My Obsessions
Summer in Michigan, a new blog post, Chad's new company, and True Grit.
Summer in Michigan
As you may or may not know, I was born in Traverse City, Michigan, and moved to Arizona was I was around 7 years old. I’ve been dreaming of returning to Michigan for most of my life, largely because my memories of Michigan are full of warmth and wonder. I remember sitting by the fireplace in the winter, making snow angels in the front yard, chasing fireflies on summer nights, planting tulip bulbs with my mom, and spending hours in the library. I wanted that again, and I wanted that for my kids.
One of the most wonderful updates of my life is that, right now, I am in Michigan, and it is even more magical than I remembered. I love LA dearly, and will always love LA, and we will continue to spend great amounts of time in California for professional reasons (me for screenwriting and Chad for his new startup) and for personal reasons (I love being in LA), but will be splitting our time between California and Michigan. Now, we have the best of both worlds, and the best of both places, for us and for our kids. They get to chase fireflies and run through endless fields of wildflowers and climb trees and make angels in the snow. I get to ride my horses through the woods and gallop across snow-covered fields and heal all the parts of my heart that were broken so many times in California. Michigan is just as I remembered it: it is warm, and wonderful, and here I feel deeply, profoundly at home.
A New Blog Post
I’ve written a new post about my obsessive curiosity on my website blog (I feel ancient typing those words).
An excerpt:
My weakness is obsession. I am constantly finding new things I want to learn about, do, try, understand, make sense of, or figure out, and then spending every moment of my free time reading, writing, listening, working, and learning everything about them. I’ve always been this way. For as long as I can remember, I have been obsessing over things. I can’t help myself.
You can read the rest here: https://www.susanrigetti.com/thoughts/my-obsessions
Chad’s New Startup
I’m so proud of my brilliant husband Chad, who has started a new quantum technology company called Sygaldry with his amazing co-founder Idalia Friedson. Chad was on Bloomberg to talk about it (you can watch the video here), and they just went through this last YC batch. I’m excited to see what they build!
(P.S. they’re hiring!)
What I’m Reading
I recently read, and absolutely LOVED, True Grit by Charles Portis. I loved it so much I made a video about it, which I rarely do, explaining all the things I love about it and all the reasons you should read it too:
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I've long thought this bit in True Grit is one of the most perfect incidental passages -
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"They will do it,” said Lucky Ned Pepper. “It will embarrass you every time.” Then he laughed.
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The dialog appeared in the Cohen brothers' screenplay, but they couldn't have the next sentence, which is essential for the rhythm and the feel for the book, the strange camaraderie of strangers and enemies that occurs in Portis' violent and dreamlike landscape.
And of course, the penultimate line, "Time just gets away from us." Has anything truer been written?
I see the Library of America has published a one volume, $45 edition of everything Portis wrote after he left the newspaper business, including the delightful "Combinations of Jacksons." https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1999/05/combinations-of-jacksons/308354/