The Attic

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I want to alert my readers to a wonderful, upbeat blog called the attic. Here is a brief description from the blog’s author,

Sick of the news? Come rummage in The Attic to find a kinder, cooler America.  Here you’ll find common ground, not minefields. Updated weekly, The Attic features short profiles of American artists, writers, dreamers, inventors, visionaries, and more …

Time was when magazines I wrote for, Smithsonian and American Heritage, explored this space. But screens have silenced kinder, cooler Americans.  The result is a nation of shrill voices. If you are world weary, skeptical, worried about this American “experiment,” join me in The Attic.

The blog is written by Bruce Watson, a regular contributor to Smithsonian, who has also written for American Heritage, the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, Nautilus, Yankee, and other publications.  His books include Freedom Summer, Sacco and Vanzetti, and Bread and Roses (Viking).  He has also written e-biographies of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. His most recent book, nominated for a Los Angeles Times Book Award, is Light: A Radiant History from Creation to the Quantum Age (Bloomsbury).

Every post on the site is written beautifully, filled with wonderful photos, tells an American story, and can be read in just a few minutes. I have read almost all of them and enjoyed every single one. Here is a small sample:

“THE WOMAN WHO WOVE THE VAXX” (about Jennifer Doudna, one of the scientists who helped create the life-saving Covid vaccines. Thank you, Dr. Doudna.)

“WALKING AMERICA WITH THE MASTER” (about Thoreau’s love of walking, one of my favorite pastimes.)

“NETWORK” — STILL MAD AS HELL” (about a great movie, and one of my favorites.)

“THE BOOK THAT LISTENED TO GIRLS” (about the voices of women which we so desperately need to hear, and a book I first read over 30 years ago.)

“THE POET AND “THE ANSWER” (about the poet Robinson Jeffers and his ruminations on how to transcend the ugliness of this world and revel in the beauty of the universe.)

Bruce’s posts create a little bit of beauty in an oftentimes depressing world. I cannot recommend them more highly.