This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:36] Laura Camien: Welcome to the Sparks File, your one stop wang doodle for creative inspiration.

[0:41] Susan Blackwell: I'm Laura Camien.

[0:42] Susan Blackwell: And I'm Susan Blackwell.

[0:43] Laura Camien: If you're an OG listener, welcome back, Sparkler.

[0:46] Susan Blackwell: If you're joining us for the first time, welcome.

[0:49] Laura Camien: You may be asking yourself, what exactly is a spark file?

[0:53] Susan Blackwell: Where do I get one?

[0:54] Laura Camien: What do I file in it?

[0:55] Susan Blackwell: These are such good questions.

[0:57] Laura Camien: And we do have answers.

[0:58] Susan Blackwell: We do.

[0:59] Laura Camien: A spark file is a place where you consistently collect all of your inspirations and all of your fascinations.

[1:06] Susan Blackwell: Here's the deal.

[1:07] Laura Camien: We are makers who make all kinds of things.

[1:10] Susan Blackwell: If you're like us and you're making stuff all the time, or want to be making stuff all the time, you know the wellspring of inspiration can run a little dry.

[1:19] Laura Camien: So we're on the lookout for fresh ideas, images, and inspiration that spark our creativity and pique our curiosity, things that inspire us to get up off of our asses and make things like this very podcast.

[1:32] Susan Blackwell: Or a thoughtful extension of love delivered by courier across time and space.

[1:39] Laura Camien: Wow, that sounds amazing.

[1:43] Susan Blackwell: Or a mini adventure that makes the day special and memorable.

[1:48] Laura Camien: Oh.

[1:49] Susan Blackwell: Every episode, we're gonna reach into the spark file and exchange some sparks.

[1:53] Laura Camien: And from time to time, we're gonna talk to some folks who spark us too.

[1:56] Susan Blackwell: And if you're not careful, you just might have breakfast for dinner.

[2:00] Laura Camien: So without further ado, let's open up the spark pile.

[2:10] Susan Blackwell: Um, I feel like there's things I did not make a good list, but there's some things I wanted to talk to you about.

[2:15] Laura Camien: Oh, talk about on the spark file.

[2:18] Susan Blackwell: Number one, I've been meaning to tell you this for so long.

[2:22] Laura Camien: You did that fantastic episode about the Aster Place Riots.

[2:28] Susan Blackwell: Yes.

[2:29] Laura Camien: Yes.

[2:29] Susan Blackwell: Those were is that the right name or the Astral Riots?

[2:32] Laura Camien: Um yeah, some people, it's it's interchangeable.

[2:35] Susan Blackwell: Got it, got it.

[2:36] Laura Camien: So um, there is a podcast, the Bowery Boys Podcast.

[2:40] Susan Blackwell: Are you familiar?

[2:41] Laura Camien: I'm familiar with that podcast.

[2:44] Susan Blackwell: I did not listen to that episode before I did mine, but I am aware of it.

[2:49] Laura Camien: Apparently, yes, they do a virtual guided tour that you can pop in your earbuds and you can take a walk around that neighborhood and film and I think when we are back in the swing of things, yes, that would be so much fun to do.

[3:11] Susan Blackwell: That's an affirmative from me.

[3:15] Laura Camien: Copy that, yes.

[3:17] Susan Blackwell: I mean, I love even like the podcast, The Bowery Boys is named after the Bowery Boys.

[3:23] Laura Camien: You know what I mean?

[3:24] Susan Blackwell: They're they are what do you call that?

[3:25] Laura Camien: Like when you're like totally dropped in, they are completely dropped in to the history of New York, I think.

[3:32] Susan Blackwell: Yeah.

[3:32] Laura Camien: I listened to that when I was um like gathering sparks for the mudlarking because they did a great, yeah.

[3:39] Susan Blackwell: There's so they did a really, really good episode of that podcast about the way that garbage has been collected and processed in New York City.

[3:50] Laura Camien: No way.

[3:50] Susan Blackwell: Yes.

[3:51] Laura Camien: It was so good.

[3:52] Susan Blackwell: But one of the, you know, one of the things was how they started putting all of that garbage out in Dead Horse Bay, and like just like putting a little topsoil over the top of it.

[4:03] Laura Camien: And that's why all of that stuff is still there.

[4:06] Susan Blackwell: That's right.

[4:08] Laura Camien: Um, there was something else I wanted to tell you, and because I didn't write it down, I don't remember what I thought of well.

[4:16] Susan Blackwell: I don't think this is the thing you were gonna tell me, but I know something I wanted to tell you.

[4:22] Laura Camien: So I haven't watched it yet, and it slash it may not have even launched yet, but it's in the press now.

[4:30] Susan Blackwell: Um a new show on Netflix called Hollywood.

[4:33] Laura Camien: And it's that's uh Scotty Bower spark that you did is one of the storylines in that.

[4:39] Susan Blackwell: Yes, the garage is, yeah.

[4:42] Laura Camien: I just saw that last night.

[4:44] Susan Blackwell: I and it made me want to see what Ryan Murphy had and Ian Brennan have taken and done with that.

[4:50] Laura Camien: I was like it seems like he's taken some liberties with you know some of the facts of history, but who doesn't when you're writing, you know.

[5:00] Susan Blackwell: Um, but I believe that the garage is in there and that storyline is accurate, and Rock Hudson, I think, in that is I think that storyline's accurate.

[5:10] Laura Camien: Oh, I I look forward to um dipping a toe into that.

[5:15] Susan Blackwell: Now, I was gonna tell you.

[5:17] Laura Camien: Likewise, Cam's.

[5:19] Susan Blackwell: Um, I mean, you did predict this whole pandemic, but that was crazy.

[5:23] Laura Camien: I'll see if I remember what I was gonna tell you, and if I don't remember, then I'll tell you off mic or next week.

[5:30] Susan Blackwell: How about jot it down?

[5:33] Laura Camien: I know I know better than to.

[5:35] Susan Blackwell: I was like, I'll remember.

[5:36] Laura Camien: There's two things I'm gonna tell her, clearly.

[5:40] Susan Blackwell: Um how about some sparkage?

[5:44] Laura Camien: Uh let's do some sparking, sparking it up.

[5:48] Susan Blackwell: Let's do it.

[5:50] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[5:50] Susan Blackwell: I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna start from the jump.

[5:53] Laura Camien: Okay.

[5:54] Susan Blackwell: I'm not gonna lie to you, Susan.

[5:55] Laura Camien: I never do.

[5:57] Susan Blackwell: Um I'm not gonna start today.

[6:00] Laura Camien: Don't start now.

[6:01] Susan Blackwell: This week was a bit of a doozy, and I wasn't feeling super great when I sat down to write my spark.

[6:08] Laura Camien: And that's just the truth.

[6:10] Susan Blackwell: I think we're both committed to telling the truth on this podcast.

[6:14] Laura Camien: And you know, you know what I mean?

[6:16] Susan Blackwell: Like these are really trying times.

[6:18] Laura Camien: And I know that we both like preach feeling our feelings and the fact that it's okay if sometimes you don't feel like being creative.

[6:28] Susan Blackwell: Yes.

[6:29] Laura Camien: And the truth is I did not feel like it.

[6:32] Susan Blackwell: I just didn't feel like it.

[6:34] Laura Camien: Um, so I don't have a spark.

[6:35] Susan Blackwell: I'm kidding.

[6:36] Laura Camien: Um I do have a spark.

[6:38] Susan Blackwell: That's not I realized like that's where it sounds like I'm going.

[6:42] Laura Camien: Um I didn't do any homework.

[6:44] Susan Blackwell: So off to you then.

[6:46] Laura Camien: Um but I think also that's the thing about deadlines.

[6:52] Susan Blackwell: You know, we also talk a lot about that.

[6:54] Laura Camien: They are very useful tool to motivate you to push you through even when you're not feeling it.

[7:00] Susan Blackwell: Yes.

[7:01] Laura Camien: So when I sat down to write my spark, I thought about doing something that was like emotionally moving, maybe uplifting, because I felt like that's what I was feeling like I needed.

[7:13] Susan Blackwell: Yeah.

[7:14] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[7:14] Susan Blackwell: Personally.

[7:15] Laura Camien: But frankly, I did not trust that I would be able to like hold it together.

[7:21] Susan Blackwell: You know, I don't know what the sound of a teardrop hitting a microphone is.

[7:25] Laura Camien: But I think mine have done this podcast before on this particular mic.

[7:31] Susan Blackwell: Um, you know, so I I was like, okay, let me just set that aside for a minute.

[7:37] Laura Camien: Also, it's a lot of pressure, right?

[7:38] Susan Blackwell: To be like, I'm in this moment and I need to lift myself up and I'm not feeling it.

[7:44] Laura Camien: I think this is so great, Camilla.

[7:47] Susan Blackwell: Like I uh yes to all of it because I think we're all going through, depending on the day of the week, going through some version of what you're describing.

[7:56] Laura Camien: Right.

[7:57] Susan Blackwell: I felt that.

[7:58] Laura Camien: And I was like, I think it's gonna be okay just to say, here's where we're at today.

[8:03] Susan Blackwell: Yeah.

[8:04] Laura Camien: So I set aside the need, you know, to do anything in particular, and I just let my mind kind of wander on things that are comforting me these days, little small comforts, large comforts, just like what's getting me through.

[8:20] Susan Blackwell: Yeah.

[8:20] Laura Camien: And I thought about the fact that I went to the mailbox a few days ago.

[8:25] Susan Blackwell: Here come the tears.

[8:26] Laura Camien: Here we go.

[8:28] Susan Blackwell: And inside my mailbox was the kindest, loveliest handwritten letter from my dear friend Courtney.

[8:36] Laura Camien: Oh and Courtney is in Texas right now with her parents.

[8:41] Susan Blackwell: She's working from there until things like reopen in New York.

[8:44] Laura Camien: And she has taken to creating little works of art in the form of handwritten letters.

[8:51] Susan Blackwell: And on this particular note, she had painted with watercolors on stationery and let it dry, and then wrote me this heartfelt note and mailed it off to me.

[9:04] Laura Camien: Oh my God, Courtney, that's gorgeous.

[9:06] Susan Blackwell: Courtney.

[9:08] Laura Camien: Now, any day of the week, really, and in any situation, you know, Courtney, she's awesome, and she can bring a smile to my face and make me feel like the most amazing person on earth.

[9:18] Susan Blackwell: Like she's incredible with a compliment.

[9:21] Laura Camien: She's generous and free-flowing with her kindness, and I just treasure her.

[9:25] Susan Blackwell: That's beautiful.

[9:27] Laura Camien: But on this particular day, it was just beyond.

[9:31] Susan Blackwell: You know, it was a much needed virtual hug.

[9:35] Laura Camien: It was a work of art, and it just touched my soul.

[9:39] Susan Blackwell: And that got me thinking about a few things.

[9:42] Laura Camien: The beauty of handwritten things, this lost art, you know, of this personal art form.

