u/itsFurlong

The third paragraph of chapter 8 is setting off my spidey-senses:

Traditions bring people closer and provide opportunities for joy. Many of my most favorite memories have been with friends and family during celebrations of Thanksgiving and Christmas. And, of course, who doesn't love Halloween? Traditions enliven every culture. They come in all shapes and sizes. From the observances of Ramadan to Yom Kippur, to the celebrations of La Tomatina and the running of the bulls, traditions, like a durable yarn, connect us through a lineage of fellowship and ceremony. There is a shared joy of humanity here, something that provides communal stability even as the world around us rapidly changes.

It caught my attention for a couple reasons:

1. The prose is super untidy. "Many of my most..." is just terrible writing. JCB isn't Hemingway, but this was another level.
2. This paragraph contains exactly 100 words.

Each of those things on their own are innocuous, but taken together seem fishy.

Anyway, this doesn't fit into anything I'm working on right now, but I thought I'd post it here in case it helps anyone else.

Happy hunting!

Right now, the Tampa Bay Lightning is less than the sum of its parts.

I want to be optimistic. This team has so much talent and is capable of so much, but something intangible is missing, and it’s been missing for long I can’t help but feel it’s lost.

Still, I hope they find it. I hope that locker room can believe, like I do, that they can be more than this. And more than anything, I hope that belief is all they need.

Hope is not a strategy, but to lose hope is to surrender before the battle begins.

Pep talk over.

Bolts in 7.