I am not exactly a connoisseur of contemporary culture.

I haven’t seen the latest series on Netflix or anything else. I don’t follow Twitter or Snapchat or Instagram. But somehow, a TikTok phenomenon came to my attention that I found too delightful to ignore.

Sea shanties are all the rage among Generation Z.

“Sea shanties?” I thought. “That can’t be right.”

But I checked it out and, yes, teens and young 20-somethings are singing sea shanties on TikTok, and listeners add their own harmonies and instrumentation. The arrangements get more and more interesting and complex as they are passed around the globe.

I can’t help feeling that a lot of long-dead sailors would be very pleased.

I’ve never been a fan of whaling songs. I famously boycotted the singing of one in my elementary school music class. But these TikTok shanties don’t seem to be as bloody as the ones sung in second grade. If there is a whale mentioned at all, it frequently wins, dragging the sailors down with it into the deep sea, never to be seen again. Most of the songs are about loneliness and danger and the endless waiting for supplies to come. “Sugar and tea and rum,” it seems, are always in short supply.

The fellow who kicked the latent love of sea shanties into high gear is an unassuming young postal worker from Scotland named Nathan Evans. He and his new bride are living in a relative’s spare bedroom and, when not delivering parcels, he has been putting music videos online. He was more surprised than anyone when one of them, a song originating from New Zealand in the 1850s, went viral.

Within days, his song was heard by millions, and dozens of variations and embellishments had sprung up online, as more sea shanties were recorded every day. I love the idea that these songs, which predate recording, are making a comeback. But I have to wonder why these historic maritime songs have captured the collective imagination of young people today.

Maybe being in the midst of a pandemic that drags on, confined to close quarters, with the world seeming more than usually unknowable, these 20-somethings feel a bit like lost sailors, battling the ravages of a storm-swept sea. Maybe there is a bit of nostalgia for a time when songs served as a rare means of connection, proliferating in the 1800s as they do on TikTok today, traded in ports and spread around the world.

Whatever the reason, the result is great fun. I occasionally post a new sea shanty on Facebook, which my aging peers completely ignore. (That’s OK. I figure you have to be a little hip to enjoy 200-year-old sailing songs.)

I’m mesmerized by the earnest faces of these young singers from all over the world, most of them trapped in the bedrooms of their parents’ homes. I watch them belting out these tunes, singing about a time that predates their great-grandparents, filling these songs with a new life and meaning and making them their own.

It somehow makes me optimistic. It makes me believe that beautiful things find a way to survive, that good stories will keep being told, and that the hardships we endure are never completely forgotten as long as there are stories and music.

Mr. Evans was asked why he thought his song had struck such a chord at this particular time. “Maybe it’s giving everybody that sense of unity and friendship that we’ve all been missing for about a year now,” he said.

I think he may have nailed it.

Till next time,

Carrie

Carrie Classon’s memoir is called, “Blue Yarn.” Learn more at CarrieClasson.com.

DISTRIBUTED BY ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

I’ve always loved librarians.

I remember my first school librarian. Her name was Mrs. Scheau, and she rode a bicycle to school, back when this was still a novelty. She wore a plaid skirt every day, and she was enormously kind.

I had no idea how to find a book I would like to read (and isn’t this still a challenge?), but Mrs. Scheau would always have a suggestion when I walked in.

“What should I read next, Mrs. Scheau?” And she would hand me the next book.

I remember the feeling of getting those books from the library and putting them in my book bag (school backpacks were not yet in vogue). We were not allowed to read in class, and we were not allowed to read at recess, so I had to wait until I got home to open the book. I remember that anticipation, the feeling that there was a treasure waiting for me under the protective plastic cover.

Recently, I noticed I was not reading at all. I don’t know how this happened, but my attention span shortened to the point where I couldn’t seem to read more than a few hundred words at a time. When I was tired, it was so much easier to watch a late-night comedian or a short documentary or browse Facebook. Before I knew it, it was time to go to bed, and I hadn’t watched or read anything I cared about or would remember.

“Does anyone know of a book club I could join?” I wrote on a community Facebook page.

It should not have surprised me that the person who wrote back (within minutes!) was a retired librarian, Katy.

“We have one you can join. I’ll send you the info!”

Just like that, I was the member of a book club. What I did not realize until the first meeting was that this book club was comprised almost entirely of retired librarians.

