hi how is everyone hello. Hope your February was nice! I kept busy making lasagna and brining some focaccia (served with warm tomatoes, it was all very delicious). I also watched the Oscars completely uninformed, tried to rejoin the cultural moment by watching Parasite, although not much could have prepared me. You know, normal hibernation stuff. This batch of recommendations skews towards tech / screens, not really sure what to do about that pattern other than AcKnOwLeDgE iT, we’ll get back outside when it warms up.
recommended
poetry in your emails
It’s a delight to receive communication that requires no action on your part beyond appreciating it, like a postcard from a friend tucked into a pile of bills. Brooklyn’s own angel Matt Ogle is looking out for us all, selecting and sending one poem daily, spanning many eras, styles, and perspectives. I’ll leave the ones that give me the most to think about in my inbox to revisit throughout the day, sometimes saving it in a doc or forwarding to a friend. When a poem is stretching, there’s the opportunity to ask a question from our friend Jerry Saltz: “If I were the kind of person who liked this sort of artwork, what would I appreciate most about this piece?” It’s a peaceful ritual and a generous gesture on Matt’s part. You can sign up for treasures here or read more about the project’s inception here, I hope you like it.
recommended
dealing with distractions
Freelance truth: most days no one needs me anywhere at a specific time, so my mornings can be as leisurely as I like (as long as I turn my work in on time). A blessing and a curse, time management has become a fight against distractions and the illusion of constant availability—I made it to the end of last year and thought “I have got to get smarter about this.” So far I’ve implemented two changes to help me focus, one spendy and one $free.99. First up: fancy business-class noise canceling headphones, certainly an investment. I compared the different Bose features and opted for the newest and fanciest, justifying the tax deductible business expense as far cheaper than soundproofing my whole life. They muffle construction noises beautifully and signal both to myself and my sweet studiomates that it’s Business Time. Sticker shock kept me from buying them sooner, but they’ve been extremely worth it so far: optimal comfort and the freedom of bluetooth, prime sound quality, and blessed design details like a case with a pocket to hold the charging cord. You get what you pay for!
If the Cadillac Escalade headphones seem an extreme solution, I’m also a proponent of customizing ALL the notification alerts on every device. Why is the default option constant disruption?? Hoping Jenny Odell will school me properly when I finally read How to Do Nothing, in the meantime here’s a nice tutorial with pictures for disarming your iPhone (Dad you’re on your own for Android). I’ve opted out of all app notifications and limited the buzzing to phone calls and text messages, but turning off that banner that drops down with a text message is a new form of mercy. I’d get distracted by the false urgency of group chats, losing track of tasks every time I picked up my phone. I’ll get back to you! I’m doing my best! It’s a pretty small change, but coupled with similar adjustments to my computer and occasional do-not-disturb sessions, I’m getting a bit closer to “deep focus” and “important work.” Learning what works well to work well is an ongoing exercise, but these updates have been helpful.
recommended
America’s Fairy Godmother
There came a point in college when I realized there was more to Dolly Parton than boob jokes and butterflies, and I’ve soaked up whatever I could about her since. A rhinestoned enigma with a heart of gold, she’s the subject of a 9-part podcast from Radiolab’s Jad Abumrad on WNYC called Dolly Parton’s America. An in-depth exploration of Dolly’s history and ongoing legacy, the episodes became surprisingly personal as the reporters sought to understand how an unlikely figure can connect with such a huge audience. A particularly touching storyline interviewed the host’s father, capturing how the memory of place unites immigrants and outsiders. It was also fascinating to hear Dolly’s perspectives on feminism and politics—it’s never as simple as we assume, and there’s a lot to learn from her willingness to meet people where they are. I’ve been listening to plenty of Dolly’s music as a result, working my way through old albums and revisiting the glorious Light of a Brand New Morning. The series wrapped up last fall, I was late to the party and savored the episodes—would have lived inside the Tennessee mountain world forever!
recommended
sorting your recipes
I love hearing about favorite family recipes and how they’re passed down. Before I went to college my mom printed out a binder full of recipes from some software called MasterCook. When the iPad became commonplace we all moved on over to an app called Paprika, which has a bunch of functions that help you cook smarter in addition to holding all your favorite recipes. It syncs across devices and includes features like “copy to grocery list,” a menu planner, and very straightforward recipe sorting/searching. The web browser magically sucks up all the important information from long-winded blog posts and spits out a very useful format, and the included calculator makes it easy to scale the ingredients up or down for company. It costs $5 in the app store, but no ads, no worries, and the developers incorporated so many helpful kitchen functions it appears they truly enjoy cooking. Ever get your hands covered in brownie batter and realize you need to unlock your phone to double check something? They figured out how to keep your screen from dimming while you’re looking at a recipe. It’s genius. Now when I text about a random family food (most recently, meatloaf), my mom can easily fire off a tidy email with a file attachment that loads directly into the app. I’m eating well and we’re connected across the miles, a feel-good story for our times!
recommended
saying cheese
Some of us (though not all of us!) can get a littttttle caught up in curating our content. Between social media entrepreneurship, online dating culture, and the freelance job market, we’re a bunch of tiny PR machines promoting our own “brands.” In 2011 I’d toss a toaster filtered pic of my ugly sandwich on my Instagram without thinking twice, now I’m styling well-lit photoshoots and making sure our chins are tucked in. And while taking a bit of time to document an experience or environment is a meaningful form of paying attention, I’ve definitely thought a ton about the why behind this effort. Probably a longer monologue for another day, but maybe some context for why I’ve been appreciating a camera app that nudges us in the opposite direction: David’s Disposable turns your iPhone into a plastic disposable camera and that’s that. Take a photo (flash on, yikes) and wait till the next morning to see it “developed.” You can order prints once you “fill a roll,” but I’m just saving and posting to my finsta. Created by a 23yr old YouTuber who’s never NOT had a camera phone, it captures the nostalgic fun of disposable cameras, and you don’t have to remember to retrieve your prints from Walgreens. Let go of your grid and enjoy your friends! Warmly preserve your most idealized memories!
recommended reading
Trying out sharing a small selection of articles I’ve been keeping track of, no current commentary to share broadly but plenty to think about!
Selective listening and “close communication bias” with the people we care about most. (NYT)
What about the troubles & effects of counterfeit products on Amazon, the internet. (Wirecutter)
Helena Fitzgerald writes a beautiful reflection on life in bars and quitting drinking. (Good Beer Hunting)
I’m regularly thinking about my generation’s approach to hospitality, this look at “cocooning” and other trends pushes it further. (Curbed)
Less serious but needfully satisfying: sorting a box of nails. (thx twitter)
OK OK back to work everybody. Please @ me if you want to chat about professional business opportunities OR emotional vulnerability (aka Netflix’s Love is Blind). Peep twitter for some jokes, instagram for occasional artwork and the world wide web for a comprehensive look at “my brand.”
shamrock shakes,
Frances