> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://benskutnik.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Tethers - URL: https://benskutnik.com/tethers/ - Published: 2026-11-08T13:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-08T13:00:01.000Z - Description: A Saturday night of Gen X movies, the Kerouac and Ginsberg letters, and Sparta's Wiretap Scars. Some thoughts on how cutting the right tethers lets you sail higher. - Author: Ben Skutnik Tonight's double feature with my wife was another trip into Gen X's catalogue. Starting with *When Harry Met Sally* and closing with *So I Married an Axe Murderer*. Temperatures are cooling, the sun is setting earlier, and the amber-tinted nostalgia for late 80s/early 90s films has a comforting warmth that makes for a nice night in. After having kids and seeing the *Shrek* series of movies more times than I can remember, it was interesting hearing the origins of Mike Myers's voice. Also, a zany as hell movie. We've been intentionally trying to spend time watching older films for no other reason than that nostalgic feel. But it also feels nice watching movies where the effects are practical and there weren't so many things that could be fixed in post. My wife has gone to bed and now I am working through my writing drawing inspiration from Scorsese's *Goodfellas*. It's not quite the same vibe. This week I spent a little less time with actual writing, but I cross-trained that skill a bit. I cracked Wendell Berry's *Why I Am Not Going to Buy a Computer* and *The Letters*, the collection of correspondence between Ginsberg and Kerouac. The former I'd never read before, and it was once again a reminder of how the current problems are just derivatives of the problems that came before. Technology creep and virtue signaling were alive and well, people just had to work a little harder by writing and mailing a letter. I'd read *The Letters* before which is why I went back. It's nice to read about the thoughts of folks trying to find their creative and artistic identities. Letters from 80 years ago showing that the struggle was there but also how the struggle is best experienced alongside others who are going through it themselves. I stumbled across Sparta's first album *Wiretap Scars* this week during my commute and I started thinking about what it's like to finally release a tether from your past. At the Drive-In was a pivotal band in my musical awakening. I remember seeing them on late night, maybe Conan, and they blew my mind. I never bought their album because small-town Nebraska didn't get the memo, but I remember it being one of the first tracks I downloaded on KaZaa. But by the time I got to downloading, the band had already split. As much of a bummer as that was, a year later and two new albums had made their way to my 70-CD wallet: *Wiretap Scars* and The Mars Volta's *Tremulant* EP. Small-town Nebraska had finally caught up. I think we're conditioned to believe that a breakup is a finality for the sum of its parts. And to be fair, there are plenty of times that it plays out that way. Like we see in the letters between Ginsberg and Kerouac, a bonded partnership can drive creativity exponentially higher than it could be in solitude. If that's the case, however, that means the rate of decay on the backend should be equally as powerful. Sparta and The Mars Volta weren't the only time that a house divided in the creative world sparked more creativity. In other aspects of life, maybe breakups do take something away from the person. But it seems like in the creative arena, the release of some tethers actually allows for one to sail higher. This whole endeavor on my end...the personal branding, the efforts to create, and the eventual divestment from relying on third-party platforms to host my services. The entire process is a result of cutting tethers and trying to focus all the growth and energy into a singular entity: myself. But there's a happy medium because it *is* easier when you have friends involved. I mentioned that I drew my inspiration for this from my trip to Austin a few weeks ago. A few long conversations with my friend John made me realize that you've got to bet on yourself and just keep taking reps. The tethers I have cut aren't relational, they are simply structural. In fact, I'd say I've tightened my relational tethers to those of my colleagues in the creative space. Whether it's drawing inspiration from their creations or maintaining determination for my own from watching them create, the people still matter. Writing alone wasn't the whole goal of this, it was just the catalyst to move. I needed to find a platform to host my writings and, from there, I decided to host everything. Last week I spent some time polishing up my web apps so they can be in a solid spot to start distributing through some eBooks. Busting out the cycles of my training programs into PDFs, finally putting together a nutrition eBook that I've been toiling over for a few years, all more training days to push me to refine the skill. That's for tomorrow though, we're starting to see helicopters in the sky. ## Get new posts by email One email a week. Unsubscribe anytime. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. Emails go out Sundays. --- *This is free to read. If you'd like to help cover the costs of the site and the apps, there's a [tip jar](https://ko-fi.com/benskutnik?ref=benskutnik.com).*