[9:50] Susan Blackwell: And frankly, the glory of the US postal system.

[9:54] Laura Camien: Amen.

[9:57] Susan Blackwell: So let us dig into what developed into MySpark and owed to the US Postal System, aka U S P S.

[10:07] Laura Camien: I love this.

[10:08] Susan Blackwell: I love everything about it.

[10:09] Laura Camien: I love Courtney.

[10:11] Susan Blackwell: But I do think this is phenomenal that you're like, this is where I'm at.

[10:17] Laura Camien: And this is what is truly what truly moved me this week.

[10:23] Susan Blackwell: I love this.

[10:24] Laura Camien: Thanks.

[10:25] Susan Blackwell: Yeah.

[10:26] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[10:27] Susan Blackwell: Um, I appreciate that.

[10:29] Laura Camien: And it's also, oh, I could muster.

[10:33] Susan Blackwell: Honestly, I was like, I gotta go with where's it flowing?

[10:37] Laura Camien: You know what I mean?

[10:38] Susan Blackwell: Where's what's like again, just small comforts?

[10:42] Laura Camien: What's comforting me.

[10:43] Susan Blackwell: So yeah.

[10:43] Laura Camien: So I followed this little thread.

[10:46] Susan Blackwell: And first, I thought we could talk about handwritten things.

[10:51] Laura Camien: And for some of our younger listeners, I apologize.

[10:55] Susan Blackwell: I am gonna go full grandma on this one.

[10:55] Laura Camien: Full grandma.

[11:01] Susan Blackwell: I no excuses, no hiding it.

[11:05] Laura Camien: So in the course of our lifetime, and when I say our, I mean Suze and I, but for some of our younger listeners, it was before your lifetime.

[11:14] Susan Blackwell: We have seen the transition from handwritten everything to electronic everything.

[11:22] Laura Camien: Yes, yeah.

[11:23] Susan Blackwell: You know, as a child, there were typewriters, but then computers.

[11:27] Laura Camien: And I distinctly remember when the idea of email was coming around, there was a computer lab at college at Kansas State University.

[11:36] Susan Blackwell: Yes, where you could make a special trip to go to send someone a note via this thing called email, and they might send you one back.

[11:45] Laura Camien: And I guess you could just check in periodically at the computer lab to see if anyone sent you an email back.

[11:52] Susan Blackwell: But I remember thinking very clearly, I don't know anyone who would even have what do you call it?

[11:59] Laura Camien: An email address?

[12:02] Susan Blackwell: Email address.

[12:03] Laura Camien: What is it?

[12:04] Susan Blackwell: No, no, I'm not gonna need that.

[12:06] Laura Camien: Thank you so much.

[12:07] Susan Blackwell: But no.

[12:08] Laura Camien: You are giving me such time machine right now.

[12:11] Susan Blackwell: Like I I am traveling back into my own history, and I'm like, I remember the computer lab at school.

[12:16] Laura Camien: I remember having to ask my college boyfriend to I would either handwrite or type my papers, and then he would, I'd be like, babe, can you?

[12:26] Susan Blackwell: I didn't know how to work a computer.

[12:27] Laura Camien: So I'd be like, can you put this into the computer?

[12:30] Susan Blackwell: And I also remember the first time somebody, and it was somebody named Aaron.

[12:37] Laura Camien: So I was a going into my junior year of college, was like, this is email.

[12:42] Susan Blackwell: And I was like, what is it?

[12:44] Laura Camien: And he was like, let's write an email to somebody.

[12:47] Susan Blackwell: And I was like, who are we writing it to?

[12:49] Laura Camien: And he was like, just somebody, I don't know it's somebody whose email is on this, like some sort of a chat room thing.

[12:57] Susan Blackwell: And I was like, okay, let's write an email. Hi, we are Susan and Aaron. We are writing to you. This is an email. It was that big. Sending a letter into space. But it was like too penny out there. Yeah. We didn't know. It wasn't, yeah. There was that feeling of like, why would I do that? For what purpose? To whom? Like, why would I do that? It seemed it seemed like a pen pal, like on Big Blue Marble, that TV show when we were little, where you could get a pen pal from around the world. It seemed like that sort of thing. It was sort of like just like a shot in the dark pen pal situation. Far less personal. Like if you've ever seen um, oh God, what like what is that, Matthew Broderick? Um games.

Oh my gosh. War games. War campaigns. Yeah. The computer screen on war games, it's like a movie. It's full pause. And these big chunky letters, and you're like, this is the most impersonal thing. I don't even know if a human wrote this or if it was a robot, right? Anyway, thanks for the time machine right here.

[14:01] Laura Camien: Oh, you bet. You bet. Um, at that time for me, my best friend from high school was a year younger than me. Hi, Amy. Hi, Amy. Amy Leeds. And when I left for college, bless her heart, she would write me these long, like four-page single space, front and back, just exposes of what's happening in her senior year. And in my mind's eye, I can vividly see her handwriting on the page. It was super unique and fun and very distinct. I could tell in a second that's from Amy. It makes me smile just thinking about it. And I don't know about you, but I felt like all through school, like we really took pride in our handwriting. Like for someone to say, like, you have the cutest or coolest or most amazing, what have you, handwriting? Yes. A major compliment. Yeah. Like, she's not only like so nice and so fun, her handwriting is so amazing. Amazing. So Amy had that.

[15:05] Susan Blackwell: So during college, my mom and my grandma also wrote me letters from time to time. And of course, I couldn't help but notice like the difference in handwriting. Graham Cracker, as I called her, had perfect grandma handwriting, like this cursive. And it felt to me like it was from a certain era. Like you could distinctly tell, and I'm sure that people can now. Yes, like when she learned how to uh do cursive. Yeah. And when they learned in school, and hers was probably complimented and was like of her time, great handwriting. But I could tell, like it was like, oh, that's grandma handwriting. And then my mom's was really similar to Graham Cracker, but it felt a little bit younger than hers. So, but not like me and Amy's. So over the course of the years, as my mom's health declined, like you could see it in her handwriting as well.

[16:03] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[16:04] Susan Blackwell: And that's something that, like, to this day, that just gave me very visceral feelings of sadness. You know, we could see the decline happening with each letter, like that she wrote. Like me and my siblings would compare notes, and we could see the decline in in each letter until there were no more letters.

[16:30] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[16:31] Susan Blackwell: Um, also in college, I fell in love with a guy who was studying to be an architect.

[16:37] Laura Camien: Oh, and he actually did become to me.

[16:40] Susan Blackwell: Totally. And um, yes, we'll talk offline. I I always thought that would be super hot, like to have a uh uh boyfriend or partner who was like uh an architect.

[16:52] Laura Camien: Totally.

[16:52] Susan Blackwell: He became an architect for Rails, and um, yeah, and like I was gonna say, a totally very, very attractive person, um, but also like a lovely human being, and that had this architect thing going on too, which is really great.

[17:07] Laura Camien: Yeah, that is great.

[17:09] Susan Blackwell: But he had that block lettering style that's like so specific, it's just screams designer, you know. Ricken love. I wish you know who has that, our friend Michael Barress actually his handwriting is impeccable, and he does. I'm like, you look like you have spent your life writing blueprints. I love that so much. I love it. I realized, like, oh, of course I love it. My dad had that writing too.

[17:38] Laura Camien: Oh, is it because of his words?

[17:40] Susan Blackwell: Yes, yes, yes, yes, and woodworker, like every design he sketched was a work of art, but then so was the lettering, like the way he wrote out dimensions and the description of it, all of it. I can't tell you how much this I love this. I really do. And when I I just love beautiful handwriting. Mine has certainly declined since I type mostly now, since I type in the new computer.

[18:05] Laura Camien: Me too.

[18:06] Susan Blackwell: But I love it when I see it. I don't really want to put the time into work on my own, but I love it when I see it in other people.

[18:13] Laura Camien: Me too.

[18:13] Susan Blackwell: And the reverse of that is sometimes I'm embarrassed when I like see something and I that I've written, I'm like, oh, who wrote? Oh, you I think you still have such beautiful writing.

[18:22] Laura Camien: Oh, only when I really like try. If I'm just writing things, it's like it's a lazy hand now for sure.

[18:31] Susan Blackwell: Yeah. But every every card that my dad wrote me over the years, like birthday cards and whatnot, I could immediately identify as my dad's writing, and it would just bring me warmth and happiness.

[18:42] Laura Camien: Oh.

[18:42] Susan Blackwell: And even now, like when I see little notes from Wes, sometimes like just like uh ran to the store, be right back. I my heart still like skips a beat. Like he has this very singular, like loopy sort of writing, the way he makes his A's and the W in his name. Like it's sort of an inexplicable burst of joy over the tiny details in his handwriting. But also now that we live in this time, I think it's pretty safe to say that unless someone is really putting some effort into it, we are not writing notes to each other as frequently as we once did.

[19:20] Laura Camien: And so it is more rare when you see Wes's handwriting on a thing.

[19:24] Susan Blackwell: Well, maybe you guys write cards to each other every day. I don't know. But when you see a note on the counter that says, Ran to the store, be right back. There is a little like when it is written by hand, it's the same way when I was visiting. Uh I remember visiting the Van Gogh Museum when I was in Amsterdam. And I was like, his hand touched that surface. That's it. And it's the same thing with that little note saying, ran to the store, be right back. Like there Wes's hand touched that surface. I don't mean to be too like sacred about everything, but but there's someone's doing a whole spark on it.

[20:02] Laura Camien: It is sacred.

[20:04] Susan Blackwell: I really do think so. I think I think like it is a it is what distinguishes that from you know, reading an email, which anyone could have written or a robot could have written, but that's like it's your signature stamp, you know, you know your person, part of you. Every time Nathan goes on a trip, every time he has to travel for work or to see his family, every single time he sends a letter back that he's written.

[20:38] Laura Camien: So freaking sweet.

[20:40] Susan Blackwell: It is sweet. He is so awesome. Usually he beats the letter back.

[20:45] Laura Camien: Sure, but then it's fun to get it like that.

[20:47] Susan Blackwell: Time lapse, I think is also part of the joy of the postal system. And we'll talk about that a little bit. Yeah. Um, you know, we're so used to instant gratification, but to know to discover that someone was thinking about you a week ago, and you discover it now, it still has the same little bit of joy in it that they thought to send you that note, you know?

[21:11] Laura Camien: I love it.

[21:13] Susan Blackwell: So everything that I've read up, uh, you know, that I read about regarding like the transition from handwritten to electronic uh communication talks about the loss of soul. Like, like we just said, if you see something typed, like anyone could have written it, and you know on some intellectual level, you know who wrote it because there's a label on your phone who says who that message is from or your email box that tells you who typed the words, but it's something you know intellectually, but when you see the handwriting of someone that you know on a letter, like that they have sent, you don't just know it intellectually, you feel it viscerally, I think.

[21:58] Laura Camien: Yeah, like you know that they put themselves into this note, it's part of them.

