Practicing his heavily autobiographical “spontaneous prose” style of writing , unproclaimed Father of the Beat Generation, Jack Kerouac, famously wrote the final draft of his cherished novel On the Road within a period of twenty days. He did this while his girlfriend systematically administered him benzedrine, cigarettes, bowls of pea soup and cups of coffee.

“Strawberry Letter 23” was written and composed by Shuggie Otis in 1971 as part of the album Freedom Flight, which, to this day, remains a classic of psychedelic soul funk. Rendered and remixed by a growing list of modern artists, the song’s distinctive, rhythmic melody has been sampled or completely interpolated over 90 times . . .  

Today, humans living in the United States expect a certain level of comfort and function throughout their homes—in most cases, putting forth barely any effort. It’s dark, flip a switch. It’s cold, push a button. “I’m thirsty”, turn a knob. Most people use this nearly effortless system every single day of their lives, rarely considering the complex processes that make this ridiculously comfortable state of being possible . . .