Gopher Snake Hot 100: Taxidermists, Population Clocks, and Beaver Islands

Be informed and forewarned

1. Walter Potter

If I had to rank my favorite taxidermy artists by the ones I’ve heard about, it would have Walter Potter at the top of the list, followed by no one, because I’m not very familiar with this subject. But, check out his art, why don’t you?

2. Rules for writers

When in doubt, I always return to Zadie Smith’s 10 rules of writing. Especially this one:

Avoid cliques, gangs, groups. The presence of a crowd won’t make your writing any better than it is.

and this one seems relevant latley:

Work on a computer that is disconnected from the ­internet

And when in even more doubt, I return to these rules from Kurt Vonnegut, my all-time favorite author and freshwater person.

Especially these two:

Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them-in order that the reader may see what they are made of

And:

Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia

I modify the one-person rule to “A small group of people you know,” which usually includes a rotating group of friends and family.

3. Population Clock

Before bed, my 10-year-old likes to write one question in her journal that she has no answer for. The other night, she asked: “How many people die per minute?” Dark, but still interesting! So we looked it up together and found this online Population Clock created by census.gov. Track births, and deaths, and think about your own mortality! Kid tested, mother approved!

4. Beaver Island

Not far from the Lake Michigan tourist towns of Charlevoix and Traverse City sits Beaver Island. In the 1800s, the delusional ex-Mormon (and state congressman) James Strang founded his own Mormon kingdom there. It didn’t end well. I’ve been fascinated with this story for a long time and eventually stumbled upon a great book telling the story. It’s amazing and weird.

5. John Cleese Vs. Political Extremism

Just gonna drop this one here because I’m tired, and this is one of the most accurate things I’ve ever seen.