Issue 385
A notebook about how we work, and learn, and love and live.
"Recognizing that sustainable development, democracy and peace are indivisible is an idea whose time has come... Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops threatening its life-support system. We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own - indeed, to embrace the whole of creation in all its diversity, beauty and wonder." - Wangari Maathai
Some days it seems, to paraphrase the old blues song, if it wasn't for bad news, I wouldn't have no news at all. But I find reassurance in Kevin Kelly's observation that "Bad things happen fast, while good things take longer. So when we ask what has happened in the last news cycle (the last five minutes) only fast moving things show up, which are mostly bad news. Good takes longer than a news cycle. So most news, in any media, even responsible ones, is bad news. If newspapers and websites were only updated every 50 years, they might report: literacy is up, longevity increased, violence is down."
Here's to stepping back and looking at the slower news.
Happy Friday.
Community
"How trees taught me to help other people."
Painting by the author, John P. Weiss
"Just as trees communicate and take care of one another via an interconnected root system, people are connected as well via our shared humanity. And those who have learned how to quiet their own souls can help others to do the same.
"How?
"Through the power of silence."
Article: The Most Important Thing We Bring to Another Person
Living
The point is to give reality its due.
"Ignorance and avoidance skew our evaluation of the wider world. When, distracted by our good fortune (health, wealth, security), we ignore harsh realities that we cannot ultimately avoid in our own life, we also tend to disregard the harsh realities that beset the lives of others, some of which can be avoided. We will never eliminate loss, decay, suffering and death from the world. However, if we simply accept the world as it is – whether because theodicy tells us it is perfect, or because the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche tells us we must say ‘yes’ to every ‘unspeakably small’ detail, or for some other reason – we are likely to act callously or indifferently towards particular instances of evil. For example, not the fact of loss itself, which is unavoidable, but the loss of this species or ecosystem to anthropogenic climate change. Not the fact of death, which is unavoidable, but the death of this refugee from avoidable hunger or disease. Purchasing happiness at the price of wilful ignorance or indifference ought to be beneath us.
"The point is not to give in to despair or to dwell obsessively on the ways in which reality is not what it could be. That is no more advisable than closing one’s eyes to the world’s flaws. The point, rather, is to give reality its due. When we do, we find more than just catastrophe. If open eyes allow us to see the shipwrecks of the world more clearly, they also show us something else."
"Yes, the world is full of suffering, marked by death, rent by entropy; but it is also, equally undeniably, filled with beauty, wonder and opportunities for love and compassion. And we ought to actively acknowledge both facts."
Essay: The ‘Melancholic Joy’ of Living in Our Brutal, Beautiful World
Personal Care
Zen practices for when life freaks you out
Tea making can be a beautiful meditation.
"Plum Village, near Bordeaux in southwest France, is the largest international practice center in the Plum Village tradition, and the first monastic community founded by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) in the West."
"What do the monks and nuns at Plum Village Monastery do when they experience difficult emotions?
"One of the basic practices in Plum Village is recognizing our negative emotions and habits as they arise. Then we learn to accept them, calm them down and later on transform them into something wholesome. Each of us finds our own way to take care of our feelings as we grow in the practice. Below are some ‘tried and tested’ ways that our monastics have used to take care of themselves and we hope they can help you as well."
Article: Eleven Ways to Care for our Negative Feelings
Self Care
Rest and relaxation helps you enjoy your whole life more
I read a lot of magazines and newsletters aimed at buisness people and professionals. One of the primary themes that most recycle endlessly is the pursuit of maximum productivity. In turn, many people have come to believe that chilling out is a waste of time. To test this researchers at the The Ohio State University ran a series of tests with undergraduates.
"We asked participants to indicate how much they enjoyed engaging in a variety of leisurely experiences—some active, like exercising, and some passive, like watching TV. Others were social—hanging out with friends—or solitary, such as meditating.
"We found that those who viewed leisure as wasteful tended to get less enjoyment out of all of the different types of activities. Furthermore, these people were also more likely to be stressed, anxious, and depressed." Ouch.
