Daniel Scotton’s collection of short reflections takes readers on a wandering journey

By Debora Gordon for Ashland.news

Daniel Scotton, Southern Oregon Climate Action Now’s executive director, has written a collection of observations and thoughts called “Mildly Interesting: Tales of a Traveling Philosopher.”

 The 594 brain utterances are numbered and grouped into several sections with titles such as “College,” “Lockdown,” “Into The Woods,” “Returning to Old Ways,” “A Consultant’s Path,” and “Comfort & Arrrogance.”

Born in Medford, Scotton has also lived on the Oregon Coast, in California, and Central Point.

His writing background stems from his degrees in philosophy and business administration from Hamline University in Minneapolis. Scotton characterizes his book as a collection of aphorisms, maxims, or pithy statements.

“In the world we live in,” he says, “They’re probably closer to tweets.”

 While pursuing his philosophy degree, he came across some “aphoristic writers” who became the foundation of his inspiration and carried through a lot of the writing he did in college.

“The title of the book was my intent when I first started thinking about finally publishing this manuscript that I’ve been sitting on for five years,” Scotton says. “Someone asked me what the goal was and I said, ‘it should be mildly interesting.’”

Scotton considers identity in a philosophical sense, which he says appears throughout in his book.

“The idea of when you call yourself something is fascinating to me,” he says.

He adds that he does not yet identify as either a philosopher or a writer.

“When I first got the stack of books that I ordered, next to other stacks of books that don’t have my name on them, it was surreal,” he says.

He asked friends to read early drafts of the book, and they suggested some kind of delineation to try to give it some structure.

“It was in chronological order, so I just picked moments in time that felt like transitional moments,” he says.

“Some of the aphorisms are responses. While I was doing the writing, I was recording whatever moments I was in. A lot of the book was written while sitting at the bar,” he adds. “Instead of scrolling on the news, I decided to just record whatever thoughts came into my mind. I started writing my senior year of college after returning to college at the age 0f 24. I felt like I was a better student.”

Scotton also helped with the book’s design, contributing the abstract image on the back cover. It’s joined by an elevator pitch description: “In a world of polished branding and perfect answers, ‘Mildly Interesting’ offers the wandering middle — the half-formed, half-joking, fragments of a mind in motion. You won’t find absolute truths here. But you might, just for a moment, pause and say, ‘Huh…that was mildly interesting.’”

In writing the book, Scotton’s intent was to convey as much as he could about what awaited readers. He gathered the aphorisms from thoughts over a 5-year period, and as the collection approached 500, he thought “Maybe I should do something with this.” 

A search of Scotton’s manuscript shows “lost” appears more than any other word.

“It fits the meandering, wandering theme,” Scotton says.

Prior to his job with SOCAN, Scotton was a Oregon Department of Human Services subcontractor, where he did workforce development. He’s also worked in hospitality.

“I’ve held every role in a restaurant. I think that’s why I like to write in bars; the chaos of a restaurant is something I’m so used to, it becomes almost like a white noise machine,” Scotton says.

The writings found in its book are different than the “dry policy documents” he puts together for SOCAN.

“Hopefully (readers) will find something to chew on,” Scotton says. “I’ve heard from a couple of folks since I released it in August that it’s fun to just open up, read a couple and then close it and go on with your day. I think there’s value in that kind of revisiting and chewing on material. It’s not just going to tell you something and then you move on.”

Scotton’s favorite quote is from the section entitled “Consultant’s Path.”

It reads: “I plan to organize the community around a new rallying cry. Invest in a cemetery, for we have nowhere suitably proper for the young to bury their dreams.”

Another bit declares: “In a tavern, the patrons are all philosophers, all the bartenders practice psychology. They never agree.”

Scotton hopes readers will make the time for what he’s put to paper, to slow down and consider the thoughts.

“It’s just wandering,” he says. 

Debora Gordon is a writer, artist, educator and non-violence activist who recently moved to Ashland from Oakland, California. Email her at [email protected].