[22:04] Susan Blackwell: And I really wonder, like genuinely, not facetiously, and if you are one of our younger listeners and fans, I would welcome you writing us and telling us your thoughts on this. But I truly wonder if younger people will ever feel this difference as greatly as we feel it, just because they haven't lived in a time when everything was handwritten.

[22:28] Laura Camien: Yeah, I wouldn't think so.

[22:30] Susan Blackwell: I don't think so.

[22:31] Laura Camien: I wouldn't have to do that.

[22:32] Susan Blackwell: I think so. Everybody has their normal, you know, and it's not, it's you know, yeah.

[22:38] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[22:38] Susan Blackwell: But did you know that cursive is not taught in schools anymore?

[22:44] Laura Camien: I did know that.

[22:46] Susan Blackwell: And I I was also surprised when I I think I might have mentioned this on the podcast before. A friend of mine from Israel, I wrote something in cursive and I handed it to them, like some information, and they were like, Oh, I don't, I don't read cursive.

[23:01] Laura Camien: That's exactly this.

[23:03] Susan Blackwell: This is what I really wanted to talk about. I couldn't believe it. Like they stopped teaching cursive in 2013, I think. And they're being taught to read print lettering, of course, obviously. Um, but the letters that my grandmother wrote me, if I shared them with my nine-year-old niece, it is very possible that she might literally not know how to read it.

[23:31] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[23:32] Susan Blackwell: It will look like, you know, when we go back and we look at um, even if you look at like census, if you've ever been on Ancestry.com and you look at like the census reports where they show you know, like stylistically, it can be hard to read.

[23:47] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[23:48] Susan Blackwell: Right. I feel like we've talked about this on a prior episode. But listen, if we have, you let us know. Yeah, I told you it's grandma today, so grandma forgets. We're going full grandma. This is genuinely a spark for me because I feel like that is such a loss, and it's another thing that's like in our lifetime. It's one thing for us to like look at ancient scripts and be like, Well, I'm gonna need an interpreter because I can't read this. It's another for me to say, my niece can't read what my grandma wrote. Yeah, I like it just breaks my heart in so many pieces. Just there, the idea of our grandparents' letters being like a foreign language that will need translation. Um, uh, so that gets me.

Obviously, I'm passionate about it, and especially if I've spoken about it before, but but there's other losses as well. Like we often talk about the power of the process of handwriting on the page. You know, it helps us with visible, you know, visual recognition and retention of material. But there's also studies that suggest creatively, in particular, it can be really important because many, many sources said this, but including the BBC, brain imaging studies show that writing in cursive activates areas of the brain that don't participate when you're typing on a keyboard.

[25:19] Laura Camien: So you're literally using more of your brain when you when you handwrite something.

[25:24] Susan Blackwell: Yeah. Um there's writing, sorry to interrupt my writing teacher, Linda Barry. Uh, it was kind of a requirement in her writing class. That first draft was uh pen or pencil on paper. And she felt very strongly about all these things that you're talking about.

[25:43] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[25:43] Susan Blackwell: Julia Cameron does too with morning pages. Um, everyone's first question is always like, Can I type my morning pages? I mean, no one's gonna stop you, but you're missing out on a whole aspect there.

[25:56] Laura Camien: Um, but there's also the loss of immediacy and time and place.

[26:01] Susan Blackwell: On lithhub.com, Megan Forbes writes this. In the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction, Walter Benjamin considers how the modern capacity for reproduction affected original artworks or our perception of those originals. Even in the most perfect reproduction, one thing is lacking the here and now of the work of art, its unique existence in a particular place. It's hard to say what constitutes the original in an email correspondence. Like it exists in multiple forms in drafts, in inboxes, in scent folders and CCs and BCs and so on and so forth. But the handwritten letter does have all the ingredients that make an original, a singular here and now, a unique existence in a particular place.

Letters on paper bear the mark of history. They show the trace of touch in fingerprints and coffee stains, and countless readings renders little scars in brittle paper unfolded and folded up again. I thought that was just really true. Like there's life in the tangible. Like you said, Nathan touched this piece of paper, wrote on it, put it in the mail, and it's arrived now at your home for you to touch and feel.

[27:59] Laura Camien: Yeah, but it's like a piece of them. That's why I said, because it is like a piece of them that they've left behind. And depending on some of uh we have such creative friends that some of those pieces are there's drawings, there's you know, there's coloring, there's all sorts of creativity. So there are these little works of if not art creativity.

[28:23] Susan Blackwell: That's right. Yeah, right. In terms of letter writing in particular, there's another phenomenon. There is a vulnerability in writing it. You likely think through what you're planning to say, consider your word choices a bit more carefully because you can't just delete and rewrite.

[28:45] Laura Camien: That's right.

[28:46] Susan Blackwell: And you're more conscious of your expression than and when you mail it, if you've ever mailed something truly heartfelt, something that reveals your feelings or brings up tough subjects, you know that once you have mailed that letter, you have to send in the vulnerability of it. Um, you can't like once you've sent it, it is out there and it's a deliberate sending of something, and now you wait for a response.

[29:25] Laura Camien: Yeah, of course, in this day and age, the response might come via phone call or FaceTime or email when they get that letter, but until just only a short time ago in human history, sending that letter meant sending it by postal system, and it might take weeks for it to arrive at its destination and weeks for a response to make its way back to you.

[29:47] Susan Blackwell: That is agony. It's also there's sort of that bliss of of I don't know. I just think yes, but also though the when it's um what it's like a friendlier sort of correspondence or even a loving correspondence, yes, there is a bliss to it too, knowing that you're gonna send that letter and that you're probably gonna get a goodie back.

[30:12] Laura Camien: I always play this game like when I'm watching period um dramas, which I love, so I don't, you know, it's not a criticism, but I'm like, oh, they sent that letter out. That took a month to get there. And this letter that they've received back as though it's like two days from now didn't happen. Um, because they had to, you know, those are the I think those are the moments that I think about real vulnerability. If you are putting something in a letter that is truly like here are my feelings, and I don't know how you're gonna feel about it. I will wait anxiously until you reply.

[30:54] Susan Blackwell: So this leads me to the postal system. I'm sure that you have seen in the news recently that the United States postal system is in a little bit of trouble, yeah, and our president isn't so inclined to help them survive. I will leave politics out of it. But before we scrap the whole system that made letter writing possible, I do think we should take just a momentary look back in appreciation for that very system that brought Courtney's much needed letter from her home in Texas to my doorstep in Florida during a pandemic. The US postal system has been around since 1775.

[31:36] Laura Camien: Now I'm going to forget that is the 1800s.

[31:42] Susan Blackwell: 180.

[31:43] Laura Camien: 1800.

[31:44] Susan Blackwell: Centuries.

[31:44] Laura Camien: No, no.

[31:45] Susan Blackwell: It's not the 1800s. It's the 18th century. So if you take anything away, it's that.

[31:46] Laura Camien: It's the 18th century.

[31:52] Susan Blackwell: The most important thing to be said today. I am so stupid when it comes to that. Sorry.

[31:57] Laura Camien: You were saying okay.

[31:59] Susan Blackwell: So it has been around since 1775, thanks to the work of the very first postmaster general. Do you know who it was? It's gonna be somebody famous, right? It's gonna be someone you know, it's gonna be a name you know. I'm gonna tell you it was Benjamin Franklin.

[32:15] Laura Camien: Oh, Benjamin Franklin.

[32:18] Susan Blackwell: Damn it. If he's just one of those people who makes me wonder, what have I been doing with my time on this earth? Every time you turn around, you're like, he did that too. Benjamin Franklin is great evidence to be like, give, don't waste time on social media.

[32:27] Laura Camien: Don't waste time on social media.

[32:39] Susan Blackwell: He famously said that don't waste time on social media.

[32:43] Laura Camien: Oh amazing.

[32:45] Susan Blackwell: But during the early, really early years when our country was just a bunch of colonies, most of the mail wasn't even between people here in America. It was between someone here and the people they left behind in Britain.

[32:57] Laura Camien: Talk about months, yeah.

[32:58] Susan Blackwell: Yeah. So almost all of the mail in the 1600s and early 1700s was to and from like across an ocean. And when it arrived here, it would likely just be left in a tavern or an inn, and you could pop in and see if there were any letters for you.

[33:13] Laura Camien: But yeah.

[33:15] Susan Blackwell: But when we became an official country, there were 75 postal offices by that point. Now there's over 40,000. And at first, because our founding fathers believed that newspapers were essential to forming a nation so that people could read what was happening politically, newspaper delivery was free.

[33:36] Laura Camien: So that like because they prioritized that, this mail system was essential to them and getting that figured out.

[33:44] Susan Blackwell: Yeah. Um, so newspaper delivery was free. Eventually it cost a little bit, but just a tiny bit compared to sending letters. It used to be that you had to pay for the distance that the letter was going to travel. Kind of like long-distance phone calls.

[34:01] Laura Camien: Do you remember that?

[34:02] Susan Blackwell: Oh, so it's warned you fully, Granny today.

[34:06] Laura Camien: Oh, grandma. Long distance phone calls.

[34:09] Susan Blackwell: That's crazy. So you had to pay more. If you were like, this is going overseas. I guess that's still true. You pay more if it's going overseas. But if it was like this is going either to Connecticut or to California, which probably didn't exist yet, you had to pay more.

[34:25] Laura Camien: No, they did.

[34:26] Susan Blackwell: They did. And the first thing they did was up and down the coast. So you actually could, you know, to Massachusetts or to Florida, but you would you were going to pay more for that, you know.

[34:37] Laura Camien: Um, but eventually they made a universal stamp rate that made it more possible for regular people to engage in correspondence with loved ones.

[34:47] Susan Blackwell: In fact, according to Winifred Gallagher, the author of How the Post Office Created America, the great name.

[34:55] Laura Camien: I know, right?

[34:56] Susan Blackwell: Um I was gonna say the same thing, but here's another great name coming up. It's the name of the first cheap adhesive prepaid stamp was called the Penny Black.

[35:07] Laura Camien: Oh the Penny black was named for its price, Penny, and its sober depiction of a 15-year-old Queen Victoria.

[35:17] Susan Blackwell: It was issued in Britain in May of 1840%. And then soon after all other, you know, countries that had a postal system followed suit with this little stamp.

[35:30] Laura Camien: The Penny Black, it would be a great name for a band.

[35:33] Susan Blackwell: Yes, the Penny Black is amazing. Love that.

[35:36] Laura Camien: Um the first album cover is gonna look like that's right.

[35:41] Susan Blackwell: The t-shirts, the merch.

[35:42] Laura Camien: Yes.

[35:43] Susan Blackwell: On so according to history.com, the USPS delivers 212 billion pieces of mail each year to over 144 million homes and businesses. They are our nation's largest civilian employer with over 700,000 career workers.

[36:09] Laura Camien: And as we all know, God, that's a lot, right?

