> 179: The age of divestment
Hi,
I've bought a Massimo Vignelli Stendig calendar every year for something like the last 15 years. So devoted am I that I even lugged one as a carry-on, in its tri-cornered packing tube, when I moved to London in 2010 because I couldn't imagine not having some giant Helvetica on my wall. This last month, something happened with the calendar that's never happened before: In the beginning of September, I tore off the page for August (always ceremonial, satisfying; a tangible turning over of a new time leaf). And behind the old August there was... another August. I stared at it, aghast: had I imagined tearing off the original August? No, it was there on the floor. And yet there was another August before me. It was a tiny, haunting sampling of a Groundhog Day loop. I tore off August number 2 and then proceeded over the next four weeks to get COVID and make a couple of decisions that proved to be terrible. If I ever get a repeat month on the calendar again I'll flee to a cabin in the woods. I hope your late summer/early fall have gone better. Get your free COVID tests.
Here's some art, ideas, and internet for you:
1. Just as birds aren't real and water is propaganda, blurbs are a lie.
2. "It doesn’t sound revolutionary to suggest that the key to maintaining your friendships through the hurricane of early parenthood is simply to do the hard slog of communicating and committing, but it actually is." Relatedly: Advice from Anne Helen Petersen on how to kid-proof your friendship.
3. This series of observations from Jo Livingstone also really resonated with me, about "all of society reorganizing around heteronormative family units suddenly one day when you're 35... it's like invisible magnets move everybody around and life snaps back into what you grew up with." I know some communities avoid this and I envy them.
4. "In practical terms, 'content creator' neatly accomplishes two things at once: It lets people who make garbage think they’re making art, and tells people who make art that they’re making garbage." See also: Richard Linklater on this dynamic in the film industry.
6. Anger rather than fear or hope is, by far, the most powerful emotion for spurring action on climate change.
7. Fall things: The original plum torte is a classic for a reason; new favorite cocktail.
8. I like the idea of organizing your life even after you become an adult in terms of semesters.
9. Where have all the cool small cars gone?
10. Neko Case on aging.
11. A tour of Jennifer Egan's library.
12. It’s autumn, and we’re getting rid
of books, getting ready to retire,
to move some place smaller, more
manageable. We’re living in reverse,
age-proofing the new house, nothing
on the floors to trip over, no hindrances
to the slowed mechanisms of our bodies,
a small table for two. Our world is
shrinking, our closets mostly empty,
gone the tight skirts and dancing shoes,
the bells and whistles. Now, when
someone comes to visit and admires
our complete works of Shakespeare,
the hawk feather in the open dictionary,
the iron angel on a shelf, we say
take them. This is the most important
time of all, the age of divestment,
knowing what we leave behind is
like the fragrance of blossoming trees
that grows stronger after
you’ve passed them, breathing
them in for a moment before
breathing them out. An ordinary
Tuesday when one of you says
I dare you, and the other one
just laughs.
—Dorianne Laux, "I Dare You"
Bye,
Laura