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Peoria is my hometown. It’s the jewel city of the Illinois River, situated at its widest point, with big bluffs on either side of the river. This segment of the Illinois River is the site of the oldest European settlements in Illinois, but before that, Native Americans inhabited it too. They called this land by the river “pimiteoui”, which roughly translates from Miami-Illinois to English as “it burns past”. The wet land near the river but below the river bluffs was protected from prairie wildfires, leaving forests that have always been safe and green. I spent a lot of time hiking in them. Peoria’s country club is on a long street at the top of the bluffs, with views down to the river and the forests. In 1910 when Teddy Roosevelt was in the backseat of a car on the way to that country club he described the road as the “world’s most beautiful drive”, and I think that’s true. A river valley is where mankind started, and it’s still all we need. This is a recommendation for my hometown but also for yours.
Jul 16, 2024
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Aug 10, 2024
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I’m back at my very rural childhood home for a quick visit. i choose not to live out here for lots of reasons, but there is something special about sitting by the open window in the morning, the dog resting his head on my lap. I can hear clearly the conversation between three or four different types of birds, the methodical hum of crickets and grasshoppers in the background, the sound of the occasional car or truck passing by. Yesterday I walked through some of the fields out back, and with every step I took, insects and frogs jumped away from the tread of my feet. The sky is clear and cloudless today, and the trees on the hills are thinking about changing their colors soon for fall. I’m not ready to come back full time but I’m grateful I get to visit and remember how special it is here.
Sep 10, 2024
Mar 12, 2025
Top Recs from @coldhealing-1
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Another way to generate identity in the present and help you remember your life in the future. It helps that I fixate on individual songs and listen to them multiple times a day, so I enjoy listening to short playlists with the songs I like at the present moment in time. I’ve been doing this since April 2018, and in some ways it feels like my life started then. I can pull up to any month since then and listen to songs that bring it back. In May 2019 I was living in my parents’ sunroom right after I graduated college and listening to Mitski’s cover of Let’s Get Married a lot because it felt so clean and soft.
Jul 16, 2024
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I love all three Lorde albums, but Solar Power is my favorite. It got a lot of hate when it came out, and I'm worried she might disown it when she drops her next album, so I want to take a stand now that this album is good. It traces such interesting critical lines between 60s/70s hippie culture and 2010s/2020s Instagram wellness culture while still holding its own optimistic and fresh natural wellness. And Lorde's affection for her home island New Zealand is inspiring.
Jul 16, 2024
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A Summer’s Tale is available to stream on HBO Max. It's the story of a math major boy who's shy and wears black. He's pulled between three girls while on his beach vacation in northern France. Like many of Eric Rohmer's best films a lot of its runtime is spent on hot people doing fun activities. This is a recommendation for other Rohmer films, if you like this one. My other favorites are The Green Ray, Claire's Knee, Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle, and the Romance of Astrea and Celadon.
Jul 16, 2024