[36:14] Susan Blackwell: They pride themselves on getting the mail delivered, rain or shine, using everything from planes to mules.

[36:23] Laura Camien: They do it.

[36:23] Susan Blackwell: They deliver mules.

[36:26] Laura Camien: Yeah, in certain places because they also Puerto Rico, Guam, um, you know, uh territories and yes, yes, of course.

[36:36] Susan Blackwell: So they do it.

[36:37] Laura Camien: There's probably places in Hawaii that need that they might use a mule.

[36:42] Susan Blackwell: I want to go ahead and say on the record right now, I freaking love the USPS.

[36:47] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[36:48] Susan Blackwell: I I always have. I love them. Love our mail carrier, like uh carriers, I should say. And during this, like cuckoo for Coco Puff's time of the pandemic. Um, we have been treating them and tipping them and doing everything we can to thank them because they are what would we do without them right now?

[37:00] Laura Camien: What would we do?

[37:15] Susan Blackwell: And you'd have to pay a fortune and go out of your way to find a location to um mail something from. Today I I sent a um belated, it's gonna be late, but Mother's Day card um to Wes's mom. And I just walked out to my mailbox and put it there. I didn't have to know anything.

[37:34] Laura Camien: It's amazing.

[37:35] Susan Blackwell: It is amazing that that system exists and it makes me I guess we're not getting political except a little bit. It makes me insane the thought that that would be jeopardized in some way.

[37:46] Laura Camien: Yeah, me too.

[37:47] Susan Blackwell: Me too. Without getting political, there it is.

[37:51] Laura Camien: Me too.

[37:52] Susan Blackwell: But I guess we've gotten political. Now I know that the the it's needed. I I mean, when I go into I love our local post office, but when I go into like when you go into the post office, the big one that's by Penn Station in New York City, it is this big grand building that could stick.

[38:12] Laura Camien: It needs some work though.

[38:13] Susan Blackwell: It needs some work, and that's true of a lot of post offices. That the system, I feel like needs some TLC.

[38:20] Laura Camien: It doesn't need to be dismantled.

[38:22] Susan Blackwell: It does, but you know, it doesn't have the money it it once had.

[38:29] Laura Camien: Right.

[38:29] Susan Blackwell: You know, there's a lot of issues there, but I think we need to rally and say we want to have this system. We need to have this system. As individuals, it benefits us to have this system.

[38:43] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[38:44] Susan Blackwell: Um, so more on that to come. But let's rally for the USPS.

[38:51] Susan Blackwell: What?

[38:52] Laura Camien: We're the coolest.

[38:54] Susan Blackwell: Are we not coolest?

[38:58] Laura Camien: I'm still post off.

[39:01] Susan Blackwell: Yeah.

[39:03] Laura Camien: Um my god.

[39:06] Susan Blackwell: So uh country pride aside, the United States is not the first to have a postal system.

[39:12] Laura Camien: That's kind of obvious, but sometimes we forget.

[39:14] Susan Blackwell: According to Thoughtco.com, the first documented use of a postal system, state-sponsored, designated couriers who were trusted to transport messages.

[39:26] Laura Camien: Egypt.

[39:28] Susan Blackwell: 2400 BC.

[39:31] Laura Camien: 2400 BC.

[39:33] Susan Blackwell: Get it used by Facebook.

[39:35] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[39:36] Susan Blackwell: Egypt had uh I mean to talk about.

[39:38] Laura Camien: Yeah, they had some advancements.

[39:40] Susan Blackwell: I mean, they also, you know, there was slave labor and things that aren't fantastic, but man, did they figure some stuff out?

[39:46] Laura Camien: And it sounds like postal service was one of them.

[39:49] Susan Blackwell: Yes, in terms of just for pharaohs?

[39:52] Laura Camien: I'm not sure.

[39:53] Susan Blackwell: That's all I read about.

[39:55] Laura Camien: So I did not read like that.

[39:57] Susan Blackwell: The average citizen could, you know, send something in the mail.

[40:02] Laura Camien: Somebody could.

[40:03] Susan Blackwell: Someone could.

[40:04] Laura Camien: The earliest surviving piece of mail is also Egyptian.

[40:09] Susan Blackwell: Well and it dates back to 255 BC.

[40:14] Laura Camien: 255 BC is what?

[40:16] Susan Blackwell: Yeah.

[40:16] Laura Camien: I'm gonna I'll post a picture of it.

[40:18] Susan Blackwell: If I can get it.

[40:19] Laura Camien: What is it?

[40:19] Susan Blackwell: Do they know what it says or what it communicates?

[40:22] Laura Camien: They might know, but I don't know.

[40:25] Susan Blackwell: I don't have that information.

[40:28] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[40:29] Susan Blackwell: But they're not the only ones.

[40:31] Laura Camien: Many other civilizations that we've learned about had postal systems too.

[40:34] Susan Blackwell: The Han dynasty in China, the Islamic Empire in Arabia, the Inca Empire in Peru, all of them.

[40:43] Laura Camien: Postal systems.

[40:46] Susan Blackwell: So sometimes I think about the fact that many, many times in history, people sent letters that they didn't know would have a resounding influence on history.

[40:58] Laura Camien: Like, can you imagine?

[40:59] Susan Blackwell: Like sometimes I try to wrap my brain around it, but like, could you imagine years from now anyone finding an email that you wrote and calling it for information for significance, you know.

[41:10] Laura Camien: Um it's hard to imagine because when it's a handwritten letter, you can like experts can see when the person's under duress, or um, you know, there's you can analyze the paper itself.

[41:25] Susan Blackwell: Like there's a lot of information that can be gleaned from it, but not so much with email, but for some people, like they must realize at a certain point in their careers or in their lives that their letters would be historical evidence.

[41:44] Laura Camien: And so there's no such thing as like a casual note for them.

[41:49] Susan Blackwell: Oh, that's right.

[41:50] Laura Camien: You know, I think that in Hamilton, the song history has its eyes on you is so effective for me.

[41:56] Susan Blackwell: It had like it was impactful for that reason because it was that moment of realizing like all of this is going to be analyzed, yeah, criticized, yeah, and into the history book.

[42:11] Laura Camien: But so few of us have ever or will ever experience that type of pressure or have our pen wield that much power.

[42:20] Susan Blackwell: But certainly there are people whose letters have helped us piece together, like what really happened in history, or letters that changed the course of history altogether.

[42:31] Laura Camien: Let me tell you a couple examples of those.

[42:34] Susan Blackwell: According to Michael Berlingame, historian and Lincoln scholar, Abraham Lincoln wrote five public letters that by bolstering northern morale, people believe helped the Union win the civil war, thus outlawing slavery, preserving national unity.

[42:54] Laura Camien: In five letters.

[42:55] Susan Blackwell: In five letters.

[42:56] Laura Camien: Arguably the best one was addressed to Albert Hodges, dated April 4, 1864, in which he said, I am naturally anti-slavery.

[43:07] Susan Blackwell: If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.

[43:11] Laura Camien: And he essentially like vindicated this idea of government of the people, by the people, and for the people in these five letters, like really boosted morale at a moment when the Northern Army really needed, I guess, probably a good reminder of like what the hell are we doing this for?

[43:31] Susan Blackwell: This is why we're doing it.

[43:32] Laura Camien: Amazing.

[43:32] Susan Blackwell: This is why.

[43:33] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[43:34] Susan Blackwell: The power of the power of the pen.

[43:36] Laura Camien: The power of the pen.

[43:37] Susan Blackwell: And according to Clyborne Carson, who is the founding director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute, Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter from Birmingham Jail was apparently, I didn't know this, it was not noticed very much in April 1963 when his colleagues in the civil rights movement stitched it together from the fragments that he had drafted in his cell.

[44:04] Laura Camien: Major civil rights legislation was not then on President uh JFK's agenda, but the letter has gained recognition as the 20th century's most influential essay on civil disobedience.

[44:18] Susan Blackwell: This is the letter that includes statements from Martin Luther King, such as injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

[44:26] Laura Camien: And we will have to repent in this generation, not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.

[44:38] Susan Blackwell: This letter is it is incredible.

[44:42] Laura Camien: Incredible.

[44:43] Susan Blackwell: So letters, you know, uh they can they can make a difference like on an enormous, enormous scale.

[44:51] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[44:51] Susan Blackwell: Change the course of this.

[44:53] Laura Camien: Yes, they can.

[44:55] Susan Blackwell: Creatively, what has been made and what can be made of all of this?

[44:59] Laura Camien: First of all, many a plot has hinged on a letter or a message arriving on time and without being seen by others.

[45:07] Susan Blackwell: Romeo and Juliet, perhaps.

[45:10] Laura Camien: Yes.

[45:11] Susan Blackwell: In fact, in recent times, the prevalence of like cell phones and the ease of getting messages to people in in a moment's notice has actually provided a new challenge for writers who can't rely on like time and distance getting in the way.

[45:25] Laura Camien: Right.

[45:26] Susan Blackwell: So that's interesting.

[45:28] Laura Camien: Um, in Hamilton, we see Eliza burning the letters to and from her husband, knowing that that scandal would become his legacy if she did not destroy their communication about it.

[45:39] Susan Blackwell: But she certainly was not the only person to supposedly destroy letters.

[45:46] Laura Camien: According to the Los Angeles Review of Books, in the decade following Emily Dickinson's death, most of her correspondence went up in flames.

[45:55] Susan Blackwell: What?

[45:56] Laura Camien: Lavinia Dickinson, the poet's sister and companion, followed Emily's directives and burned letters that the poet had received.

[46:06] Susan Blackwell: And a few copies of Dickinson's shit.

[46:08] Laura Camien: I know, right?

[46:09] Susan Blackwell: You're just like, what is fuck?

[46:11] Laura Camien: What are we not seeing?

[46:12] Susan Blackwell: Oh, what are we doing?

[46:12] Laura Camien: Lavinia shit.

[46:14] Susan Blackwell: So a few of her letters survived, but many that did were the victims of what they called scissored deletions.

[46:26] Laura Camien: Also possibly a band name, scissored deletions.

[46:29] Susan Blackwell: Um words and phrases that were delicately but deliberately sliced and cut out of the text.

[46:38] Laura Camien: Oh man.

[46:40] Susan Blackwell: So they know that her sister and probably her brother Austin Dickinson were the most likely culprits of you know doing that.

[46:49] Laura Camien: And they probably sought to either censor or protect.

[46:53] Susan Blackwell: I'm sure they thought they were protecting their sister.

[46:56] Laura Camien: But um, but we'll never know exactly what was taken, like what did those little hole-ridden letters contain.

[47:06] Susan Blackwell: Wow.

[47:07] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[47:08] Susan Blackwell: Um A.R. Gurney wrote Love Letters, which is a play that literally is letters written back and forth by lovers over the span of decades.

[47:19] Laura Camien: It's so effective and moving as like you hear what's on the page, but you use your imagination to fill in the empty spaces.

[47:28] Susan Blackwell: I find it to be surprisingly effective.

