Author: Mark

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Octavia E. Butler’s “Parable” Duology

While looking for a new book to read from the library on the Libby app, the name Octavia E. Butler popped into my head. I don’t know when she first came into my awareness, but I searched her name and there was Parable of the Sower. Its various blurbs mentioned it alongside 1984 and Brave New World. I love alternative and dystopian fiction, so I was immediately sold.

After completing Parable of the Sower and its sequel, Parable of the Talents, I’m convinced that these are the most relevant pieces of dystopian fiction for the modern world precisely because they are not hyperbolic science fiction that acts as a metaphorical warning. Instead, their story is a grounded and horrific extrapolation of economic stratification mixed with modern democratic fascism.

Two elements keep these books close to modern reality in a way that would be considered cliche or overdone were they not written in the 1990s. First, they are set in California in the late 2020s and early 2030s, so the timeline immediately makes one think, “How does this apply to my life?” There are no extreme science fiction elements; computers are mentioned, but only in ways that still feel relevant. A professor runs classes online, and kids can look up information. There are jokes about push-button home phones. It is shockingly restrained and prescient in this way, which gives the impression that it’s an alternative history book written a couple of years ago. Second, the presidential candidate who (spoiler) gets elected runs the Church of Christian America and speaks in ways that imply action among its followers but he can never be accused of specifically inciting violence. One of his campaign slogans was indeed, “Make America Great Again”. A 2017 New Yorker article emphasizes this point in particular.

These books are profound, and their subject matter is serious. Though not needlessly graphic, they include many triggering events one would imagine in a dystopian novel: disease, death, slavery, and rape. Religion and zealotry are two key themes, and these books can be viewed as a beautiful and thoughtful study into how one can justify one’s religious beliefs in a world gone mad. That would have been my main takeaway if I had read these in high school. Instead, I read them a few months before a critical election, and my impression changed; I want more people to read these books, particularly Talents, which is written so that one can fully understand the story without reading Sower.

Give them a shot. It’s heavy material but written as a series of journal entries, which makes it feel more approachable. I found them impactful, meaningful, and worth sharing.

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Morning Pages

I began writing morning pages in June. I first came across the concept via Pagi when they made a post about it being rejected by App Store review. It was a funny way to be introduced to a new creative method, but I didn’t give it additional attention. The idea was tossed into some filing cabinet in my memory.

Morning pages resurfaced in the second episode of Paper Places, a new podcast about writing on Relay FM. Hearing a conversation with actual writers let me more fully connect with the practice, and I decided to give it a shot. Every morning since June 3rd, I’ve taken time in the morning—not first thing, I do my puzzles before anything else—to sit down at a device1My default is my iPad, but my computer is close behind. I have successfully written them on my phone as well. and write about 1000 words, letting whatever pops into my head flow onto the page.

Unlike the official version of the practice, I don’t write these pages by hand. I have my evening journal for that. Instead, I focus on the overall goal of morning pages: dump my morning brain full of random thoughts and anxieties to an external spot so I can start the day feeling refreshed and centered. I often close my eyes while typing, treating it as a form of meditation. I recently read that meditation is more about acknowledging and dismissing unworthy thoughts than clearing one’s mind entirely, and that is where morning pages come in.

I don’t hit 1000 words each day. Some mornings I nearly forget to begin or lack the mood and ambition to do it, but I’ve continued to push on it. They have proven to be among the most valuable fifteen minutes I spend each day, particularly when I wake up feeling off in some intangible way. Morning pages often make those feelings quite tangible and addressable, and I can proceed with the day once I’m done.

It’s not clear whether morning pages, when taken seriously, will work for everyone. Writing is my most natural form of thinking and processing the world, but I can imagine other creative practices getting at a similar goal, if in a more abstract way. I’ve learned that it works for me. I’m happy I’ve tried it and intend to keep the routine.

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    My default is my iPad, but my computer is close behind. I have successfully written them on my phone as well.
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Here Come Your Nuts!

I went to Modesto this past Friday to watch my first Single-A baseball game between the local Modesto Nuts of the Seattle Mariners organization and the San Jose Giants, creatively named after their parent organization, the San Francisco Giants. The environment reminded me of a mid-season high school football game, complete with inexpensive food vendors, large groups from local church and youth sports organizations, and season ticket holders who maintain conversations from several rows away. There are angry dads, town heroes, and four-dollar hot dogs. I adored it.

The local sponsorships were charming. Here’s one I’ll never forget, repeated each time a Nuts pitcher struck out an opposing batter:

This strikeout is brought to you by Aspire Public Schools. Don’t strike out on your education; enroll in Aspire Public Schools todayyyyy.

Another, when a Nuts batter walked:

Nice take! Donatello’s Take and Bake!

I purchased a hat with one of their mascots, Wally the Walnut, on the front.

I heard good-hearted banter about the players and a couple of mean-spirited comments from fans directed towards the umpires that led to a guy in front of me nearly being ejected. Instead, the umpire thought the chirping was coming from a bench, and one of the Nuts’ coaches got tossed.

I kept score as usual. Heading towards the gate after the game, I saw a small group of kids against the fence along the left field line where the Giants players were walking. A six-foot-seven-inch Bryce Eldridge, the top pick by the Giants in the 2023 draft, towered over them. I walked over on a whim and, once all the kids had balls autographed and selfies secured, asked him to sign the scorecard along his batting line.

As with many experiences this past year, I regret not jumping at the opportunity earlier. I had immense fun watching baseball in such a casual environment, with each part driven by the community. I’m eager to return to Modesto and visit San Jose to see the Giants play at home. Minor League Baseball reminds me of my time playing in town ball leagues around Minnesota at the end of high school, and it more appropriately embodies what baseball can mean to a city. It sends me back to the nostalgic times I never experienced when baseball was the country’s pastime.

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Making MLB Team Scatter Plots

You may have seen any number of scatter plots on the internet that show data comparisons among players or teams in a given league. These are part of my daily experience on the /r/baseball community, and I finally decided to scratch my statistical presentation itch by making my own. This post isn’t to cover what statistics to compare, just the process I’ve settled on for now to turn a table of comparisons into precisely-designed charts suitable for sharing on the internet.

Continue reading “Making MLB Team Scatter Plots”
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Holding Onto Yourself

Merlin Mann’s Wisdom Project is an excellent collection of pithy and useful observations about the world. They range from the purely practical, to the advisory, to the somewhat absurd. It’s worth a read.

I follow a Mastodon Bot that posts something from the document every six hours, and save any that catch my eye. This one resonated with me:

Try to save some parts of your life to be just for you. Including some special things that you’re happy about or are even a little proud of. If your only private things are shameful things, you will become very sad and will eventually despise your own company.

Merlin Mann

This message is increasingly acute in a world where it’s easy to externalize experiences, activities, and values. We’re encouraged to create horcruxes across social media which changes our self-perception and ability to fully understand who we are beyond what we share. This is accelerated among those whose livelihood requires them to be online, particularly if their mainly compromises their daily lives.

But the situation doesn’t need to be nearly this extreme to be impactful. If we define our worth in this world solely by factors that others nominally control, we have no sway over how we view ourselves. While we can hope to surround ourselves by well-meaning friends and lovely individuals, it’s still unhealthy to lose that sense of self by spreading it around. We each need ways to focus on ourselves and gain a better understanding of who we are independent of those around us. We can often define much of our lives by how we relate to others, but the way those relationships pan out are a product of who we intrinsically are.