Dr. Kenton Wakes Up - Jun 27, 2026
“Crucially, the book and Mayer’s song also point out the ways that people’s love for one another can lead them to try to hinder someone as they pursue their destiny.”
Squeeze - Black Coffee In Bed
Macy Gray - I Try
John Mayer - “Walt Grace’s Submarine Test, January 1967”
[Ed: This one is a kind of full-circle moment for me. This song takes place in 1967. I visited San Francisco in 1999, and saw a sailboat called the Mermaid on display in a maritime museum in or very near the Fisherman’s Wharf area of San Francisco. The sailboat belonged to a guy who sailed alone across the Pacific Ocean from Japan to San Francisco in 1962. The memory of that boat and the solo voyage stuck with me, until I looked into it further and learned that the sailor had written a book about his experience. I recently found that book, Kodoku: Sailing Alone Across the Pacific, and read it from cover to cover. Lots of insights about doing things alone, and that sometimes experience makes it clear that vital preparations mean something different in hindsight than during the anticipation. Crucially, the book and Mayer’s song also point out the ways that people’s love for one another can lead them to try to hinder someone as they pursue their destiny. (He was also a witness to the outer space nuclear test Starfish Prime. He reported that his shortwave radio stopped working for several days and he feared that nuclear war had broken out.)]