[47:31] Laura Camien: I have never seen it, but it's a great piece for typically it's done, isn't it done by sort of like old two older actors?

[47:41] Susan Blackwell: Yeah.

[47:42] Laura Camien: And they're like they're never, they don't even share, like you don't see them physically together.

[47:46] Susan Blackwell: They're in two different locations.

[47:48] Laura Camien: Um, actually, that's a good one for someone to do now in this as a one's doing online.

[47:53] Susan Blackwell: That's a good pandemic spark.

[47:54] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[47:55] Susan Blackwell: That's a great one because they're in two different locations and they're writing letters and reading the letters back from, you know, and years go by in between.

[48:06] Laura Camien: But yeah, it's surprisingly effective.

[48:08] Susan Blackwell: Um Jane Austen and many, many, many, many other writers, um, just just citing a few examples here.

[48:16] Laura Camien: But Jane Austen used letters.

[48:18] Susan Blackwell: I think Pride and Prejudice is a good example of like a plot device to not only further the plot, but to reveal the character points of view.

[48:28] Laura Camien: Like you might get a letter from someone.

[48:31] Susan Blackwell: And that reminds me that like if you are working out a character in your own work, writing a letter from your character's point of view is just a great exercise to hear how they would tell the story.

[48:43] Laura Camien: Like what do they believe to be true at any given moment?

[48:46] Susan Blackwell: You don't even have to leave it in your work.

[48:48] Laura Camien: You can make that choice, of course, but it can be a great tool just for you to get the clarity on your story and your characters.

[48:56] Susan Blackwell: So those are some, you know, obviously things that have been utilized in this um artistically and creatively and historically.

[49:05] Laura Camien: But in this moment, of course, you can also just sit down to write a thoughtful letter to someone that you care about.

[49:13] Susan Blackwell: You can make it a work of art with watercolors or doodles if you feel inspired, like my friend Courtney did, or some of your friends, Susan.

[49:21] Laura Camien: Or you can just put words on the page, words from your heart, words that express your care, your gratitude, your joy of being alive, whatever you feel, whatever you feel.

[49:32] Susan Blackwell: And perhaps they may not change the course of history, but I can tell you from experience this week, they are guaranteed to change the course of a day or a week for someone that you love.

[49:44] Laura Camien: Oh, I love that.

[49:47] Susan Blackwell: That is gorgeous.

[49:49] Laura Camien: And it makes me want to practice my penmanship, even though a minute ago I said I don't want to.

[49:53] Susan Blackwell: It does make me want to get better at it.

[49:55] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[49:56] Susan Blackwell: And it also, we were just talking yesterday about um it was so foggy where we were.

[50:04] Laura Camien: And you know, we spend these long quarantine days upon days, upon days, upon days, upon days in the house.

[50:12] Susan Blackwell: Um, which I actually I actually enjoy.

[50:15] Laura Camien: But um, I was reminded of the movie The Others, and there's a really good plot point in the others where Nicole Kidman's character takes a letter out to the foggy mailbox and puts it in, and then like like it's two weeks later, a week later, she goes back out and she's like, Why hasn't the letter gone out?

[50:33] Susan Blackwell: And I was like, no spoilers, but yeah, um that dangerous liaisons, it's in so many little women.

[50:41] Laura Camien: Um the letter, she goes back to get the letter and remove it from a mailbox.

[50:46] Susan Blackwell: Yeah.

[50:46] Laura Camien: Um, and when I think about like those stories, I also think about this.

[50:50] Susan Blackwell: That is just not true for any of us.

[50:52] Laura Camien: Um, if you've lived a life of any privilege, you have had access to pen and paper probably your whole life.

[51:01] Susan Blackwell: But we, and I know that's not true for everyone, but if you have any amount of privilege, you most likely have pen and paper.

[51:08] Laura Camien: And when you watch these period pieces and you realize that it was not a given that there was paper, right?

[51:08] Susan Blackwell: It was not a given that you had an ink well and a pen.

[51:21] Laura Camien: If you had a desire to write, you it was time consuming to dip that scroll, spread that ink on the page.

[51:32] Susan Blackwell: It was difficult to do.

[51:34] Laura Camien: There were barriers to entry to like uh, you know, a three-page letter is a pretty big uh investment of time and resources to have you know paper, pen, and time to do it.

[51:49] Susan Blackwell: And I just think about like we just take that for granted. That of course, if I want to write a letter, I can, and it won't take me that much time, and I'll have what I need to do it. But that wasn't always the case. That's that reminds me of um, there's a book, and I can't remember the title of it. It might be where the red fern grows, it might be a different book, and I know that that author, whoever wrote it, it was based on their own childhood, and they didn't, they lived very remotely, very rural, and they didn't always have um something to write with and something to write on, and they would use tree bark.

[52:29] Laura Camien: Yes, yeah, yeah.

[52:31] Susan Blackwell: When they were little to capture their to capture those thoughts because like you said, it's not always a given. It may feel like a given now, depending on how you grew up, but it isn't. And I just love that. Um there, you know, just something to think about. Your creativity will find a way.

[52:48] Laura Camien: That's right.

[52:49] Susan Blackwell: That's right. And as long as you have the United States postal system, they'll help you spread the word.

[52:56] Laura Camien: Oh, I love that, Cammy. Thank you. That was a good spark. How are you feeling now? You sound different.

[53:01] Susan Blackwell: You sound like a different person.

[53:04] Laura Camien: I got that spark out. I shared it. There is so there's so much truth in just telling it like it is. Like this is how I felt when I sat down to write. This is the thread that I pulled on. And literally a thread pulled me out. Do you know what I mean?

[53:22] Susan Blackwell: Um, by just grasping on it and following it.

[53:27] Laura Camien: Yeah. Yeah. And and I don't know, sometimes there are in those moments of darkness, it's good to remember all it takes is a thread if you can find one.

[53:37] Susan Blackwell: Thread and a deadline, baby.

[53:39] Laura Camien: Thread and a deadline.

[53:42] Susan Blackwell: My God. A spark and a deadline. Tell me about your spark.

[53:46] Laura Camien: Well, first, let's just take a little break. Here we go.

[53:50] Susan Blackwell: And we're back. Um, Cammy, I got a little spark for you.

[53:55] Laura Camien: I want to hear it.

[53:56] Susan Blackwell: The title of My Spark is Kittens on a Blanket.

[54:01] Laura Camien: Oh my spine.

[54:05] Susan Blackwell: That's the title of my spark. It's Kittens on a Blanket, whether you like it or not, Cammy.

[54:09] Laura Camien: I like it a lot.

[54:11] Susan Blackwell: It's too cute. It's too cute for a podcast that has uh this podcast may include adult content profanity. Please use your discretion. Um it's perfect for grandmas, though.

[54:23] Laura Camien: That's right. This should be a grandma episode.

[54:26] Susan Blackwell: It kind of might be. We might need to have like a new, like a trigger warning. Like it's a granny, it's a granny warning. We're taking it back. My spark this week comes straight out of my life. As I said last episode, we little introverts are having a pretty peaceful quarantine. We're growing our own vegetables. They're really taken off. We're cooking every meal at home. We're building fires in the fireplace. We're working very hard. We're enjoying life. And as it comes up, we're processing our fear and our upset and our loss and our pains and our joys sometimes. So, but all in all, I have to say we're doing pretty well. Um, but we were having a conversation about what we are missing during Q times. And so here's something that I have been missing. One of our favorite dates was to get up early on a Saturday morning and take a long drive into the neighboring state.

[55:23] Laura Camien: And we have this loop that we like that includes a thrift store that I like and some other stores and a good grocery store. But one of the first stops is always an 11 a.m. visit to Shake Shack.

[55:39] Susan Blackwell: Oh, exactly. 11 a.m. We try to get there soon after they open because we would be one of the first ones there, and there's never a line. And if you haven't heard of Shake Shack before, if you've never been to Shake Shack before, it is a restaurant. It's fast food. It is so fucking good. It's it's just simple, it's delicious, it's very pleasing to me visually. It's like hamburgers and hot dogs and mushroom burgers and fries, head shakes. And but because it's so good, there's usually a line. And if you're in New York City, there are certain locations that are bizonkers. And I have a general guideline in life that which is I don't stand in lines for much of anything, unless it's food. Like, do you know what I mean?

Like I would never have a quarantine rule. It's just a rule in line. No, it's a life rule. Like I don't I mean, I'll stand in line now for the grocery store, but I won't stand in line to get into a club or like please, you have got to go fuck yourself. Um but if you're a burger person, this food, Shake Shack food is is kind of worth standing in line. So back to our Saturday morning date. Uh, we would each get a delicious shack burger, two orders of fries, two bubble waters, seltzers, club sodas, whatever you want to call them. Uh, we'd always get shack sauce, the whole deal, all of it for under $20.

[57:03] Laura Camien: So, yeah, so that's what we miss. We miss our little Saturday date.

[57:07] Susan Blackwell: Yeah. And while technically we cannot, I mean, we could drive to Shake Shack and get takeout. We're playing it, everybody gets to do quarantine the way they want to do it, but we're playing it super safe when it comes to driving when we don't need to contact with others outside of our little quarantine cohort. So who knows when it will be safe to go out and be out and have that little date again. But then it occurred to me, what if we figured out a way to bring Shake Shack to our house?

[57:36] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[57:36] Susan Blackwell: So I went online, I watched several videos about how to make a great shack burger or smash burger, as they are sometimes called, what ingredients I would need, how to approximate their little secret sauce. And like all COVID times cooking, I had to do some substitutions, but I did it. And I also wanted to make really good restaurant-style French fries, real French fries, which I have never done before. So again, I watched several videos. I learned how you have to cut the potatoes, Cammian, and then you soak the potatoes and then you dry the potatoes and then you fry the potatoes, then you drain the potatoes, and then you turn up the heat on the oil and you fry them again. And Cammyon, I did it.

[58:18] Laura Camien: You did it.

[58:19] Susan Blackwell: I did it. Oh my God. I freaking did it. Were they delicious?

[58:24] Laura Camien: Did you salt them? I need to know about the salt where they're not.

[58:31] Susan Blackwell: So this was last night, and I woke up this morning and I was like, I have eaten too much salt. I feel like my eyes are just like so. While it wasn't the same as going to Shake Shack and having someone make you that awesome meal for two people for under $20 in less than five minutes, it was pretty freaking great. We totally overate. I don't think I will make French fries at home again for about 72 reasons, including that they take a very long time and all of that salty fried food is terrible for you. But yes, it was fun to have that adventure one time.

[59:10] Laura Camien: There under your own roof.

[59:12] Susan Blackwell: That's right. But all of this inspired me further. What else can we do to make this time special? What other memories can we make so that when we look back on these cue times, we'll be like, remember when we did so-and-so during the pandemic? That was good times. So that is what my spark is all about today. If we are in decent health and we have the capacity, what can we do to make these times special and memorable and fun?

