I wanted to remind my readers of a wonderful and uplifting blog called the attic. (I wrote about it just over a year ago.) Here is a brief description from the blog’s author,

Sick of the news? Come rummage in The Attic to find a kinder, cooler America.  Here you’ll find common ground, not minefields. Updated weekly, The Attic features short profiles of American artists, writers, dreamers, inventors, visionaries, and more …

Time was when magazines I wrote for, Smithsonian and American Heritage, explored this space. But screens have silenced kinder, cooler Americans.  The result is a nation of shrill voices. If you are world weary, skeptical, worried about this American “experiment,” join me in The Attic.

The blog is written by Bruce Watson, a regular contributor to Smithsonian, who has also written for American Heritage, the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, Nautilus, Yankee, and other publications.  His books include Freedom Summer, Sacco and Vanzetti, and Bread and Roses (Viking).  He has also written e-biographies of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. His most recent book, nominated for a Los Angeles Times Book Award, is Light: A Radiant History from Creation to the Quantum Age (Bloomsbury).

Every post on the site is written beautifully, filled with wonderful photos, tells an American story, and can be read in just a few minutes. I have read almost all of them and enjoyed every single one. Here is a sample of recent posts:

“THE ART OF AGING” (about the artist known as Grandma Moses.)

“CROSSING THE GREAT DIVIDE” (about groups of people trying to heal a divided USA.)

“JUST THE FACTS, MA’AM” (about the fact-checkers who are standing up for truth.)

And here are a few more:

“THE WOMAN WHO WOVE THE VAXX” (about Jennifer Doudna, one of the scientists who helped create the life-saving Covid vaccines. Thank you, Dr. Doudna.)

“WALKING AMERICA WITH THE MASTER” (about Thoreau’s love of walking, one of my favorite pastimes.)

“NETWORK” — STILL MAD AS HELL” (about a great movie, and one of my favorites.)

“THE BOOK THAT LISTENED TO GIRLS” (about the voices of women which we so desperately need to hear, and a book I first read over 30 years ago.)

“LUCKIEST MAN” — THE GRACE OF LOU GEHRIG” (about Gehrig. I can still remember watching “The Pride of the Yankees” as a kid—bonus, Babe Ruth plays himself!)

“THE POET AND “THE ANSWER” (about Robinson Jeffers and his thoughts on transcending the ugliness of this world and reveling in the beauty of the universe.)

Bruce’s posts create a little bit of beauty in an oftentimes depressing world. I cannot recommend them more highly.

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