✍️ First They Came (Grammar Edition):
First they came for the em dash
And I did not speak out
Because I did not use the em dash
Then they came for the Oxford comma
And I did not speak out
Because I did not use the Oxford Comma
Then they came for the serial semicolon
And I did not speak out
Because I did not use the serial semicolon
Then they came for iambic
And I did not speak out
Because I did not write in iambic
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
That knew how to write a defense for me
How I feel when people tell me not to use em dashes in my writing anymore because of AI. 😆 Click here for the original poem I based this parody on.
🪴 My local library in Brooklyn had a “plant swap” on Saturday, where I escaped with some great new greenery. I absolutely love this kind of interconnectedness and community-building.
🃏 I made up a joke, tell me what you think:
Question: What do you tell your friend when he wants to message a girl but is too scared?
Answer: “Carpe DM”
✏ New Word Learned:
Kvetch: a person who complains a great deal
🎨 Been fascinated with Jeremiah Goodman’s gorgeous paintings, especially the “garden in hell"— which was the living room of former Vogue Editor-in-Chief, Diana Vreeland. Her eclectic home has inspired an abundance of beautiful derivative works. See attached photos for examples.
🚇 After a popular part 1, here are more Subway Takes for those of you who might need to borrow some opinions in a pinch:
- We should bring back blooper reels at the end of movies.
- Pets, particularly dogs, should always be allowed on the couch. Dogs that are not allowed on the couch are being treated as second-class canines.
- The best way of sitting, in order, is (1) on the floor (2) on a stool (3) on the arm of a sofa (4) one leg up on a table (5) a regular chair.
- There is no polite way of asking someone, “Do you exercise?".
- Collared shirts and business ties stifle creativity.
- iMessage should allow me to create hyperlinks instead of pasting the entire URL.
- Deep down inside, everyone is “a foodie.”
- You should be able to thumbs up or thumbs down trailers in the movie theatre; a trailer with too many thumbs down gets skipped.
- The little ellipse indicating that you or someone is texting back should be banned. It is anxiety-inducing social surveillance disguised as reassurance.
- A grilled cheese is the most perfect kind of sandwich.
👂 Interviews & Podcasts I’ve enjoyed recently:
💬 David Shurman Wallace on the poetry (and witness) of John Ashberry:
Increasingly, consumers are offered the image of art-making as a subgenre of celebrity, and the works of art themselves are allowed to remain laudable but forgettable byproducts. For the serious reader or writer, perhaps celebrity is beside the point, but most find the social orbit difficult to escape; the result is thousands of voices clamoring against the algorithm, riffing on the same jokes. Poetry — good or bad, distinct or homogenous — is somewhere else… In a time when “the right to be forgotten” — the ability to have one’s internet trail removed from search — feels increasingly difficult to secure, there is something prescient in Ashbery’s inwardness. So much of the beauty of the New York School relied on its essentially non-public interiority — the sense that there was a secret between friends you weren’t quite in on, but might glimpse for a moment. That we are moving away from Ashbery’s aesthetics makes it all the more important to remember the link between the creation of small, informal communities and a curiosity about new language.
✏️ New Word Learned:
Revanchism: a political doctrine aimed at the reversal of the losses incurred in previous political or military defeats, most commonly, incurred territorial losses.
✏️ New Word Learned:
Chronophagic: (derived from Greek chronos “time” and phagein “to eat”) means “time-eating” or time-consuming. It refers to anything that wastes time, or is used to describe the “Chronophage,” a series of mechanical,, “time-eating” grasshopper clocks created by Dr. John Taylor that dramatically depict the passage of time.
Not just a new word, but a new favorite word. Can’t wait to drop this one in a sentence (probably when discussing social media).
💬 Spring has officially arrived and I can’t help but think of one of my favorite love poems, Everyday You Play, by Pablo Neruda. The final stanza especially:
💬 Greg Lukianoff hitting the nail on the head in regards to Afroman’s hilarious victory in court:
This case cut through that: Somebody with power pushes you around. You refuse to grovel. You answer back. You make them look ridiculous. You win. That still has enormous emotional force. It also points to something bigger, which I have thought for years: The story of music in America is, in large part, the story of free speech in America. Free people are not required to speak to authority in the tone of a worried assistant dean. They are allowed to tell power to go to hell.
