TTT #1: McDonald's Criminals. WW Podcast. Song Recommendations.
Triple Threat Thursday #1. Short Essay. New podcast. Music links. Terrance McKenna.
Welcome to the first edition of TTT, an email newsletter that will be delivered on Thursdays at 10am.
This week I’m in my home state of New Hampshire. The last five days have been jam packed with hiking, biking, podcasting, writing and soccer. Last night I scored three goals and the game winner, to win our adult co-ed soccer game 6-5. The game was an inspiring performance by our entire team. Hat trick game winner is a serendipitous preamble on the Eve of the launch of the Triple Threat Thursday email newsletter. Here’s the thing - it won’t stay in just email form. I’m moving to engraved granite slabs. That’s right, folks. Every subscriber will receive a granite slab with my newsletter engraved into it, every Thursday.
Let’s get this show on the road.
#1 - [Short Essay] I have One Chicken Nugget
And it’s not a “literary meditation”
I’ve been tootin my own horn a lot lately.
I have a little golden goodie in my pocket, or so I think. When I bask in the golden goodie, it’s gone! I ate it and it’s gone.
On a relative basis, I have one chicken nugget, which I think is a golden goodie because so many others have an empty box or a shred of a french fry buried at the bottom of a bag. That was me. But not now.
Now I have a chicken nugget. And here it is.
I haven’t been to McDonald’s in many years. I can hardly believe there was a time when I could stomach that food. Maybe there wasn’t. My awareness wasn’t such that I could recognize the effects, assign causality and remember it too.
There was a joke growing up. A suburban mythical legend: The McGangbanger. Two McChickens sandwiching a McDouble.
[Someone interrupted me writing:
“Worry about editing later. Just get the basic words out. Make it good and stylish later. Blah blah blah” dude shut the fuck up. Did you observe, identify a clear need, then deliver a succinct solution in the fewest possible words? No. You did not. You had a thought, interrupted everyone and dumped an on-the-fly word salad all over the work space.]
Back to McDonald’s. Well, not really, I'm never going back. I will go back for an anthropology project. I’ll measure the weight’s and subjective well-being of McDonald’s new employees. I’ll return 6 months later for a second round of measurements. We’ll see if their earnings from employment (if there are any) are adequate for their quality of life changes and long term health pains and expenses.
McDonald’s is the go-to for shitting on. But what about dunkin, burger king, applebees, 99, and all the other garbo shitjoints. Carbs, covered in seed oil, squished to mystery meat with a side of sugar.
They’re not “filling a market need.” They’re criminals. Not in the eyes of the legal laws, they have lawyers to write those. They are criminals in the eyes of God.
They don’t go unpunished.
Marketing people and “food scientists” are viruses in the human body. Viruses are extinguished by antibodies or the death of its host. Our supposed immune system is not functioning. We are seeing the latter play out as humans lose the ability to procreate and are broken by health burdens and predatory medical bills created by business people.
To accelerate the demise of McDonald’s and its accomplices, create more of McDonald’s and its accomplices. This is acceleration.
I have one chicken nugget.
It’s a little bit soul. A smidge of art.
#2 - Dropping a New Podcast with Luke McKim
This is the era of the podcast. I am embracing the Calendly Zoom life, sitting in a big comfy chair with my shoes off, talking with my friend, going all out for a rant.
I still do drudgery work, because I need that too, not for the money, but for humility and connectedness. The magic is not in drudgery employment. The magic is in the podcast.
Do you do a pod? What pods do you love? What should be the name of our pod?
#3 - Song Recommendations
This is a banger, posted 10 years ago. It reminds me of Jen Vermet who writes
and is writing about Pure Aloha. She lives in Hawaii. I posted online about pen pals and we got to know each other by mailing handwritten letters. Jen is authentic and her weekly Substack letters reflect that truth.I love songs without lyrics. That’s not to say no vocals. Just no lyrics that can get stuck in your head. This banger song is from an epic film.
Here’s a song from an artist I met IRL last summer at a yoga festival. Mirabai’s voice around the fire absolutely blew me away and her recordings on Spotify and YouTube or as good or better.
Cheers guys have a great week.
I have one more song. No lyrics but an interlude excerpt by Terrence McKenna.
If you will quiet your mind, and you will pay attention, you will discover that you are supported and cared for by the dynamic of the Universe. This should be obvious, by virtue of the fact that you’re even alive! I mean how unlikely is your existence? I’d put it to, pretty unlikely. And yet, here you are. Terrance McKenna
Thanks For Reading!
I am focused on creating truthful, authentic and useful media in a non boring format. Lots of comedy. It’s philosophy in story form. Every week I record a podcast with Luke McKim, a recovery coach and Kundalini yoga expert. It’s called Weird and Worthwhile - on Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Guests include Malcolm and Simone Collins, Jessica Depatie and Nani. I am writing a book. It’s the world through my eyes and it encourages living a courageous and healthful life. The stories in the book are awesome. If you’re curious then please subscribe and I’ll keep you posted.
The best way to support my journey is subscribe to my substack and podcast, and drop a review for the pod.
Since you made it this far, I invite you to a book a call via Calendly https://calendly.com/chrisjames3/30min
And with that, have a great rest of your day.