Momentum = Grooving + Moving

Newsletter + On This Day

“An object in motion tends to remain in motion along a straight line unless acted upon by an outside force.”
Isaac Newton

Newton’s First Law of Motion has always resonated with me—not just as a principle of physics, but as a way of understanding my creative life. Without momentum, creativity can stall; but once I’m in motion, the ideas tend to keep rolling from one project to the next, gathering direction, energy, and focus as they go.

Most days, I start early, curating “On This Day” as a creative exercise meant to stretch and warm up my brain. For me, it’s an easy, fun way to celebrate and spotlight history and pop culture that matter to me.

After looking in the past's rearview mirror, checking and rechecking various sources along the way, I switch gears and dive into writing the rest of my daily newsletter.

Once that’s out the door, I start my “work” day by responding to comments, emails, and messages. The rest of the day is spent creating and curating a new montage—or two—and managing my Shop, Queer Pioneers, and YouTube channel.

That happens MOST days. But this week has had a few of what I call "MAMA SAID" days. Between Sunday’s time change and Tuesday’s election, outside forces forced me to course-correct more than usual, to find my equilibrium and regain momentum.

When life gets chaotic, I try to breathe, keep calm, and keep moving, trusting that the groove will return. As Lady Miss Kier from Deee-Lite famously sang in “Groove Is In The Heart”: “We’re going to dance…and have some fun!”

Creativity, for me, is a motley mix of actions, inactions, and pivots. It’s not always linear or smooth sailing.

Grooving and moving doesn’t mean avoiding disruptions. It means pushing through them to get back on track and find the beat again. The beat of my own drum.

After some setbacks this week, I’m excited to see where momentum leads next.

Thanks for reading!
Clint

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NEWS + VIEWS

• Why I Can't Support Ethan Klein Anymore (Ethan’s Basement) 📺

• Apple Bought Adobe's Biggest Competitor (Grayson’s Graphics) 📺

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ON THIS DAY = NOVEMBER 8

BIRTHDAYS

• 1431 = Vlad III (aka Vlad the Impaler) = Wallachian ruler and inspiration for Bram Stroker’s Dracula

• 1836 = Milton Bradley = American businessman and Milton Bradley Company founder

• 1847 = Bram Stoker = Irish writer (Dracula)

• 1883 = Charles Demuth = American painter

• 1884 = Hermann Rorschach = Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst

• 1900 = Margaret Mitchell = American writer (Gone With The Wind)

• 1914 = Norman Lloyd = American actor, director, and producer

• 1916 = Clinton Jones = American Episcopal priest and gay rights activist

• 1918 = Hermann Zapf = German typographer and calligrapher

• 1920 = Esther Rolle = American actor

• 1931 = Morley Safer = Canadian-American journalist and author

• 1935 = Alain Delon = French-Swiss actor, producer, screenwriter

• 1945 = Don Murray = American drummer (The Turtles) and animator

• 1947 = Minnie Riperton = American singer-songwriter (Maya Rudolph’s mom)

• 1949 = Bonnie Raitt = American singer-songwriter

• 1952 = Alfre Woodard = American actor

• 1954 = Rickie Lee Jones = American singer-songwriter

• 1956 = Richard Curtis = New Zealand-English filmmaker

• 1959 = Chi Chi LaRue = American drag queen, DJ, and adult filmmaker

• 1961 = Leif Garrett = American singer, actor, and television personality

• 1965 = Craig Chester = American actor and screenwriter

• 1966 = Gordon Ramsay = British chef, restaurateur, and tv host

• 1968 = Parker Posey = American actor

• 1970 = Diana King = Jamaican singer-songwriter

• 1972 = Gretchen Mol = American model and actor

• 1973 = David Muir = American journalist

• 1974 = Masashi Kishimoto = Japanese author and illustrator (Naruto)

• 1974 = Matthew Rhys = Welsh actor

• 1985 = Jack Osbourne = English-American television personality

• 1986 = Aaron Swartz = American computer programmer and activist

• 1989 = SZA = American singer-songwriter

CELEBRATIONS

• Movember

• Intersex Day of Remembrance

EVENTS

• 1291 – The Republic of Venice enacts a law confining most of Venice's glassmaking industry to the "island of Murano".

• 1895 – While experimenting with electricity, Wilhelm Röntgen discovers the X-ray.

• 1933 – POTUS Franklin D. Roosevelt unveils the Civil Works Administration, an organization designed to create jobs for more than four million unemployed.

• 1960 – John F. Kennedy is elected as the 35th President of the United States, defeating incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon, who would later be elected president in 1968 and 1972.

• 1965 = Days of Our Lives premieres on NBC.

• 1966 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs into law an antitrust exemption allowing the National Football League to merge with the upstart American Football League.

• 1972 – American pay television network Home Box Office (HBO) launches.

• 1973 – The right ear of John Paul Getty III is delivered to a newspaper outlet along with a ransom note, convincing his father to pay US$2.9 million.

• 1977 = After three unsuccessful campaigns, Harvey Milk wins a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and goes on to introduce a gay rights ordinance protecting gays and lesbians from being fired from their jobs. Milk also leads a successful campaign against Proposition 6 (aka Briggs Initiative) which would have forbid LGBTQ teachers.

• 1999 – Bruce Miller is killed at his junkyard near Flint, Michigan. His wife Sharee Miller, who convinced her online lover Jerry Cassaday to kill him was convicted of the crime, in what became the world's first Internet murder.

• 2002 = 8 Mile is released in theaters.

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PHOTO + QUOTE OF THE DAY

“How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no dreads; to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings nothing but sweet dreams.”
Bram Stoker

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