Hi,

I’m kinda showing up unannounced, like the small-town pop-in nobody appreciates. Is this a violation of trust? That’s extreme but not entirely unfounded.

I have long billed this Rage Against the Algorithm newsletter as a first-of-the-month missive. But as I’ve pulled out of social media, that leaves me with two places for direct outreach: this long-running newsletter and my equally long-running podcast.

For a month (as a trial, might keep it going), I’ll run a weekly newsletter that’ll feature the podcast guest for that week and likely the parting shot from that week’s episode. What does that mean for the “up-to-11” component? My “link dump,” basic as that is in newsletter circles, might still be its own thing on the first of the month. Each podcast gets a newsletter and then the “flagship” rager gets its own for as many as five emails a month, which given how many times you get emailed by Starbucks or Bookshop.org isn’t really that bad.

As with anything, these things are experiments. If you care to leave feedback, simply reply to this email.

Hockey, eh

Sam Jefferies is a writer and communications specialist based out of Seattle. His debut work of nonfiction is Legacy on Ice: Blake Geoffrion and the Fastest Game on Earth. It’s published by the University of Wisconsin Press.

Given that the Stanley Cup Final starts soon, highlighting Sam’s book about an iconic hockey family that goes back generations seemed apropo. The Geoffrion lineage includes the “Babe Ruth” of hockey, though you’ve likely never heard of the Geoffrions. I hadn’t. It’s a slim, tight book that takes you inside a hockey family and the aftermath of when it a hockey career ends too soon.

In this conversation, Sam shares a piece by Tom Wolfe, “The Last American Hero is Junior Johnson. Yes!”, he revisits all the time, not unlike pulling down a record to get that music pumping through your system.

Sam also riffs on listening to his recordings on commutes (like “slipping into a hot tub” of memories), building scenes from so many vantage points, and doing book events with his central figure.

Listen wherever you dig your podcasts, like Apple, Spotify, or YouTube Music.

Parting Shot from Episode 415: Hypertension

It’s been about two weeks since I submitted my second draft of the Prefontaine book and I’ve been kinda floating along since. I’ve been wasting more time than I care to admit. I applied to an entry-level reporting job, which is always kind of a bummer when you’re on the cusp of turning 44 and the only jobs in journalism are entry level. What a career.

My days are kinda like picking flowers. I sample a little of this, pluck from over here, oh, wait, maybe I should be over here. The kitchen is looking a mess, better clean it. I’m hungry for the sixtieth time, better eat then feel shame for eating.

We did yet another Great O’Meara Cleanout where we go room by room and get rid of shit. We do this at least once a year. I looked at my podcast reading shelf (should’ve done before and after pics, but I didn’t) and the dozens of books I have no time to get to — some books dating back to 2018 — and just declared book-ruptcy. If the book was from 2021 or earlier, I got rid of it to the tune of about 75 books. I can sell about half of those and maybe get a tank of gas, the remainder went to a network of Little Free Libraries in my community. 

As a result of the GOC, we usually consume a steady amount of boozy goodness to make it more bearable. I had about ten beers over the course of the day (not to brag), five IPAs of elevated alcohol content and five Coronas, you know, gotta rehydrate. I woke the next morning and forgot that I was supposed to donate blood, so I chugged a liter of water and got down to the blood center just in time. The person took my blood pressure and it read 146 over 93 (for context, healthy blood pressure is 120/80). She very earnestly looked me in the eye and asked if I was feeling OK. I was like, I feel fine, book panics, but otherwise fine. 

If you go to any reputable medical website, it will tell you that BP reading is cause for concern, if not medication, Stage 2 — as in the final stage — hypertension. Now, I’m not in terrible shape. I’m an active guy in his mid-40s. But I could spare to lose 10-15 pounds of fat, I could sweat a bit more on the day to day. I had a cousin who, at 36, died a few years ago from a stroke. Maybe he had high BP. I had an uncle, who was slender, outwardly healthy, didn’t drink, who DEF had high BP and dropped dead in the shower in his 60s.

I might be trending toward that. If I’m not careful, I could quite literally drop dead.

I go back to donate blood in eight weeks. I do this every eight weeks. And I will not binge drink as I did the day before. I will try to drop a few pounds because it’s good for my heart and my elevated cholesterol (as a longtime vegan, my body just generates the shit, I don’t ingest a mg of cholesterol and yet it’s very high. Thanks, DNA.). No caffeine after noon, watch the salt, the usual stuff. Maybe my BP reading will back in a range that isn’t a harbinger for a truncated life. 

So take a deeeeeeep breath, man, and if you can’t do, interview, see ya!

Coda

Gonna plant a wee seed here: We are less than a year from publication of my Steve Prefontaine biography. Title TK. (We’re changing it.) Pre-orders are the name of the game, so I just want you thinking about it. It’s not avaiable for pre-order just yet. Again, just getting you thinking about it. Dead in the water without pre-orders, friend.

Also, for face-to-face time and to support the podcast, you can window shop at patreon.com/cnfpod.

And if you leave a review on Apple Podcasts, take a screenshot, send it to [email protected] and I’ll coach up a piece of your writing of up to 2,000 words.

Rage,

Brendan