[59:40] Laura Camien: Mmm.

[59:41] Susan Blackwell: And I just want to say right now, there is a giant bird that just flew past my window.

[59:47] Laura Camien: I love you, giant bird. I love those giant birds, and I love when you tell me about them. Suze, can I just tell you there was a fish that landed in our driveway yesterday?

[59:56] Susan Blackwell: Shut it's from giant birds out of the lake and dropping them.

[1:00:03] Laura Camien: Or fighting over them and they fall. And then once they've fallen into like human territory, they don't want to get them. How far is the lake from your place?

[1:00:10] Susan Blackwell: It's down the street. It's like so they they literally like they do that thing where they dive bomb, they scoop them up in their talons, they get up there, and either they're like, and they lose their grasp or they're fighting over it and then it drops from the sky.

[1:00:25] Laura Camien: That's right. But you we've seen birds where like first of all, they'll fly by and we're like, ooh, someone's got a snack. You know, sometimes it's like a little fish they've gotten, sometimes it's a snake.

[1:00:35] Susan Blackwell: Somebody got a fish fillet.

[1:00:36] Laura Camien: Yes, someone's having a good dinner. But then you might see even mid-air, another bird come up and be like, I want the snack snake.

[1:00:45] Susan Blackwell: Yes.

[1:00:46] Laura Camien: I want that snake snack. I want that shake shack.

[1:00:48] Susan Blackwell: Yeah, but the first time it happened to me in Florida, I was home alone and a fish hit the roof and it flip-flop. I heard it. I was sitting outside a flip. Hit the roof and I heard it like flip and flip-flops. Didn't know what had happened to it, honestly. It landed on like our we have a pool and there's a pool screen over it. So it like rolled down the roof and landed half on the roof and half on the screen. So I could see it. And I couldn't wrap my brain around how a fish fell from the sky. Because we had just moved here, and I was like, what? The actual fuck. Did that happen? And now I'm much older and much wiser.

[1:01:33] Laura Camien: Rams has seen a lot in her day.

[1:01:37] Susan Blackwell: But I love your big birds. That's what I love.

[1:01:39] Laura Camien: Oh that is my big bird.

[1:01:41] Susan Blackwell: I love your big birds. I love yours, and I love that we get the privilege of seeing those big birds. When I see them, if I've been staring at a Zoom conference all day, my heart just like takes flight.

[1:01:51] Laura Camien: Yes. Thank you, big birds. You're the best.

[1:01:54] Susan Blackwell: Um, so more memorable times, more fun times. Here's uh another one. This is a healthy antidote to our little at-home Shake Shack heart attack adventure. My friend Deborah and her family love Disney. They love Disney, they are Disneyerds, and they were supposed to do a Disney 5K this April in Florida.

[1:02:18] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[1:02:18] Susan Blackwell: It was gonna be Deborah's family. She's got twin girls, plus her mom Naomi and her stepdad Buddy. They all of them they love Disney, they were all looking forward to it. And then after the race, uh the 5K, there's the flower and garden show that her parents, Naomi and Buddy, love to attend, but obviously none of that happened. So a little backstory. Buddy, her stepdad, 88 years old, and he has been in recovery from heart surgery, which was about meh a year and some change ago. He has taken his recovery super seriously. He has modified his diet, he walks every day for an hour, and he's been doing amazing with that. So even though, yes, so even though Disney had to close the parks, they Disney still hosted a virtual 5K.

[1:03:08] Laura Camien: So Deborah had an idea, and she registered herself and Buddy and her cousin Kimberly.

[1:03:16] Susan Blackwell: Oh yes, Disney issued them racing bibs that they could wear. And they they coordinated from separate locations. They coordinated what date and time they were gonna do their 5K. And in the days leading, yes, in the days leading up to it, Buddy said he felt like he was training for a specific event that was bigger than him, and that broke the tedium of his normal walk. Um, which again, he was super committed to, but he was like, you know, it gets boring. So the day of their race, which was last Sunday, they held a countdown, and then at 3 p.m., each of the racers began walking their own path in their own location.

[1:03:57] Laura Camien: And the rest of the family was their cheer squad, just like they would be if their loved ones were running a traditional 5K.

[1:04:05] Susan Blackwell: And each of the racers and a member of the cheer squad had a phone and they were all communicating with each other via a group chat, and you know, they were texting each other and sending videos and stuff like that.

[1:04:18] Laura Camien: Yep.

[1:04:19] Laura Camien: Yep, yep.

[1:04:20] Laura Camien: Um, so the cheer squad was sending them videos and cheering each other on.

[1:04:25] Laura Camien: So at Disney, if you're doing a marathon or you're doing a 5K, they have characters along the course that cheer you on.

[1:04:31] Laura Camien: There's water stations, there's, you know, like the full Disney magic support.

[1:04:36] Laura Camien: Um, so my friend Deborah pretended that she was doing her 5K through the Disney park.

[1:04:43] Susan Blackwell: And along her routes, this is so sweet. Along her route, she saw a rabbit and she took a picture of the rabbit and she sent it to the group text and said, "Look, it's Thumper." And then she took a picture of three little spring fat flowers along the way and sent it to the group with the caption, "The flower and garden show isn't what it used to be." Just like making cracking each other up with like dumb jokes. Um, and then Buddy's son Deaton sent a video of himself dressed up like baby Yoda from The Mandalorian, and he was clanging bells and cheering on the racers. And even Deaton's dog Remy, Deaton put some Mickey ears on Remy and they sent pictures and they cheered on all the racers. So again, Buddy, who is 88, recovering from heart surgery, his route was he just walked up and down the street.

He was wearing his little bib, his little racing bib, and two neighbors saw him, and he told the neighbors what he and his fellow racers were doing, and they loved it. And so they started cheering him on. And all in all, each racer walked for about an hour along their own course, laughed the whole time. Deborah said it was so much fun. It brought everybody so much joy. I don't think I've laughed and smiled so much since we've been in quarantine. So after Buddy finished his course and went back to his house, he got to sit and read all the texts and watch all the videos that the cheer squad had sent. And everybody who walked that day, those three friends, um, uh, Deborah and Buddy and Kimberly from their team, but everybody who walked will get an official medal and a certificate for it.

And as my friend Deborah said, no one deserves a medal more than Buddy for the way he's worked on his health since his heart surgery. She went on to say, in a time when everyone is so isolated, it was so great to bring everyone together. People just in their little cohort, people from Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, and Connecticut were all in on it for that one hour. They were all together supporting each other, laughing and having fun. I love that Deborah caught this spark and ran with it. No pun intended, grandma's uh, but sparks are everywhere, people.

[1:07:01] Susan Blackwell: And here's another one. They're everywhere. So I've been working with a lot of people, including students and the teachers who love them, but students who are going to be missing out on their graduations. And I was working with a group that included a graduating college senior named Carly from Utah State University. Holla, Carly. Carly was in a workshop that I was leading, and she was grieving the fact that she wouldn't get to walk in her graduation after working so hard for so long on her vocal performance degree that she wasn't going to get to walk in graduation, as is the case for many. Yep. And she felt like this significant rite of passage has been stolen by this pandemic. And I encouraged her first, of course, to feel those feelings, but then to consider what she and her family could do to create their own graduation ceremony and celebration, even in quarantine.

And I was asking her, I was like, as we were talking through this, I was like, what graduation type assets might you have right there in your own quarantine house, Carly? And she was all, well, my mom was saying we have some old graduation robes from my siblings' graduations. And I was like, Carly, Carly, you've been holding out on me. You've got the wardrobe. What else are you hiding over there? So we kept brainstorming and we generated more sparks and came up with some good ideas. And then a few days later, she wrote me this email.

[1:08:35] Carly: Hello, Susan. I have an update for you. We are looking to do my virtual graduation next week. We are putting chairs up in our backyard, bringing out our speakers, putting on pomp and circumstance, and I'm going to walk throughout the yard and my dad will give me a diploma. Yeah. I will also sing some songs because remember, she's a vocal performance major. Yes. And she promised, I will 100% send you pictures. Signed, Carly.

[1:09:00] Susan Blackwell: So yeah. So I wrote that. Great. Carly, hooray for your virtual graduation. Please, please, please tell me that there will be cake. Something that I found so sparkish about your story, Carly. When you look back on your life and you tell the story of this chapter, your graduation story is going to be so, so, so much more interesting and beautiful because it won't be like other people's graduations. It's unique and it will be even more special because you and your family chose to make it so. You continued writing the story and crafted a beautiful ending for yourself. I have no claim to you, but I am so proud of you. Thank you, thank you. And yes, please be sure to send graduation pictures.

[1:09:48] Laura Camien: Yay.

[1:09:48] Susan Blackwell: So Carly's graduate.

[1:09:48] Laura Camien: I know I am too.

[1:09:49] Susan Blackwell: And Carly, look, it's gonna be made even more special because we're talking about you on this podcast. Carly's graduation ceremony was by the time this podcast comes out, was on Sunday. So on behalf of everyone at the Sparks File, happy graduation, Carly. And to all the graduates, happy, happy graduation. I know that this might seem like a bummer time, that there's a lot of loss, but I also think there is the potential for this time to be really special and significant and memorable, and perhaps even more so because it's happening during a pandemic.

[1:10:30] Laura Camien: So that's right.

[1:10:30] Susan Blackwell: I offer you that. But the loss is real, the grief is real.

[1:10:34] Laura Camien: Totally.

[1:10:34] Susan Blackwell: But then continue to be able to do that.

[1:10:37] Laura Camien: Yeah, but the story is real.

[1:10:39] Susan Blackwell: That's right. The possibility is real. And I want to say, like, uh, kudos to Carly's family as well for being willing participants to say, all right, let's rally and reimagine what this is. Let's get on those folding chairs.

[1:10:56] Laura Camien: Amen.

[1:10:56] Susan Blackwell: I love it. Um, so here's another baby spark. Recently, I was working with a teacher, uh, again in another state. She has a 90-year-old mother sheltering with her, and they love movie theater popcorn as much as I love movie theater popcorn. And they found a place where they can get it to go. So I was like, oh, I would like to know more about that. I dug a little deeper. I found an article on Variety.com. Rebecca Rubin wrote about a cinema owner in Virginia named Mark O'Mira. Uh, this is from her article. With social distancing in place and non-essential businesses closed for now, cinemas have been hit hard. Essentially, all cinemas in the U.S. were forced to close, causing an estimated 150,000 workers to be furloughed or let go entirely.

Cinema owner Mark O'Mira said, "It's horrible all my life. I've had all kinds of tragedies, but I've never had a problem missing a meal or sleeping. This has been bugging me. I've been waking up in the middle of the night as a 67-year-old. You're supposed to get sleep, but I haven't been able to." But Mark O'Mira caught a good spark. Since he couldn't sell movie tickets, he took inspiration from a nearby McDonald's that was offering only takeout, and he started to sell curbside concessions, selling tubs of popcorn for three dollars. And all of this isn't an effort.

