Everything and everyone is saturated to the gills with political commentary, hot takes, discourse, and pissed-off snark. People and the internet are so filled with all of this they don’t really have time or space for anything else. Longtime followers know that I think this whole culture and drift is toxic and erodes the human spirit and the possibility of culture and life. You also know I am most interested in writing about, talking photos of, and exploring life in our modern world. Trying to make, and document, (honest) life as art in our age of clickbait-algo spectator reactive discourse. For the past six months I have been working on compiling a collection of short essays and vignettes I have written over the years into a single print volume and I am thrilled to share it with you. In curating this collection for print I was adamant about a few things. I wanted a classic, simple, beautiful design inside and out. I wanted a book that you could carry around, toss on your bed, put in your pocket, shove in your bag, manhandle on the beach, write in, write on, and everything else in-between. For me, the point of this collection isn’t to produce an epic hardcover tome. It’s something more informal and approachable. Something simpler and relatable. I’ve always loved those little paperbacks. You know, the ones they say they aren’t going to make anymore. Well, I want to still make them or something similar to them. I wanted this collection to be as close as possible to that rugged, personal, carefree spirit. The book itself is about 5 in. X 7.75 in.. About as small as you can get these days. The design is simple and (hopefully) timeless, the font is warm, the margins are ample, and the pieces honest. There’s a link in my linktree / bio to Amazon where you can Buy Modern Lives. Or of course, just search Amazon as we all so often do and that will work just as well. No politics, no hot-takes, no reaction, no discourse; just life.

Life is busy. Good busy, but busy. It seems like I am traveling for work every single week. It's great work, the best work, but busy. There's a lot going on, a lot to manage, just so many plates in the air with so many exciting things in life - business ventures, creating art, raising kids and getting ready for another one. Every Friday afternoon feels like a race to the very end, the last minute before sunset, and then silence. We keep shabbat in the traditional way in our house which means we don't drive, spend money, or use our phones, tvs, internet etc... It's very important for our family. Our whole week revolves around it really. It's the arrival point at the end, that which everything is kind of gravitating toward and that which cannot ever be postponed or rescheduled. It's an island in time and one where we are just a family and only a family for 24 hours once every 7 days. I've said it before, and I will say it again - doing it keeps me (someone who is online all the time) sane. Sometimes it's really hard to pause work, sometimes I don't get everything done and I feel a real bad itch and it's hard to not scratch it. It's also hard to say "no" to people or events which happen on Saturday (which happens a lot) even if we really want to go. But that's how it is and it's important and the rewards far outweigh anything else. I post about this somewhat regularly because it's really such a huge part of our life - taking that one day a week off. It's almost radical in the age of the smartphone. Nevertheless, this week was a busy week. This morning my son and I were in the eastern U.P. right near Canada, but now we are home and the sun is getting lower. My wife baked challah like she does every week, baked pumpkin muffins, a whole chicken, quiche for tomorrow morning, and tuna salad for lunch after. And now, it's time for us to sign off. Have a wonderful weekend, and shabbat shalom.

Need a book - “Lies my TL told me” about people’s brains being fried online.

Wes Anderson in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

Don't try to keep track or keep score. Trying to go tit for tat is a recipe for unnecessary unhappiness. Both have to try their best but if you try tallying it up and keeping score you will be unhappy and unloving. You aren't 50/50, you both have to be all in.

The richness of color here is amazing. Transporting. The beauty of film. Follow Film 20 for a feed of film photography (reality) from around the world. Film 20 is the anti AI slop.

If you are in a nice old classic home at least one of the floors will not be entirely level. There will be some slope, some slant, some imperfection. That's life in real places.

A good way to cultivate a strange and confusing aura is to speak very softly, almost in a gravely whisper. Instant vibe.

A deceptively thoughtful book. Usually we think of Dr Seuss as one thing but this is another thing and it’s good

Today, traveling and shooting for work in the northern hinterland, on the edge of empire. And yes that’s the most unglued camera rig yet. F2 Ricoh Black Magic Cinema Camera 6k

This is one of my favorite videos I've shot for Michigan Enjoyer this year. Shoe Island, a tiny little island out in the middle of northern Lake Michigan. This is, most likely, the best footage you're going to ever see from this little slice of land. Sound up.

Our house does this. I am not entirely sure of the logic. Sometimes it goes cold with a flush but sometimes when you run one shower - the basement shower - the other shower won't get hot. I don't know the magic or the formula, but I know it's still lives one at the Root House.

Picked up these hats at the @KJP store in Newport for the kids the other week. They love them, and now seeing them wearing them, I am jealous I didn’t get one for myself! The corduroy fish goes so hard. We need more corduroy hats.

At the gas station in DeTour Village you can still pump before you pay.