Field notes from a very cool world.

by Stephen Casimiro
Words
Julie Beeler People I've Met Julie Beeler Artist, Mycophile, Educator · Trout Lake, Washington Hello, Cool World Dispatch Hello, Cool World Pioneertown, California · June 2026 Fred Rogers People I've Met Fred Rogers Legend · Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania The A-frame at the end of the forest road Story The A-frame at the end of the forest road A weekend in a triangle of plywood, and what it’s like to want almost nothing.
Rough Notes + Curious Fragments

“In order to build a career and to be successful, one has to be determined. One has to be ambitious. I much prefer to drink coffee, listen to music and to paint when I feel like it.” — Saul Leiter, photographer

Coffee at 8,000 feet, the slow way Dispatch Coffee at 8,000 feet, the slow way Inyo National Forest, California · June 2026 Rewild Your Vocabulary aa ah-ah

Term for lava flows that have a rough rubbly surface composed of broken lava blocks called clinkers. Aa flows advance slowly, their hardened crust breaking and tumbling forward as molten lava pushes from behind. This produces a layer of lava fragments both at the bottom and top of an aa flow.

geology more → Ray Mondragón People I've Met Ray Mondragón Barber · Tucumcari, New Mexico
The Newsletter is Free

Enchantment, delight, and discovery. I won’t waste your time, ever.

What 700 miles does to a pair of boots Dispatch What 700 miles does to a pair of boots Pioneertown, California · June 2026 What the tide keeps Story What the tide keeps A morning of small waves and the slow art of waiting.
Rough Notes + Curious Fragments

“Then my Man picks me up and buries his hot face in my fur. At those times he divines for an instant a glimpse of a higher life, and he sighs with happiness and purrs something which can almost be understood.” — Karel Čapek, From the Point of View of a Cat, 1935

A painted door on a dead-end street Dispatch A painted door on a dead-end street Bisbee, Arizona · May 2026 Line-dried in a desert wind Dispatch Line-dried in a desert wind Terlingua, Texas · May 2026 Rewild Your Vocabulary ablation  ah-BLAY-shun

Ablation is the reduction of a glacier's snow and ice through melting, evaporation, sublimation, and calving. It occurs at every surface, all at once, though at different speeds. The ablation zone is located at the spot where more ice is lost than winter snow accumulation can replace.

 ice/snow more → Off-grid arithmetic Story Off-grid arithmetic Five acres, one well, and the math of living with less. Standing where Elvis stood Dispatch Standing where Elvis stood Memphis, Tennessee · May 2026 Dell Hartley People I've Met Dell Hartley Bike mechanic · Pioneertown, California A wagon wheel half-swallowed by sand Dispatch A wagon wheel half-swallowed by sand Mojave National Preserve, California · May 2026 The bloom that almost wasn’t Story The bloom that almost wasn’t Chasing color across the Mojave after a wet winter. Rewild Your Vocabulary abyss ah-BISS

The deepest zone of the ocean — below 13,000 feet, where no light reaches, the pressure crushes, and the water is a few degrees above freezing. The abyss is not empty; it is full of life adapted to conditions that would kill anything from the surface. The word also applies to any chasm of unfathomable depth — a crevasse, a canyon, a void.

Greek more → Volunteer flowers in a gas-station planter Dispatch Volunteer flowers in a gas-station planter Baker, California · May 2026 The last working pay phone for sixty miles Dispatch The last working pay phone for sixty miles Rachel, Nevada · April 2026 Trout water Essay Trout water A day on a river that doesn’t care who you are. Carousel of someone else’s vacation Dispatch Carousel of someone else’s vacation Flagstaff, Arizona · April 2026 Frances Lin People I've Met Frances Lin Architect · Palm Springs, California Rewild Your Vocabulary abyssopelagic ah-BISS-oh-peh-LAJ-ik

Of or relating to the ocean zone between roughly 13,000 and 20,000 feet deep — the abyssal waters above the seafloor. Below the bathypelagic zone and above the hadal zone (the trenches). Perpetual darkness, near-freezing temperatures, and pressures that would implode a submarine. Life here is sparse, slow, and strange.

Greek more → A motel bed made too tight to sleep in Dispatch A motel bed made too tight to sleep in Gallup, New Mexico · April 2026 Afternoon light, motel grade Essay Afternoon light, motel grade Roadside rooms and the particular sadness of good light. A sign that just says OH MY HELL Dispatch A sign that just says OH MY HELL Moab, Utah · March 2026

Rewild Your Vocabulary

I want a book about anything set in anywhere that reads like anything.

635 books, hand-selected by me.