[1:12:19] Laura Camien: This makes me want to cry.

[1:12:20] Susan Blackwell: All of this isn't an effort to continue paying employees. Oh, after rolling out the promotion in mid-March, O'Mira made $25 in 45 minutes. And he's currently selling roughly $300 to $400 worth of product a day outside of his business. He said, "I'll do what I can to get these kids paid." Someone got her paycheck. I was watching her. She took out her calculator and said, "Yes, I can pay the rent."

[1:12:47] Laura Camien: Oh, that's what it's all about.

[1:12:50] Susan Blackwell: Oh, this makes me emotional. It's all about paying those people. And it's about thinking creatively on all right. So what do we have? What can we do? And you, you know, Mark reimagined it. How can we keep each other afloat?

[1:13:09] Laura Camien: Yeah.

[1:13:09] Susan Blackwell: God, that really got me. You really find like the business owners, like there's a real distinct clarity on those business owners that are like, what can I do to keep my employees paid or to take care of my employees in some way during this? Um, and those I think I just want those companies to rise to the top. I want those, you know, if we could all like be aware of them so we can like support their efforts in some way.

[1:13:43] Laura Camien: Yes, absolutely.

[1:13:43] Susan Blackwell: Absolutely.

[1:13:43] Laura Camien: I'd buy some movie popcorn.

[1:13:45] Susan Blackwell: I would. Girl, you know I would, because I have to say I love movie popcorn. I love popcorn. I love movie theater popcorn. And if you are a lover of the taste and smell of it, movie theater popcorn really does give you a wonderful feeling. Because we usually get it when we're like nestling into our chair to watch a movie. And if you're a movie lover, yes. So it gives me this feeling when I smell it and when I taste it that life is good and I'm in for a treat. And in times like these, I feel like that really matters.

[1:14:22] Laura Camien: Yep.

[1:14:22] Susan Blackwell: Um, so I checked there, I didn't find a local cinema selling it in my area, but I did figure out how to make great popcorn at home. And thanks to my sister Julie, the good people of the United States Postal Service and FedEx and UPS, I now have this fantastic Amish popcorn, a whirly pop, some weird orange powdered popcorn seasoning that my sister found at a restaurant supply store that makes the popcorn taste like movie theater popcorn. And I'm telling you, Camille, it's a small thing, but it makes watching Netflix more special or make like you choose a movie together and it makes watching it more special. This reminds me of a tiny little side spark. I'm to this spark is just like a free association spark, but this tiny little side spark.

Um, we were have you and I were having an online meeting with a client, a friend, a friend of the podcast, James. And uh James has been working, hi, James, these very long days trying to figure out how to navigate and lead through these pandemic times. And uh, I think he's doing an amazing job.

[1:15:29] Laura Camien: Oh, yeah.

[1:15:29] Susan Blackwell: So during our call, we're having this call, and this is at the end of a long, you know, he's just like, but in the middle of this long day, like just like Zoom conference after Zoom conference, his wife Lori, off screen brought him this little bowl of popcorn because he loves popcorn. And I thought, that is so kind and so loving. And it's exactly what I'm talking about. Whether you're doing it, something you do, a kindness you do for yourself or for someone else, just a little gesture that disrupts the day or the work and brings somebody a little piece of uplift. So good job, Lori. Good job, James. Good job, popcorn.

[1:16:14] Laura Camien: Oh, that's so special.

[1:16:15] Susan Blackwell: And I think in this time we are, um, you know, our expectations are being reset in a way that the a small gesture can feel so enormous and so incredible that you know, a little bowl of popcorn, it's a little bowl of popcorn.

[1:16:39] Laura Camien: That's right.

[1:16:39] Susan Blackwell: That's right. I love it. Um, speaking of such things, sparks and treats and sparky treats, uh, my husband was mentioning how much he used to love this German chocolate cake recipe that his mom used to make. And I heard it and I got the spark, and I contacted his mother, my mom, and I got her, I got her to send me the recipe for this icing, and as a surprise, I didn't make a big deal about it, but I got the ingredients from Amazon, and I made him that German chocolate cake almost from scratch. I used a gluten-free box cake mix, which was excellent, I have to say, but it was a really special surprise that I had just paid attention when he said he had recollected that he loved it. Uh-huh. And then I'd taken the time to get the recipe from her, and then I actually made it. It was really special.

[1:17:31] Laura Camien: That is sweet.

[1:17:31] Susan Blackwell: That's a thing that if you're fortunate enough to have like mothers and mother-in-laws and people still alive who can like share recipes with you.

[1:17:43] Susan Blackwell: Yeah, this is a great time for that.

[1:17:46] Laura Camien: So sweet.

[1:17:47] Susan Blackwell: Recipe sharing.

[1:17:49] Laura Camien: He must have just been out of his mind with appreciation and it turned out pretty great.

[1:17:56] Susan Blackwell: And the cake turned out great, and his response to it was great.

[1:17:59] Laura Camien: But what else can you do to make these cue times, which can blend into one another?

[1:18:03] Susan Blackwell: These days can just be sort of a bledge.

[1:18:06] Laura Camien: But there are ways to make them special and memorable.

[1:18:09] Susan Blackwell: And how can you do it on a serious budget?

[1:18:12] Laura Camien: Because many of us are rocking a serious budget.

[1:18:15] Susan Blackwell: How about a yes day?

[1:18:18] Laura Camien: I saw this on Huffpost.com in an article by Caroline Bologna.

[1:18:23] Susan Blackwell: And I really like the idea of this.

[1:18:25] Laura Camien: Whether you're quarantining by yourself or with others, can you grant yourself a yes day?

[1:18:31] Susan Blackwell: Ice cream for breakfast?

[1:18:33] Laura Camien: Sure.

[1:18:33] Susan Blackwell: Yes.

[1:18:34] Laura Camien: Popcorn for lunch?

[1:18:35] Susan Blackwell: Why not?

[1:18:37] Laura Camien: I get to pick the movie.

[1:18:38] Susan Blackwell: Sounds awesome.

[1:18:40] Laura Camien: I get to watch the same movie two times in a row.

[1:18:42] Susan Blackwell: Yes, Queen.

[1:18:44] Laura Camien: Whether you're a kid or an adult, I can imagine that getting to have a yes day every once in a while could be pretty fun.

[1:18:52] Susan Blackwell: And it could be a day where I'm like, okay, Nathan, this is your yes day.

[1:18:56] Laura Camien: And if he's like, I would love it if you would help me in the garage.

[1:19:00] Susan Blackwell: And I'd be like, yes.

[1:19:02] Laura Camien: I would love it if you would make that thing for dinner.

[1:19:04] Susan Blackwell: Yes.

[1:19:05] Laura Camien: Like you can imagine, like how I don't know.

[1:19:09] Susan Blackwell: That doesn't have to cost any money.

[1:19:12] Laura Camien: I uh I think I read something about uh Jennifer Garner doing that for her kids.

[1:19:18] Susan Blackwell: I maybe on their birthday, but it also, you know, the caveat was like it's not like can I have a new iPhone?

[1:19:25] Laura Camien: Can I, you know, it wasn't about like, can you buy me things?

[1:19:28] Susan Blackwell: But it was, can we play this?

[1:19:30] Laura Camien: Can we do this together?

[1:19:31] Susan Blackwell: Can we go for a walk?

[1:19:33] Laura Camien: Will you, you know, run around with me, whatever.

[1:19:36] Susan Blackwell: And she is like, and I have to say yes.

[1:19:39] Laura Camien: I say yes to all of it.

[1:19:40] Susan Blackwell: Oh my god, I love it.

[1:19:41] Laura Camien: Which is such a great idea.

[1:19:43] Susan Blackwell: I love it.

[1:19:44] Laura Camien: It's really sweet.

[1:19:45] Susan Blackwell: But to do it for yourself, like it's wonderful if you have a partner and you can do it for each other, but you don't have to.

[1:19:52] Laura Camien: You could do it for you.

[1:19:53] Susan Blackwell: If you have to, you could do it for you.

[1:19:55] Laura Camien: You could do it for you.

[1:19:56] Susan Blackwell: If you're like, I don't want to, uh, you know, do I have to take a shower?

[1:20:00] Laura Camien: No.

[1:20:00] Susan Blackwell: I mean, do I get to not take a shower?

[1:20:02] Laura Camien: Yes.

[1:20:03] Susan Blackwell: Yes.

[1:20:03] Laura Camien: Like, whatever you want to do.

[1:20:04] Susan Blackwell: Or can I take a bath?

[1:20:06] Laura Camien: Yes.

[1:20:07] Susan Blackwell: Can I cut out of work early?

[1:20:08] Laura Camien: Yes.

[1:20:09] Susan Blackwell: Can I like there's so many?

[1:20:11] Laura Camien: So good.

[1:20:12] Susan Blackwell: Can I buy that little like treat at the bodega?

[1:20:16] Laura Camien: Yes.

[1:20:17] Susan Blackwell: All of it.

[1:20:17] Laura Camien: So I put a little call out on social media and I just I just wrote, seeking inspiration, what are you doing to make your quarantine fun, special, or tolerable?

[1:20:27] Susan Blackwell: What is brightening your days?

[1:20:29] Laura Camien: And I just want to share some of the things that came back, which I love.

[1:20:33] Susan Blackwell: Um I'm not sure how to pronounce the name.

[1:20:37] Laura Camien: Finney dot alilia, maybe says, I've been going on a lot of walks with my mom.

[1:20:44] Susan Blackwell: I love that.

[1:20:45] Laura Camien: Doesn't cost anything.

[1:20:46] Susan Blackwell: You can, if you need to, you can still socially distance, but you get that quality time if you're lucky enough to have your mom near you and alive.

[1:20:55] Laura Camien: I love that.

[1:20:56] Susan Blackwell: Umare homewood 16 wrote, I've been doing a two-person production of Les with my sister.

[1:21:04] Laura Camien: Just now we're singing it, and then we're gonna film it.

[1:21:07] Susan Blackwell: And it's a great distraction from what's happening in the world.

[1:21:09] Laura Camien: And I was like, Yes, Mare Home Wood 16.

[1:21:13] Susan Blackwell: Wow.

[1:21:13] Laura Camien: Love it.

[1:21:14] Susan Blackwell: Love it.

[1:21:15] Laura Camien: Here's an amazing one.

[1:21:16] Susan Blackwell: I accidentally became a beekeeper.

[1:21:19] Laura Camien: They screwed me four times.

[1:21:21] Susan Blackwell: I took the hint.

[1:21:22] Laura Camien: Now reading obsessively about these creatures.

[1:21:25] Susan Blackwell: If you want to read about them, you'll surely find inspiration.

[1:21:28] Laura Camien: Come on.

[1:21:29] Susan Blackwell: That is phenomenal.

[1:21:31] Laura Camien: Wow.

[1:21:31] Susan Blackwell: Wow.

[1:21:32] Laura Camien: Um, Haley214 says, using what I have in my craft room to be creative.

