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The Format but it hurts to stand up

2025-01-07 · letter vlog · John · 3:56 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Personal life (also: History & curiosities, Global development, Books & writing) · mode: Personal update · tags: recurring series, self promotion, community lore

In a loose Format video, John reports finishing signing 110,000 tip-in sheets for Everything Is Tuberculosis and spraining his ankle when he stood up on a foot gone numb from signing, argues that the fall in TB deaths is real progress worth celebrating but far too slow to accept, previews the book's release and 13-city tour, and, having set intentions rather than goals since the year Hank got cancer, shares his two professional ones for 2025: supporting the book without burning out and finishing a draft of a new novel.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Signing marathon finished, snow, and the first signing-related ankle injury

  • ★★★ John has signed 110,000 tip-in sheets for Everything Is Tuberculosis, jogged and boxed them, and sent them off to the printer in Virginia. — 00:00:01 · Everything Is Tuberculosis
  • ★ John reports about 8 inches of snow overnight and very cold weather. — 00:00:12
  • ★★ John says he suffered what may be the first signing-related ankle injury: his foot fell asleep while signing, and when he got up for the doorbell it crumpled and he sprained his ankle. (playful) — 00:00:17

00:00:50 — Feet-pic joke, Potato as the new Yeti, and what each generation was alive for

  • ★★ John reflects that his parents lived through the moon landing, their parents the Great Depression, theirs the electrification of Earth, and theirs the US Civil War, and wonders what his grandkids will say he lived through. — 00:00:50
  • ★ John imagines telling grandkids that as a child he had no pocket-sized magic wands, or that it snowed regularly in Indianapolis. (playful, speculative) — 00:00:50 · Indianapolis

00:01:32 — TB deaths: real progress, unacceptably slow

  • ★★★ John says that when he was a kid about 1.8 million people died of tuberculosis each year; now it is around 1.25 million. — 00:01:32 · tuberculosis
  • ★★★ John argues we must hold two equally true ideas at once: the progress against TB is real and worth celebrating, and it is not acceptable. — 00:01:40 · progress, tuberculosis
  • ★★★ John says that at the current rate of decline, 33% over 40 years, it will take over a century to get TB deaths much below 500,000 a year, which is absurd for a curable, preventable disease. — 00:01:47 · tuberculosis

00:02:01 — A William Carlos Williams line; book release and 13-city tour

  • ★ John says that when it is very quiet outside he thinks of a William Carlos Williams line about wise trees sleeping in the cold. — 00:02:01
  • ★★★ John says Everything Is Tuberculosis comes out in just over two months and its tour will be announced tomorrow. — 00:02:07 · Everything Is Tuberculosis
  • ★★ John apologizes in advance if the tour does not come near viewers; he is going to 13 cities, the most he can do without potentially collapsing. — 00:02:12
  • ★★ John says he signed all those books so readers can have an autographed copy wherever they live. — 00:02:22 · Everything Is Tuberculosis

00:02:30 — Advance-copy giveaway; yearly letters, intentions instead of goals, first intention

  • ★★ John says he is excited about the advance reader's copies and will give a couple away to random commenters. — 00:02:30 · Everything Is Tuberculosis
  • ★★ Every new year John writes himself two letters: one looking back on the year, one looking ahead and stating intentions rather than goals. — 00:02:36
  • ★★★ John says he used to set specific, measurable goals, but the year Hank got cancer showed him that telling a year what will happen is a fool's errand; now he has only hopes, prayers and intentions. — 00:02:59 · Hank Green
  • ★★★ John's first professional intention for the year is to support Everything Is Tuberculosis and his TB work without losing it; he has over 100 days of travel ahead. — 00:03:08 · Everything Is Tuberculosis, tuberculosis

00:03:28 — Second intention (a novel draft), a simpler life, Earth, sign-off

  • ★★ John says that is a lot of travel for a homebody, but he is grateful and excited because he knows exactly why he is doing it. — 00:03:28
  • ★★★ John's other professional goal is to finish a draft of a new novel, which he is scared even to say out loud. — 00:03:36
  • ★ John says all his other goals revolve around making his life less complicated and overwhelming. — 00:03:44

In the description and comments

Humor (significant)

  • John brags about an unusual injury from his signing marathon. — 00:00:17

    “I think that I experienced the first ever signing related ankle injury last week”

  • John declines to show the sprained ankle: no free feet pics. — 00:00:50

    “Also, I think that it's like black and blueness might violate YouTube's terms of service.”

  • John films the dog Potato, who dislikes the camera coming closer. — 00:00:50

    “He's the new Yeti.”

  • John worries about his more than 100 days of travel this year. — 00:02:59

    “I'm a little worried that I might collapse into a series of increasingly small polygons until I cease to exist”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Everything Is Tuberculosis · tuberculosis

Also: People: William Carlos Williams

Organizations: YouTube

Concepts: progress · smartphone

Places: Indianapolis · Virginia

Events: American Civil War · Apollo 11 · Great Depression

Products: Lectrojog

Myths: Yeti

animal: Potato (animal)

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