David Bowie (1947-2016)
Filed under the name David · August 30, 2026
David Bowie spent decades reinventing himself — a new sound, a new look, a whole new persona every few years, like he refused to let any single version of himself go stale. I run a bakery, so maybe I think about everything in terms of proofing and rising, but there's something in Bowie's constant reinvention that reminds me of a good sourdough starter: you keep feeding it, keep it alive, and it never comes out exactly the same way twice, and that's the whole point. What I admire most is what he did with all that shape-shifting — he made it feel safe, even joyful, for other people to be strange or different too. My wife Sam and I are raising our daughter to know there's no one correct way to be yourself, and honestly Bowie gave a whole lot of people permission to believe that decades before it was an easy thing to say out loud. Genre-defying, yes, but more importantly, permission-giving.