Where The Wild Things Are
My brain is full of things lately, so you might see an uptick in newsletters as a result. I promise I'll try not to drown you all and I do appreciate every open and read and message about these from you. 💚
I got a refurbished Polaroid from Blue for the holidays. It's a gorgeous brick of a camera. Wildly impractical. I'm supposed to keep the film in the fridge. The photos themselves take upwards of ten minutes to fully process and even though I am a child of the 80s, I was immediately struck by how impatient I was about the whole thing.
The patience we have all lost in this world, as the ability to have things instantly crept in and took over. Or for the younger generations the fact that they never learned it at all. Sitting and waiting, watching the world around you is a thing that doesn't happen very often these days. We're all locked into our phones instead. (Which, before anyone comes for me about hating technology, I love my phone, I love the internet. It's given me so much joy and friendship over the years, things I'd never have had without being able to talk to people thousands of miles away. But I also recognize how detrimental it has been and continues to be to our brains, the world at large, and society.)
Anyway, the Polaroid. It took me almost two weeks to take the first photo. In part because I was aware of how precious the film was and wrestled with the idea of "wasting" it. When I finally did I thought for a moment that something was wrong because the picture didn't appear even after a few minutes. It was still just a blank gray square. The realization that the development took far longer than my brain was expecting was highly amusing. So I set the photo aside and went back to my morning routine. Slowly, so very slowly it seemed the picture resolved.
It's just a picture of my coffee mug on the bookshelf. My digital Nikon is visible. (One of my goals for 2026 is to use that more too, since I haven't made enough of an effort since I got it.) It's blurry, but the lighting is good. There's a learning curve with this to be sure, and a sort of expensive one given how much the film costs.
But I'm excited about it. Excited about the prospect of getting back to sitting and waiting, being patient, watching the world a bit more and my phone a bit less.
I finished up The Originalism Trap by Madiba K. Dennie right here at the start of the year, it was a difficult read, not only because there's a lot of legal stuff (though Dennie does a great job explaining it for those of us who aren't lawyers), but also because it made me even angrier at SCOTUS than I have been. The flaws in our system have cracked wide open these past few decades and once you see it it's really hard to unsee.
I also got things sorted for my trip to Canada in February. I was briefly excited to discover I'd be very close to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, but the timing is slightly off and I'll get in too late to get over there before they close. (and our train leaves too early plus they're not open on Wednesdays) It's fine, just another excuse to plan a second trip at some point.
I'll get an updated appearance schedule out here sometime soon when I have more details and confirmations. I am excited to share that I'll be a guest at Read Freely Fest in South Carolina at the end of March, so looking forward to that and it will be a lot of fun. If you're in the area come say hi!
I hope you're all taking care of yourselves and your communities as best as you are able. I know it's dreadful, dangerous times right now. Stay brave.
Love,
K
Important hockey note: The Colorado Avalanche are 31-3-7 as of the writing of this newsletter. However, Captain Gabriel Landeskog was injured recently and we're all hoping for a quick recovery.
Currently Reading:
The Bone Raiders - Jackson Ford
Currently Listening:
Don’t Forget Me - Imagine Dragons
Wild Things - Lø Spirit
Caramel - Sleep Token
Where you can find me these days:
Bluesky: @kbwagers.com
Instagram: @midwaybrawler
Discord: @greenskywarning
Patreon: kbwagers