🎥 Just watched Project Hail Mary.
Absolutely phenomenal. 👏 Visually, narratively, musically. It is going to hook a certain kind of youth onto the sci-fi genre for life. Plus, I am a sucker for a movie that is so unapologetically life-affirming. Do yourself a favor and see it ASAP if you can!
💐 Mark Hurst from Creative Good:
The next time you’re feeling depressed, here’s what I’d suggest: Find something broken in your home, imbue that broken item with all of your negative emotions, and go get it fixed – at a repair cafe. Repair cafes are community gatherings where volunteers repair the items brought in by guests, for free… The day I visited, there was a palpable energy in the room: alive, positive, and even hopeful…
I love this. Find a repair cafe near you!
🎥 Just watched and enjoyed the new documentary, Marc By Sofia.
In the doc, Sofia Coppola follows and interviews her friend and legendary fashion designer, Marc Jacobs. As far as documentaries go, it’s a tame piece. There is no investigative element, no drama, no tea. As a result, critics have largely accused it of being anodyne. There is some truth in the accusations.
However, I found the documentary very worthwhile. Sofia’s friendship with Marc may not have created the space necessary for the cagey creative to divulge his innermost secrets, but it certainly allowed the man to be himself in his most natural environment: the atelier. Moreover, Sofia’s clout in this world allows her to stand in these spaces without insecurity, which made for a refreshingly ego-loss documentary. It was apparent that the often handheld camera was never steered by a gaze that was intimidated or in awe of the world of luxury fashion. Most importantly, Sofia never steals spotlight from her friend, who himself is winsomely charming when allowed to simply talk. As someone who is inspired by the creative process of fashion designers and intrigued by the interplay between beauty and commerce in the luxury world, it was everything I hoped for (even if it wasn’t life changing). The small tidbits of Marc and Sofia talking film, Broadway, fashion, music, and Liza Minelli brought a smile to my face everytime. New York really does have a way of bringing the right people together.
💬 Have been doing a deep dive into the Fluxus art movement of the 1960’s and am more than a little inspired by the anti-retail shop opened by Robert Filliou and George Brecht, which they named “La Cédille qui Sourit,” or “The cedilla that smiles.”
The thoughtfulness and spirit of the work speaks for itself, but I do adore this tidbit about Filliou, as quoted in JSTOR:
Filliou’s text suggests a fully relational model of subjectivity that, while individual, desires to be fulfilled or made able by connecting to others. It was a model lived by the artist himself, who depended for his survival upon the kindness and generosity of friends, who simply reflected the kindness and generosity of their friend Robert back to him. Well aware that this had become his habitual approach to working and living, he once remarked: The real talent I have is for friendship. Ninety-nine percent of my work is not visible."
This is a vital part of creating what they called a “poetic economy;” a concept that is not going to be leaving me anytime soon. They struggled with the same challenge of being purists versus needing money that many artists struggle with today. What is more important, is that they considered the act of non-creation, failure, and mere ideation, a virtue. They worked hard to not be famous.
When the anti-retail shop inevitably closed, since it was hardly ever open and never really had “inventory”, the artist’s sent out a letter to their friends with the following:
“There is always someone making a fortune, someone going…broke (us in particular)
💐 Things that deserve their flowers:
- Cold brew in cold weather
- Wired headphones
- Art chats
- Hooks to hang belongings in bathroom stalls
- Finding nice furniture on the sidewalk in NYC
- Unexpectedly seeing someone you know on a subway car
- Belly laughter
- People who tell you when there’s something stuck in your teeth
- Drinking fountains with long arcs
- The whimsy of post-it notes
🎵 Been listening to this week:
- Meet Me At Our Spot (Live) by Willow
- The Light by Common
- Summer in the Ends by Juls
- oohshxt! by Samara Cyn
- Sinner by Samara Cyn
Just discovered Samara Cyn, but she is easily one of the most promising MC’s I’ve seen in a while. Her new project drops soon.
💬 RE: My last post about Kimiyo Mishima. A quote too good and near to the themes of my heart not to publish explicitly. When asked about her artistic process:
“I just keep playing. I never think of how to sell my works. I have never had ideas like “I should make a piece for sale.” I just make what I want to make, do whatever I want to, and keep making trouble for people around. I just keep playing all the time.”