It’s called the “Any Book Book Club” because there is no assigned reading. Everyone just shows up and reviews whatever book they read that week. Because they are librarians, the books they read are interesting and diverse. An added bonus is that, on Zoom, I get a peek into the librarians’ houses, filled with books. And they are almost always enthusiastic.

“It’s such a good book!” Bernadette, one of the most enthusiastic of the librarians will say every week -- sometimes more than once. “And the library has it!”

Katy, the leader of the group, says, “It doesn’t matter what you read, but you have to read something!”

I’m still finding it hard to read. I’ve had to miss a couple meetings because I got no reading done that week. But most of the time now -- when I am tempted to watch late-night television or catch up on cat videos -- I think of my panel of librarians, earnestly talking about the books they love, and I go to my chair and make it past the first few hundred words until I am happily lost again in a good book.

This week, I am reading a sad book. It is beautifully written and brings me into a world I would never have seen if the book had not taken me. I know I will cry before the book is finished.

I am already looking forward to holding the book in front of the camera on my computer, showing my little panel of librarians the cover, and telling them enthusiastically, “It’s such a good book!”

And then I’ll ask them, “What should I read next?”

Till next time,

Carrie

Carrie Classon’s memoir is called, “Blue Yarn.” Learn more at CarrieClasson.com.

DISTRIBUTED BY ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

My husband, Peter, is taking no chances.

I knew this about him before I married him. Peter has a plan for everything and a plan in case the first plan doesn’t pan out. My father would call this “belt and suspenders” planning. Peter’s been walking around in a belt and suspenders ever since I’ve known him.

Peter’s planning has made surviving the pandemic a lot easier than it would have been otherwise. We never run out of anything. That might sound impossible, but it’s almost true. Peter buys everything in quantity and notices when supplies start to run low. This allowed us to adopt the “Every Other Week Grocery Buying Plan.”

Occasionally, I would consume more milk than Peter had estimated, and we had to dash out to the local convenience store. This prompted Peter to create the “Powdered Milk Back-Up Plan.”

“Powdered milk is great!” Peter said.

I don’t know if powdered milk is great, but it’s better than no milk at all.

Peter is also the one who tried to enlist me in the “Hiking Pole Plan.” I resisted mightily. I first saw hiking poles about a decade ago, used almost exclusively by people walking on dry sidewalks where they seemed entirely unnecessary.

“That’s the dumbest thing ever,” I declared. Then I met Peter. Peter was enthusiastic about hiking poles.

“They’ll catch you if you slip!” Peter said. “You could fight off a dog -- or even a bear -- if you were attacked!” Peter had lots of good reasons I should adopt the “Hiking Pole Plan” and I wasn’t buying any of them.

“How would I talk?” I asked him. “I need my hands to talk and, if I had hiking poles, I wouldn’t be able to say a word!”

Peter did not seem to think this was such a terrible idea.

But then one day we got a lot of snow and I decided to hike with ski poles. They were super helpful. By the time the snow melted, I had gotten used to them. I tried hiking poles. I liked them. I still haven’t had to fight off a bear, but I’ve been using them ever since.

“You see?” Peter said, “Aren’t they great?” The wonderful thing about Peter is that he never gloats when I come around to adopting his plan. He is just delighted.

Most of the time, however, Peter just pays close attention and plans accordingly. He notices what I am consuming, even if I don’t. If I suddenly start eating oatmeal and raisins, Peter takes note.

“You’re eating a lot of oatmeal and raisins!” Peter says, and starts ordering massive quantities of both.

If I stop eating something, Peter also notices. “You’re not eating peanut butter anymore!” he observes.

“Um, I guess not.”

“I better cancel our order. I had a case coming!”

I find this amazing. I also find it a great comfort. I honestly have no idea how much coffee or oatmeal or raisins or peanut butter I consume, but Peter does. (He told me I ate more than 40 pounds of raisins last year, which sounds preposterous!) All I know is that we never run out of anything -- not even milk.

“You take very good care of me,” I tell Peter.

“You take good care of me!” he always replies.

I don’t know if that’s true. But I know I appreciate him, and I’m much more willing to listen to his plans than I used to be.

I call this the “Letting Peter Take Care of Me Plan.”

And he’s right. Powdered milk isn’t that bad.

Till next time,

Carrie

Carrie Classon’s memoir is called, “Blue Yarn.” Learn more at CarrieClasson.com.

DISTRIBUTED BY ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION