Hi  -

Today's Thursday, for those still keeping track. But unlike the last two, it's just my wife and I now without grandparents entertaining the kiddos. We've been in isolation 17 days and almost a full week without anyone here but us four (not going to count Elsa and Anna, even though they seem like they're ever present as well).

The start of the new month came and went with thankfully no actual April Fools - except for the strangeness that accompanies paying a new month of bills, like day care, without actually receiving the care during the day... but the idea stands, that if you can you should still be supporting what you want to still be there when you return.

My wife and I compare our daily schedule of calls and try not to be booked at the same time, then trade off turns attempting to manage both kids so the other can work, and then switch. Which is why we both end up back at our computers at the end of the night when we've gotten them both to sleep, to keep going (and in this case, to write and send this!). These are trying times, even as we're making it work day by day, so look for the good news where you can find it.

With that in mind, the first good news I've seen in a while was shared with me today from a friend:

[BBC Headline] Book sales surge as readers seek escapism and education

What are books if not portals to escapism and education? This is encouraging news people - we're finally getting our priorities in order. When the world seemingly collapsed, that we turned to books for comfort and personal development is unquestionably an inspiring thing!

But when I look at my own GoodReads tracking... I've been reading the same book since mid-March. My pace used to average one book each week, what changed? Well... my commute.

act one

Standby, I'm on a trip with you

It's more fun to commute

Commute, Theatre of Tragedy

The funny thing is, no matter what happened with this pandemic - my reading habits were going to change. A not-for-nothing part of my job change was to upgrade from my longest commute ever (1 hour 15 minutes over at least 2 trains, 2 rivers, and 1 state line) to a 15 minute walk to a coworking space near my apartment.

Having always worked at Wiley but never lived in New Jersey, my commute has averaged an hour each way for the last 14 years: 2 hours a day, 10 hours a week, 40 hours a month, 480 hours a year, almost 6500 hours over my career at Wiley. That's allowed me to read around 500 books and consume at least twice as many podcasts.

So even though my commute now is... nothing, it was supposed going to be 75% less by design! Before kids, I could supplement my reading time at home before bed and at breakfast... and that time feels gone forever now.

Looking back, for Act One, I rewatched a way-too-long video I made back when I was single, starting out in my new job, and living in Astoria Queens. It's cringe-inducing now to watch, because it is so slow and navel gazing filmed solo with a standalone video camera before smart phones existed and selfie was a thing. Also, my room was a carbon copy of my college dorm room.

And also for some reason I thought it would be artsy/edgy to pretend I had drank 2+ bottles of wine at the end, which shows you just how little I knew about filmmaking AND drinking. It's almost 5 minutes and I still called it 'the short cut'. This was 12 years ago and I would suggest only watching at 1:10 to the 2min mark to see my commute at that time (gratuitous as it may be):

At the end of this email, I have a blessedly shorter (90 seconds, time lapse, with my own voice over narration!) video of the last day of my commute. Stay tuned.

act two

So the other good piece of news I saw today was this piece:

Thanks to Bookshop, Indies Stand a Chance Against Amazon

If this is your first time hearing about Bookshop, all you have to know is that you can buy books at this site and independent bookstores benefit financially. Plus the affiliate payout is so good (10% vs 4.5% through Amazon now) that media outlets, influencers, bloggers, reviewers, and smart curators are now also benefitting financially by linking to books there.

“There are almost 2,000 bookstores in the country, and only about 150 of them have good online shopping platforms,” Andy Hunter, CEO and founder of Bookshop, tells InsideHook. “That leaves a lot of stores that haven’t adapted, and Amazon’s kind of eating their lunch.”

So member stores of American Booksellers Association (ABA) get 30% of profits through books they sell through this website, plus affiliate plus an opt-in earnings pool that can really add up for them. In March alone Bookshop raised $230,000 for independent bookstores. That's awesome.

Looking for something new to read? Let these out-of-work NYC booksellers recommend some titles... anything you buy from their lists will benefit them directly.

act three

So you saw what my commute looked like in 2008. That was BEFORE I met my wife, moved to an apt closer to her, and then moved in with her, then married her, then moved across the hall, then had one kid, then bought a place further into Brooklyn, moved there and had a second kid.

This is what my commute looked like on the last day I went to work at Wiley's headquarters in Hoboken, from Sunset Park Brooklyn. It's less than 90 seconds even though it's actually a longer commute than my first video:

While not all 6500 hours were well spent over the years commuting, most of them were and I'll miss that dedicated reading time underground.

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The first week I had specifically mentioned my friend Nick Gray's personal 'friends newsletter' as inspiration to want to write one myself. I had meant to keep recommending personal newsletters I love, in case it leads to you subscribe yourself, but forgot to do so last week.

I'm making up for that this week by calling out Noah Kalina. He's an incredibly talented photographer, but his newsletter is my favorite output of his. It's art! It's tongue in cheek funny! It's always completely different, like him. Read his archive here (last week's especially!) and sign up here.

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That's it! It's late, but it's still Thursday. Thanks for reading (and watching!) today's email. I'm going to try to get close to finishing my book now before bed.

Staying Socially Distant - Peter

*If someone forwarded this email to you and you want to subscribe yourself, do so here.

**If you missed my first two emails, you can find my archive here.