed that all republics would eventually decay, so they designed the constitutional system so that things would bottom out before the country turned to mob rule, oligarchy, or dictatorship. They sought to buy time for democracy so that the inevitable periods of constitutional rot would be followed by periods of constitutional renewal. Constitutional rot often produces demagogues. Donald Trump is a demagogue. His rise to power was made possible because constitutional rot has been growing for a long time and is now very advanced. The good news is that political changes offer possibilities for renewal.

I like good news and possibilities for renewal. Honestly, am I living in a cycle of constitutional time? I can definitely relate to the bottoming out, buying of time…if I was a nation would now be a time of demagogue or mob rule?

Shit has been silly. I’m talking frivolous, foolish, absurd. Silliness, as a praxis, is a trendy coping mechanism for this epoch of atrocities.

The particular strain of silliness I’ve felt and observed could also be characterized as nugacity, a word I learned recently, which means frivolity or triviality. But, of course, there are other strains of silly. I’m tempted, in fact, to create a schema of silliness.

much madness is divinest sense — emily dickinson

The schema is far from complete, but here are some cursory field notes:

• Silly (foolish): this has to do with naïveté. There’s an earnestness to this type of silly. If we are made to feel silly by an external observer, perhaps it has to do with shame. Otherwise, this kind of silly is childlike, blissful.

• Silly (truthful): the archetypal joker gets to say the quiet part out loud.

• Silly (frivolous): this one is often gendered. Things like gossip, the Barbie movie,

• Silly (absurd/ mad): when frivolity veers, no, careens into another place. When we laugh a little too long or loud.

Warmer weather makes people do silly things. I absolutely love the hat-tipping to former selves—the acknowledgment of what a younger, more feral version of us would have done under these atmospheric conditions. 

At the core of it, I am silly. If the schema were divided into quadrants, I would have a limb in each of them. My aspirations are absurd, and my priorities are silly. And, I think, tentatively and hopefully, that we can move into an even sillier place.

Some creative updates: 

• I have ten-page spread including an interview, photos, and two poems in volume 7 of Petit Mort Magazine. I talk about the book, my family, work, and some of the experiences that have shaped me. It’s an incredible issue, and it would look great on your coffee table or bed stand.

• Check out my episode on Ledger – it was a blast to record this! Listen wherever you get your podcasts or check out the YouTube version here (audio only).

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I leave you with this Cumbia cover of “Sex on Fire” to start your weekend off right (yes, I’m aware it’s Wednesday, but it’s never too early).

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Thank you for spending a little of your day with me! As always, this newsletter is a free monthly offering. If you would like to support me further you can Venmo me at duffylala or subscribe to my paid tier! I hope the start of your summer is silly, gratifying, and filled with small, unexpected pleasures. xoxoxoxoxo