[1:21:37] Susan Blackwell: I've been using playbills to make paper flowers and jewelry, both new things for me.

[1:21:41] Laura Camien: Yes, Haley 214.

[1:21:43] Susan Blackwell: Fantastic.

[1:21:44] Laura Camien: I love it.

[1:21:45] Susan Blackwell: Oh, this is a good one.

[1:21:48] Laura Camien: Everything bagel with cream cheese said.

[1:21:50] Susan Blackwell: Finding something to look forward to every single day.

[1:21:53] Laura Camien: Tonight I am in a cook off with friends.

[1:21:55] Susan Blackwell: More of a food style competition as the winner is determined by their final photo submission.

[1:22:00] Laura Camien: I was just like, these are amazing.

[1:22:04] Susan Blackwell: That's incredible.

[1:22:06] Laura Camien: People are so creative.

[1:22:08] Susan Blackwell: Trees Stars Scar says, I've been stuck in bed with the virus for two weeks.

[1:22:12] Laura Camien: So finding that place has been hard.

[1:22:14] Susan Blackwell: That makes sense to me.

[1:22:15] Laura Camien: I feel like if your health has been compromised and challenging, it would be very hard to have the capacity to find pockets of inspiration.

[1:22:24] Susan Blackwell: But Trees.stars.scars says, I've spent a lot of time watching things that inspire me, like RuPaul's Drag Race and shows about art history.

[1:22:33] Laura Camien: Yes, me too.

[1:22:35] Susan Blackwell: It's encouraged me to pull out my sketchbook when I have the energy.

[1:22:39] Laura Camien: I've also been keeping a daily journal about how this experience has been almost to the other side of being sick.

[1:22:45] Susan Blackwell: I hope.

[1:22:46] Laura Camien: I love that because this is such a historically significant time.

[1:22:50] Susan Blackwell: That is gonna be legacy.

[1:22:51] Laura Camien: That journal work and that sketchbook is going to be legacy.

[1:22:56] Susan Blackwell: So I am just even saying this right now, and I just want to say back to you, trees dot stars.

[1:23:27] Laura Camien: So good.

[1:23:28] Susan Blackwell: I mean, yeah, you will not regret having that um catalog, that uh book of experiences, you know, to reflect back on when you get on the other side of things.

[1:23:41] Laura Camien: Yeah, amazing, just amazing.

[1:23:44] Susan Blackwell: Um, like so many things, the idea of making even an average day a little bit creative and a little special is something I think I got from my mom.

[1:23:53] Laura Camien: My mom is always looking for sparks, including sparks that provide comfort and sparks that make memories.

[1:24:01] Susan Blackwell: And you know, she's always a girl on a budget, so none of it is ever super high ticket.

[1:24:06] Laura Camien: But one example is many years ago, I was visiting my parents' house, and I was laying outside on a blanket on the lawn, and my mom was just puttering around doing chores, and she buzzed by the blanket, and she put two kittens on the blanket, just little kittens that have been born recently, and it was such a small thing, but it made that moment which might have just passed on out of my memory and into history, it made it so special and so memorable, and it's exactly what I'm talking about here.

[1:24:38] Laura Camien: Sometimes when life is mundane or challenging, or you need a little lift, figure out how you can put a couple of kittens on your blanket or somebody else's.

[1:24:50] Susan Blackwell: And that is my spark.

[1:24:53] Laura Camien: Kittens on a blanket.

[1:24:54] Susan Blackwell: Oh, kittens on a blanket.

[1:24:57] Laura Camien: So sweet and so good and chock full of great ideas for everyone who's trying to find a little spark in this crazy trying to find their kittens on a blanket.

[1:24:57] Susan Blackwell: Kittens on a blanket, kittens on a blanket.

[1:25:14] Laura Camien: I've also had that's a nice harmony cams.

[1:25:16] Susan Blackwell: I've also I've been working with the vocal coach.

[1:25:19] Laura Camien: Um just a real covered sound.

[1:25:26] Susan Blackwell: Um I guess that's it.

[1:25:28] Laura Camien: Is that it?

[1:25:29] Susan Blackwell: I think that's it.

[1:25:30] Laura Camien: Actually, in that can I say a kittens on a blanket thing?

[1:25:33] Susan Blackwell: I want to just give some props to Wesley Day.

[1:25:35] Laura Camien: Yes, kittens on a blanket.

[1:25:37] Susan Blackwell: I have a friend who um had written a new play, Manny.

[1:25:41] Laura Camien: Uh Manny Gracious, Manny Gracious, yes, um Oh, this is so kittens on a blanket.

[1:25:41] Susan Blackwell: So kittens on a blanket.

[1:25:49] Laura Camien: I loved it so much, and I was working all day, right up to the moment when the play was gonna start.

[1:25:54] Susan Blackwell: So Wes was like, okay, like a virtual reading, right?

[1:25:54] Laura Camien: Virtual reading.

[1:25:58] Susan Blackwell: Mm-hmm.

[1:25:59] Laura Camien: It was a virtual meeting.

[1:26:00] Susan Blackwell: But it was so uh top notch.

[1:26:03] Laura Camien: Like you arrived in um the virtual space and it was like lobby music and um visual of the lobby.

[1:26:12] Susan Blackwell: That's what I was doing.

[1:26:13] Laura Camien: Doors aren't open yet.

[1:26:14] Susan Blackwell: Yeah.

[1:26:15] Laura Camien: Oh, I love that.

[1:26:16] Susan Blackwell: It was so cool.

[1:26:18] Laura Camien: But what Wes did, so he knew I was gonna be working right up till you know, moments before.

[1:26:25] Susan Blackwell: And he remembered we had some popcorn.

[1:26:29] Laura Camien: We had some um so speaking of popcorn, it was like kettle corn, but you know, not exactly movie popcorn, but it was still delicious.

[1:26:36] Susan Blackwell: Oh, kettle corn, bonus points for cattle corn.

[1:26:39] Laura Camien: Honestly, bonus points all around because he set up two chairs outside the computer on a little table in front of us, um, had our drinks and popcorn ready.

[1:26:50] Susan Blackwell: Oh, and I just was like, are we ready?

[1:26:53] Laura Camien: I'm thinking like we're gonna go to the living room and sit and watch.

[1:26:56] Susan Blackwell: And he's like, movie theater is right this way.

[1:26:59] Laura Camien: Um the theater was right this way.

[1:27:01] Susan Blackwell: And so we sat outside and watched Manny's play, which was wonderful, and uh just enjoyed, you know, a really special like outdoor theater experience.

[1:27:15] Laura Camien: This is exactly what I'm talking about.

[1:27:17] Susan Blackwell: This is something you will never forget.

[1:27:19] Laura Camien: This is hashtag kittens on a blanket.

[1:27:22] Susan Blackwell: Kittens on a blanket.

[1:27:23] Laura Camien: It's just taking that little like five.

[1:27:26] Susan Blackwell: What did that take him to do?

[1:27:27] Laura Camien: Like seven minutes to set that up.

[1:27:29] Susan Blackwell: Sure, yeah.

[1:27:30] Laura Camien: Taking when you have them.

[1:27:31] Susan Blackwell: We don't always have the seven minutes, but when you have the time and when you have a little scoche of energy, just catching a little spark, putting a kitten on a blanket and making it a little bit more special.

[1:27:43] Laura Camien: That is fantastic.

[1:27:45] Susan Blackwell: And it also sparks me because when the weather is a little bit warmer, something that we like to do is um instead of watching the movie indoors, just projecting it on the side of the house and making a drive-in movie outside.

[1:28:00] Laura Camien: That's one of my favorite things to do.

[1:28:02] Susan Blackwell: I love that so much.

[1:28:03] Laura Camien: It's on the legit.

[1:28:08] Susan Blackwell: I guess that's it.

[1:28:09] Laura Camien: We hope that this put another bunch of sparks in your file.

[1:28:12] Susan Blackwell: Listen to us when we tell you if there is a spark you'd like us to explore, or if you've taken a spark and fanned it into a creative flame and you'd like to share that, email us at the sparkfile at gmail.com or submit it through our website, thesparkfile.com.

[1:28:26] Laura Camien: Y'all mailbags, mailbags, mailbags.

[1:28:29] Susan Blackwell: Got a mailbag episode coming up.

[1:28:30] Laura Camien: Send us some sparks.

[1:28:32] Susan Blackwell: Send us some sparks.

[1:28:34] Laura Camien: And you can even send us some feedback if you have some, but you know the price of admission.

[1:28:38] Susan Blackwell: First, you have to share a creative risk that you have taken recently.

[1:28:42] Laura Camien: Oh, also follow us on social media at the Sparks File and be sure to subscribe to this podcast wherever you get your podcast.

[1:28:50] Susan Blackwell: Subscribe, rate, five star review it.

[1:28:53] Laura Camien: If you like this podcast, we hope that you'll share it with people that you loved.

[1:28:56] Susan Blackwell: And if you didn't like it, it's okay.

[1:28:58] Laura Camien: But we're curious, what do you love?

[1:29:02] Susan Blackwell: We like it too.

[1:29:03] Laura Camien: Will you let us know?

[1:29:04] Susan Blackwell: Ha ha ha, we tricked you into sending us sparks.

[1:29:07] Laura Camien: Ha ha ha.

[1:29:09] Susan Blackwell: If something tickles your fancy and gets your creative juices flowing, we are writing you a forever permission slip to make that thing that has been knocking at your door.

[1:29:19] Laura Camien: It's your turn to take a spark and fan it into a flame.

[1:29:25] Susan Blackwell: You gotta collage it, you gotta decoupage it, you gotta make an artsy craft, then be sure to mod podge it.

[1:29:32] Laura Camien: You gotta take it and make it make it.

[1:29:38] Susan Blackwell: How you feeling now, Cam's?

[1:29:40] Laura Camien: You sound like a different person.

[1:29:42] Susan Blackwell: You know, I just talked my way through it.

[1:29:44] Laura Camien: Went straight through it.

[1:29:45] Susan Blackwell: There you go.

[1:29:46] Laura Camien: On the other side now.

[1:29:47] Susan Blackwell: I love it.

[1:29:49] Laura Camien: Whee!

[1:29:50] Susan Blackwell: We kittens on a blanket.

[1:29:53] Laura Camien: Kittens on a blanket.

[1:29:56] Susan Blackwell: Kittens on a blanket.

[1:30:02] Laura Camien: Bump.

[1:30:03] Susan Blackwell: When I bump into something that inspires me, I dump it in the spark five.

[1:30:11] Laura Camien: Spark.

[1:30:12] Susan Blackwell: Could be something that I wanna make or how I wanna be.

[1:30:17] Laura Camien: I'll pump it in the spark five.

[1:30:20] Susan Blackwell: Spark.

[1:30:22] Laura Camien: I jump into my spark fire.

[1:30:25] Susan Blackwell: Spark.

[1:30:26] Laura Camien: Let's open up the spark fire.