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The internet has long been accused of being a toxic, harmful place, full of conflict and anonymous trolls. It’s hard to deny that, in a general sense, but let us brag on ourselves a little bit. Because since our launch in September 2016, The Prompt has largely avoided that awful spirit, instead finding real personal connection through creative writing, good ideas, and good people. Honestly, it’s been quite a tonic to meet strangers on the internet that are so deeply earnest and good in their souls.
To extend that positive vibe into your lives a bit more, we’re starting a new content segment called This Prompts Joy, in which we will each share something positive or worthwhile that got us through the week. Each week, we will publish a miniprompt of the things that filled our cold, bleak, post-apocalyptic hearts with happiness, pride, gratitude, peace, interest, amusement, and so on.
The Prompt Mag: Proof that the internet isn’t completely terrible™
Jillian Conochan
Q: When you’re shopping online, do you instinctively sort Price Low to High?
Me too, obviously, but I bet my bottom dollar.99 that you aren’t burdened with the same completionist curse that possesses me, in which I will scroll for literal days to sort through all possibilities.
Occasionally, this hex works out in my favor, like when Adding to Cart effectively Subtracts from Price by activating free shipping, et cetera.
Or today, when I discovered this entrepreneurial chap whose distinct FACE is his brand. Apollo215, I tip my Eagles cap to thee, assuming the beard and handle indicate you’re from the city of brotherly love. Game recognize grill and gangster.
Kelaine Conochan
Okay, FINE. I like your cats. For decades, I’ve been a so-called “dog person,” not that I’ve ever had one. I just casually added “dog” to my birthday and Christmas list every year for a decade to no avail. But after spending several stints here at my sister’s mansion (hat tip to Natalie), I’ve come to not only tolerate, but genuinely enjoy the indifferent beasts roaming from room to room, quietly ignoring me unless I feed them small scraps from the table.
Vivi, who is more social and affectionate, lets me scratch her neck and chin. In confusion, she also threw my gym bag at the door yesterday. And Hoodie, detached in his superiority, once skulked into the guest room and purred himself to sleep on my stomach. I’m optimistic that someday he will acknowledge our relationship publicly.
But I can’t fight it or pretend any longer: I like these animals. They won’t miss me when I’m gone, but dust to dust, in the grand scheme of time and the universe, we are all insignificant. Cats just let us know this in the present tense.
Devin Householder
Every year my wife and I make an exercise out of writing out our individual goals for the year. We started it way back in our 20s, and the habit stuck. Goals need to be well-defined and, when possible, quantifiable. We even read them back to each other so the other can challenge the goal’s definition (to better define the objective). Throughout the year I pull the list to remind myself of what I really want to be doing. One of my less well defined goals was simply:
Live Music OFTEN!!
Last night my daughter and I drove two hours to Northampton, Massachusetts to a little theater to hear KT Tunstall and Shawn Colvin play an acoustic set of old favorites (Eye To The Telescope & A Few Small Repairs being among my favorite discs of the last 30 years) and a few obscure covers. Great energy. They sounded incredible both individually and together.
The long ride up and back gave my kid and me four blissful hours of analyzing everyone we know (including ourselves), solving all the world’s problems, and exchanging Spotify hidden gems. Best night ever.
Sarah Razner
For the past two weeks, I have been immersed in Wimbledon. The Championships are a cross section of some of my favorite interests – incredible fashion, royalty, and athleticism at its top levels. As I watched the match-ups this year, I found myself wowed by the contenders. Like most sports, tennis is not only a game of endurance, but of problem solving. Players sprint, dive, and slide to make their points, all while constantly evaluating their opponent and how they are doing the same. And wow, does it produce a hell of a match to watch and Wimbledon, with its many upsets, gave us plenty of them.
Thanks to the All England Club for another great year, and to the players for continually upending the expectations of what humans are capable of on the court.
Dennis William
I’m currently in Kansas visiting my family, hiding in my parents’ guest room (my sisters’ former room, my room was turned into an art/gift wrapping studio years ago) because I tested positive for Covid. So the thing giving me joy is Love Island UK and the fact that I can get Paxlovid on Monday. I’ve taken it before and it’s the closest I’ve come to calling something a miracle. Sure, it makes your mouth taste like pennies, but you can breathe. The first time I took it, I was symptom free and testing negative in less than 48 hours. Scientists are like angels walking on Earth, and I still cannot wrap my head around how quickly they got us vaccines and effective treatment. Now if only we would listen to them about…literally everything else.
Natalie Brandt
I do not have a green thumb, but I do have brown dirt under my nails. I long to be a master gardener, but that career was for a different life. In this life, I’m a tender. I merely tend to plants, as the universe has endowed me with only one horticultural skill — watering. I have a watering schedule for my 62 indoor plants. Some of the small fellas get a spritz midweek. The rest, like Bob the massive fiddle leaf fig tree (if you’re large enough to take up a corner of the room, you are given a name), are on a weekly rotation. It took me months to get everybody aligned, but now the day and time are sacrosanct. On Saturday mornings, I can barely finish my first cup of coffee before the anticipation of watering plants compels me from bed. I don’t like to be interrupted during this ritual. I want to savor the smell of water animating dry dirt and the artistry of rotating Joan the bird of paradise palm so sunlight hits her new growth. I’m always a little down when the job is done. The outside plants are on some soulless mechanized sprinkler system. Fortunately, though, nothing can survive a Texas summer without a little weekly hand-watering. I’m already looking forward to next Saturday morning.
Is there something you can’t stop humming, sharing, refreshing, etc? Get in touch for your chance to get published on The Prompt! This Prompts Joy runs weekly.
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