Hi friend!
Coming to you live from Austin, Texas.
Here’s your final weekly dose of Arman’s Antics (for the year). Five things I’ve been exploring and pondering that will make you think, laugh, cry (or a nasty combination of the three).
A warm welcome to the 7 new subscribers receiving this for the first time (377 total) — I don’t take your attention lightly.
Hopefully nobody is reading this, but if you are, please keep it to yourself.
Essay I wrote last week
I’ve got wonderful news for my lazy friends who couldn’t be bothered to take notes in school and most definitely won’t take notes today:
Documentary I watched
The American Buffalo — a film by Ken Burns.
I just found out the best documentarian (is that a word?) of all time Ken Burns released this so I had to cease my holiday shopping.
Did you know that America had over 30 million wild buffalo roaming the country in 1850? And by 1890 there were less than 1 thousand?
If not, watch the trailer below and make sure you have your handkerchief close by.
Book I’m reading
Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History.
After watching the doc above, it was evident I was ignorant about the American buffalo.
I realized I was just as ignorant about the people who relied on them for millennia — the native Americans.
Here’s the description: “A stunningly vivid historical account of the forty-year battle between Comanche Indians and white settlers for control of the American West, centering on Quanah, the greatest Comanche chief of them all…
Although readers may be more familiar with the tribal names Apache and Sioux, it was in fact the legendary fighting ability of the Comanches that determined just how and when the American West opened up…”
(Why did we continue to call them Indians for hundreds of years when we knew Colombus hadn’t discovered India?)
Change is coming
Starting in 2024, you will start receiving new essays on Tuesday and Arman’s Antics on Friday (for a morsel of fun as you head into the weekend).
Both will continue to be delivered directly to your inbox free of charge, but you can always treat me to a coffee if you notice my writing is slacking and could use some caffeine as fuel (see below).
No further action required on your end at this time.
Random thought
What is mainstream media ignoring today that will be studied by future historians?
That’s it for the 65th weekly edition of Arman’s Antics.
I hope you didn’t make it this far, but if you did, please don’t buy me a coffee below. Now back to your regularly scheduled nonstop scrolling.
Have a terrific Tuesday, friend. And a happy Boxing Day to you and yours!
Cheers,
Arman