Article: If You Think Rest and Relaxation Should Take a Backseat to Hustling, Research Reveals a Surprising Impact
Tools
"We do better together." A peek inside Seth Godin's tool box
In a recent post, Seth Godin, observed that while the Rolodex and the Filofax disappeared years ago, we’re not yet using all of the new tools that make it easier to coordinate people and time. He summarizes seven of his favorites, starting with Calendly, a scheduling tool that makes my life much easier.
To his list I'd add SessionLab, software that makes it easy to develop workshops with others. My cherished colleague, Liz Solomon, and I both have a lot of experience designing our own workshops and have found SessionLab to be an invaluable tool when designing workshops together.
A common characteristic of all of these new tools is that they reduce reliance on email. As Godin says: "Cooperation, connection and the power of being in sync is getting more important every day. We do better together."
Article: Simple Connections
How We Work
As hybrid and remote work become the norm, meetings are including video game and virtual reality elements to increase engagement.
Media, Pitching
The prospectus that Harold Ross used to attract talent and capital to create The New Yorker
This is fun. Gothamist has posted scans of the original mid-1920s prospectus for The New Yorker from the digital archives of the New York Public Library. It is astonishing how accurately it describes the magazine we still know today.
"The typeface. The diereses. The profile of Eustace Tilley. All are characteristics of a magazine so iconic and tied to metropolitan chic that it had to be titled The New Yorker. But when founder and editor Harold Ross conceived of the publication in the mid-1920s, things were up in the air both creatively and financially. He had to secure the talent and the money to make his magazine a success. For the first, he turned to his close friends and fellow seat-mates at the historic Algonquin Round Table: Dorothy Parker, Edna Ferber, Alexander Woollcott, George S. Kaufman, and other wits who every morning would, to paraphrase Parker, brush their teeth and sharpen their tongues.
"But money Ross had in shorter supply. He and wife Jane Grant (not Jane Ross, mind you — Grant was an active member of the feminist Lucy Stone League) had some funds between them, but they needed to raise more. They turned to poker buddy Raoul Fleischmann — you may be more familiar with his family business from your grocery store baking aisle — who expanded his gambling to the publishing world and put down an additional $25,000. Ross then authored this prospectus, which set out to capture the voice and sophistication of his nascent weekly. “The New Yorker will be the magazine which is not edited for the old lady in Dubuque,” it announced, immediately hitting the tone of arch snootiness that would define The New Yorker for 100 years."
Article: "Not For The Old Lady In Dubuque": Read The Original Vision For The New Yorker
Oneliners
Article: Returning 600,000 Acres to Nature, One Piece at a Time
Article: In Brussels, Doctors Are Literally Prescribing People Trips to Museums to Help Them Cope With Pandemic-Related Stress
Article: To Build More Affordable Housing, Start With Narrower Streets
Article: Quiz: If America Had Six Parties, Which Would You Belong To?
Playlist
In July veteran R&B queen, Ledsi, released her latest album, her 12th, a soul and heart stirring tribute to Nina Simone: Ledsi Sings Nina. Like any great album of celebration, it shines a fresh light on both artists. Listening to one of my favorite contemporary singers perform the music of one of my most favorite of all time singers sent me down a Ledsi rabbit hole.
Carolyn Franklin (standing) coaches her sister Aretha through a demo of Ain’t No Way, a song that Carolyn wrote.
First stop, Tiny Desk. She performed in the DC offices of the show (remember them?) in November of 2017. She was touring her album Let Love Rule, and the song leads the set. She was nominated for a Grammy for this album.
Video: Ledisi: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert
It wasn't hard to find her jamming with a group of students from Berklee College of Music.
Video: Ledisi, "Alright" - Live at Berklee College of Music
There's a lot more where these came from. I encourage you to check her out. Have fun. She is amazing.
Image of the Week
"Taking the title of Bird Photographer of the Year, our Overall Winner is 'Blocked'™ by Alejandro Prieto. It features a roadrunner at a new section of the border wall between Mexico and the USA."
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