What I'm reading: Jonathan Eig, King: A Biography 

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It's often an inconvenient truth to learn that our heroes have flaws. There's a genre of biography that seeks to be iconoclastic about these heroes. Eig's new book on MLK Jr is a helpful and honest recasting of King, both in his virtues and vices. May there's something aspirational about this project as well: if even my heroes have their vices, maybe there's a way for me, someone with no shortage of limitation, can also find my story in theirs. 

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What I'm listening to: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Reunions (2020)

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Jason Isbell, in the end, will stand with the likes of Bruce Springsteen and John Pine as a lyricist. This is Isbell's fourth studio album, and he continues, like a good preacher, to not be afraid of mixing the prophetic and the personal. He begins bewailing his own struggles and by the end the listener feels like they've known them all along. And, oh my, the man can turn a phrase that puts you back in your feelings: "This used to be a ghost town/But even the ghosts got out."

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What's in the kitchen: Bon Appetit's White Pesto 

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My wife Katherine and I have come to love this fun spin on pesto. Apparently, the root of the word "pesto" just means "to crush" -- think "pestle." This recipe is just a simple mix of ricotta, parm, lemon, and oregano, which you emulsify with olive oil and some of your pasta water. It's honestly delicious, although I always think the lemon is what makes it sing. Check out the recipe here!