Category: life
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starved for oxygen
I’ve felt wrung out recently. I think we all have. It’s hard to awaken all the creative parts of yourself, to feel the energy and aliveness that comes from making things, when numbing seems necessary to get through the day. Everything feels like a shit show right now. Maybe it’s…
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“all shall be well…”
Around this time last year, as Covid reared its head and we barreled into the political upheaval of fall, I was possessed by an idea. It kept appearing in my head over and over: “All shall be well, all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well…”…
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why I ran away
It’s been difficult lately. By this point, it feels like we should have crossed a finish line. We should have made it to the other side. Someone should have blown a whistle and said, “That’s it. You made it. The pandemic is over.” That hasn’t happened. It might never happen.…
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a tiny reminder
Despair is easy. Hope is much harder, but also more rewarding. I find the best way to hope is to look down at where I’m standing, then look up at the sky. I try to savor the now of it all, although I’m not always great at this. (I suppose…
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farmers, pirates, and Anthony Bourdain
I went to see Morgan Neville’s Roadrunner: A Film about Anthony Bourdain this weekend. Twice. Perhaps it’s the season of life in which I find myself, but Bourdain’s story resonated with me on a level that summoned a deep discomfort. The film paints a portrait of Bourdain as a contradictory…
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why people need people
A friend said to me recently, “You’re very hard on yourself.” “What makes you say that?” I asked. “Listening to you for the last two hours,” he replied. It’s almost impossible to hear ourselves. We self-censor, both our words and thoughts. We’re not always conscious of the things that slip…
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let it be awful
I’ve been playing around with paint recently. I’m not good at painting, but that’s the whole point. Allowing the work to be terrible to a joyful kind of letting go. Without the pressure of trying to meet anyone expectations (including my own), there’s a freedom to play, to wonder, to…
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touching the wound
As I plow through Mad Men once again, I’m struck by the way every scene touches Don Draper’s core misconception: that he is is unworthy of love and affection. There’s plenty to unpack regarding enmeshment of masculinity, personal worth, and upward mobility in a capitalist society, but these things all…
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“Take Your Time”
Art is theft. Sometimes, we quote other people because they put an idea into words better than we ever could. Such is the case with Seth Godin’s recent reflection on taking your time: [Taking your time] means two very different things. When a person or a marketer takes your time,…
joshua chamberlain 