Just the Recs for Labor Day

Keeping it short and sweet with recommendations for Michael Simms' August poems, Helen Fisher on YTE, and Sandy Allen at camp.

It’s been a long week and, to be honest, I’m feeling drained. I don’t have a funny intro essay in me today. But it’s also Labor Day weekend, so let’s say I’m skipping my intro essay this week in respect and solidarity with unions. I stand with labor! Ok, on to the links and recommendations, keeping it short and sweet.

My projects and upcoming events:

PODCAST: How to Be a Better Human (TED/PRX) - How can you be less cynical? What would it mean to have hope for the future (without denying reality or being a gullible sap)? That’s the topic of the conversation I had this week with Jamil Zaki, a Stanford psychologist and author of Hope for Cynics. Listen here (or wherever you get your podcasts)

LIVE IN NYC: Wrong Answers Only at Symphony Space - Thursday, September 19th at 7 p.m. Tickets are on sale for this show where an expert on cyber security gets interviewed by a panel of comics that includes me, Michael Cruz Kayne, Wyatt Cenac, and Ziwe! Details and tickets here

MAGAZINE INTERVIEW: I was interviewed by Angela Haupt for this TIME article about friendship and connection. It’s very cool to see my work get featured in print! You can read it online here: How to Make Friends as an Adult—at Every Life Stage

This week’s list

GREAT:

These two poems by Michael Simms are specifically for August, so this is my last chance to squeeze them into the newsletter. I really enjoyed them and I’m glad I get to sneak them in right under the wire. Two Summer Songs (h/t Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer)

FUNNY:

Bear with me for a second because the first part of this is not funny. The biological anthropologist Helen Fisher, who studied the biology of love, passed away this week. That’s the sad part. Here’s the funny part: I had the good fortune of meeting Dr. Fisher and getting to talk to her about her research several years ago at a taping of my show You’re the Expert. The panel of comedians that night included a pre-SNL Bowen Yang, Michelle Buteau, and Matt Koff of The Daily Show. An incredible lineup and an incredible topic. You can listen to the recording here: Love: Anatomy, Biology, and Evolution

INTERESTING:

Sandy Allen has a new piece in GQ that’s a beautifully written and reported look at what it means to be surrounded by people who just get it. For Sandy, that meant going to a Camp Lost Boys, a sleepaway camp for trans men. But as Sandy writes about the experience, it’s also about what it means for any of us to be in a place where you don’t have to be on guard or ready at all times to explain and defend your existence. “I spent three days at a sleepaway camp for grown-ups just like me. I was unprepared in more ways than one.” Into the Woods with 150 Trans Men

BONUS FOR PAYING SUBSCRIBERS:

Paying subscribers make Bright Spots possible! Subscribers get access to special features as well as all posts in the archive. Paying subscribers also get my undying gratitude (which never dies). It’s never too late to join them!

That's it for this week. Thanks for reading! Please share Bright Spots with anyone you think might enjoy it.

See you next Saturday,

Chris Duffy

This has been Bright Spots, a newsletter.

---

…wait, who are you?

I'm Chris Duffy, a comedian, TV writer, podcast host, and both a former fifth grade teacher and a former fifth grade student. I’m currently writing a nonfiction book about humor for Doubleday.